This article examines variant word order in subordinate clauses, in particular clauses introduced with "weil" in spoken discourse. Current studies point to discourse-pragmatic conditions that guide the placement of the verb in second or final clause position. An analysis of empirical speech data shows that German speakers use both V2 and VF in…

"Sound Foundations," a literacy curriculum designed to teach phonological awareness to preliterate children, focuses exclusively on phoneme identity (that is, different words can start and end with the same sound). It works from the principle that phonemic awareness is necessary but not sufficient to reading, which depends on the…

This study examines how the language used at home, Putonghua or Cantonese, has influenced the Chinese reading attainment of 4335 primary school students in Hong Kong. Also examined was the influence of the birthplace and home background socioeconomic status (SES) of the reader. Although the indigenous Hong Kong population uses Cantonese, a dialect…

In this article, we take up the call for more multilayered and ethnographic approaches to language policy and planning (LPP) research by sharing two examples of how ethnography can illuminate local interpretation and implementation. We offer ethnographic data collected in two very different institutions--the School District of Philadelphia and the…

This study examined whether oral reading fluency in a child's first language (Spanish) as assessed by Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) was related to oral reading fluency in a second language (English) and whether Spanish oral reading fluency probes administered in the fall were predictive of English oral reading fluency outcomes for spring of…

This study investigated the relationships between phonological awareness and reading in Oriya and English. Oriya is the official language of Orissa, an eastern state of India. The writing system is an alphasyllabary. Ninety-nine fifth grade children (mean age 9 years 7 months) were assessed on measures of phonological awareness, word reading and…

This paper provides a new teaching design that addresses difficulties in listening and speaking aspects experienced by Taiwanese adults when learning English and addresses the special needs of this learning group. The design was developed to solve these learning difficulties through integration of certain aspects of three existing teaching…

Noting that effective teaching of language arts requires commitment to excellence on the part of classroom teachers, the goal of this book is to provide support, motivation, and knowledge for the classroom teacher who is responsible for the effective teaching of all children. Each chapter in the book contains features geared to the development of…

A study investigated the genre, structure, and delivery of oral presentations in engineering delivered in English as a first and as a second language. Eleven manufacturing engineering presentations, four by non-native speakers of English and seven by native speakers in Loughborough, United Kingdom, were analyzed with reference to the discourse…

Drawing attention to different models of storytelling, this paper summarizes information about specific aspects of children's oral narrative structure in several cultures and explores some implications these aspects have for multicultural education programs that include stories. The paper first describes a methodology for trying to understand…

A group of classroom activities to develop oral Japanese skills at the high school level are described, with illustrations and, in some cases, student worksheets. The activities include: (1) a game for determining the appropriate referent for an adjective; (2) a paired-student activity in which students match individuals with characteristics; (3)…

Intermediate Pashto is part of a set of materials for teaching oral and written Afghan Pashto. The transcription of a word or phrase is given only when the word or phrase is introduced, or when pronunciation is the focus. Dialogues and readings on various topics (e.g. food, shopping, weather, family, etc.) are used, with accompanying presentations…

The proceedings of a working group conference on proficiency testing of Japanese as a second language contain a brief background paper distributed to conference invitees, a list of items included in the pre-conference portfolio, an advance organizer of potential discussion topics, a 77-item annotated list of bibliographies on second language…

A study investigated differences in discourse styles that may affect second language listening comprehension. Ten amateur actors performed three speaking tasks: (1) reading aloud a short self-contained narrative; (2) acting out a memorized script; and (3) conversing with the researcher for 20-30 minutes. Excerpts of the recorded tasks in different…

Research on spoken discourse that was conducted for three master's theses at the University of Oulu is summarized. The studies were as follows: (1) an examination of linguistic strategies realized in business negotiations, based on an analysis of six recordings of simulated negotiations between eight Finnish engineers and a native speaker of…