A framework is presented for analyzing the role of communicative and intercultural competence and their teachability in second language instruction. First, several problematic communication situations are examined in which: (1) a native English speaker and native Danish speaker with limited English converse; (2) native speakers of two languages…

This discussion focuses on examples of materials used at Eastern Michigan University (EMU) to help convey cultural values in the Japanese component in the Language and International Trade and the Language and World Business Programs at EMU. Ways that the culture is incorporated into the Japanese curriculum are described, and an explanation is…

A study investigated translation problems arising in physician-patient interviews conducted in two languages with the help of an interpreter. Subjects were four adult native speakers of Gujarati, aged 42-70, whose physician interviews were videotape-recorded and translated, and the discourse was analyzed. Patients spoke in Gujarati, and the…

Five brief articles from a journal published by the Public Affairs Department of the University of Natal, South Africa, discuss issues related to empowering adults through literacy education in that country. "Meeting Needs" (Gwyneth van Heerden) describes the extent and nature of adult illiteracy in South Africa and the activities of the…

This paper discusses business conditions in the Ukraine, outlines the development of the Ukrainian language, and describes a course designed to teach business persons how to speak and read basic Ukrainian in a short period of time. The course, "Speak and Read Essential Ukrainian I," consists of 30 lessons, each of which centers on a…

A literacy project in the eastern hill ranges of India is reported, based on 20 years of involvement, at the beginning of which the tribal language, Adivasi Oriya, was not yet a written language. The literacy rate among tribals in the agricultural community is about 10%. Researchers studied the tribal language, gave it an alphabet, adapted the…

Analysis of beginning second language textbooks for German, Swedish, English, and Finnish looked at the readability of the contents. Finnish and English texts are examined more closely here as illustrations of the problems found in all four languages. Specific passages are cited and discussed; two are appended. A general framework of text…

The working papers by students and professors of linguistics on research in progress include the following: "Are Cariban Languages Moving Away From or Towards Ergative Systems?" (Desmond D. Derbyshire); "A Double-Verb Construction in Mbya Guarani" (Robert A. Dooley); "Semantically Ergative Languages in Typological…

The teachers' guide to the "Intermediate Pashto" textbook (FL 019 797) contains notes for the teacher on each of the fourteen units and sub-sections of the textbook. Unit and section headings are in English and Pashto; virtually all text is in Pashto. (MSE)

A discussion of the nasal harmony of Aguaruna, a language of the Jivaroan family in South America, approaches the subject from the viewpoint of generative phonology. This theory of phonology proposes an underlying nasal consonant, later deleted, that accounts for vowel nasalization. Complex rules that suppose a complex system of vowel and…

An analysis of languages with multiple fronting of WH words (who, what, whom, etc.) looks in detail at Polish, Serbo-Croatian, Czech, Bulgarian (Slavic languages), and Romanian (a Romance language). In spite of their superficial similarity, the Slavic and East European languages that normally put all WH words at the beginning of clauses fall into…

The final report of the Center for Language Education and Research (CLEAR) lists the various computer searches that have been compiled from information in the CLEAR 655-item database, and categorizes the materials within the database on the basis of educational level, type of material (audiovisual, text, supplementary, workbook, curriculum), and…

This 26-item annotated bibliography is composed of materials for teaching Chinese at the elementary and secondary levels. Materials listed include not only language arts/second language acquisitions but a wide content-area range. For each of the entries, the following information is indicated: target language, educational level, material type,…

A study of Hmong refugees settling in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) focused on the social resources (e.g., kinship, literacy) available for adapting to life in the United States and the refugees' use of those resources. The study also resulted in profiles of several Hmong adults, documenting language and literacy use in daily life and patterns of…

This study investigated the relative ability of literate (n=24), semi-literate (n=45), and non-literate (n=21) adults to erase the initial consonant or vowel from non-words and pronounce the remaining phonemes. It was hypothesized that difficulty in removing the initial consonant from the vowel with which it coarticulates is due not only to…