Reports the use of students' native language by teachers in the foreign language classroom. The project was undertaken by French teachers in Australia. The teachers' aim was to investigate the use of the native language in a context that actively promotes an immersion approach to foreign language teaching (Author/VWL)

Looks at how the best writers of English from the 1600s to the present use punctuation in their nonfiction. Finds three bases for punctuation: intonation, grammar (or syntax), and semantics (or rhetoric). Shows that these authors do not regularly and consistently follow the institutionalized rules. Argues for rhetoric-based punctuation because its…

Discusses the importance of teaching the interactional use of language in English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) business writing classes, and addresses some common problems that result from inappropriate business communication. Highlights the interactional use of language as opposed to the transactional use of language. (Author/VWL)

Discusses a shift in the distribution of first person plural pronouns, as well as changes in the patterns of use of the corresponding verb inflections, in spoken Brazilian Portuguese across four generations of speakers from Rio de Janeiro. (Author/VWL)

Little research has been conducted to determine what roles the first and second languages play in the reading strategies of L2 readers or how these roles vary at different proficiency levels. this study attempts to address these two issues. Eleven active speakers of Japanese, at two proficiency levels, were asked to think aloud--in the language of…

Examined writers' use of lexical repetition changes in relation to writing topic, cultural background, and development of writing ability. Multiple regression analysis indicates writing ability measures are the most important variables for predicting changes in repetition usage, with less significant effects found for cultural background.…

Reports on language shift on a micro level in a study carried out on 10 cross-language English/Afrikaans marriages. Explores the language dynamics, attitudes, and usage patterns within these families, and reports on the relative levels of success in achieving family bilingualism. Provides an overview of factors influencing language usage in these…

Our analysis of farmer and tavern-keeper William Manning's 1798 "Key of Libberty" extends the concept of American republican rhetoric to include both elite and vernacular forms. We find that the key components of Manning's vernacular republicanism are: an aggressive use of the rhetoric of critique; the demand for transparency in public argument;…

A word may mean different things in different contexts. The current study explored the changing denotations of spatial terms, focusing on how the distance inferred from a spatial description varied as a function of the size of the objects being spatially related. We examined both terms that explicitly convey distance (i.e., topological terms such…

This research investigates preschoolers' use of desires for word learning. Three-year-old children were shown pairs of novel toys and were asked about their own desire and told about a researcher's desire. For half of the children the researcher liked the same object they did and for the other half the researcher liked a different object. The…

The authors examined the online construction of identity and sexuality in a large sample of conversations from monitored and unmonitored teen chat rooms. More than half of the 583 participants (identified by a distinct screen name) communicated identity information, most frequently gender. In this way, participants compensated for the text-based…

Previous studies have demonstrated that bilingualism among Latinos in the United States may not necessarily result in negative status attainment consequences. Such studies have typically overlooked gender differences in the consequences of bilingualism. Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study (N=866 females; 737 males), we…

People frequently make assumptions about others because of their spoken or written use of a particular dialect or language. The varieties of English that people use are often regarded as indicators of corresponding intelligence, competence, motives, and morality. Such assumptions--frequently based on myths and misconceptions about the nature of…

In both the Outer Circle and the Expanding Circle countries, books which provide examples of letters written in English and guidelines for writing these letters are available for students, business people, and any others who have an interest or need for writing such letters. These model letters are not only for business correspondence, but also…

The activation of arousal components for emotion-laden words in English (e.g. kiss, death) was examined in two groups of participants: English monolinguals and Spanish-English bilinguals. In Experiment 1, emotion-laden words were rated on valence and perceived arousal. These norms were used to construct prime-target word pairs that were used in…