Drawing on sociolinguistic research, points out that some patterns of socially appropriate language use in Indonesia actually involve Indonesian only to the extent that those interacting wish to maintain social distance, while regional languages are used to promote closer social ties. Suggests Indonesian programs require some rethinking in view of…

Compares how bilingualism is perceived and how languages are used in two different groups of cross-native/community language (CNCL) families: Japanese-non-English CNCL families and Japanese-English (CNCL) families. A questionnaire survey found differences between the two groups. (Author/VWL)

Examines evidence from Expanding Circle settings that the norms for Standard English usage, teaching, and testing my not always be those of the Inner Circle. reference to recent research concerning the Expanding Circle nations indicates that in certain international and regional domains of language use in these countries, English functions as a…

Describes several curriculum resources that focus on eliminating sex stereotypes through nonsexist teaching strategies, activities, and material selection for middle and high school language arts, reading, and English classrooms. (RS)

Examines the relation between stage of cognitive development, transfer ability, production ability in Standard English, and school achievement among a sample of high school students in rural Hawaii. There was a strong relation between transfer ability and school achievement. (PCB)

Studies the distraction potential of 45 written usage elements, traditionally considered errors, for 2 different educated reading audiences: postsecondary business communication teachers, and executive vice presidents in large firms. Finds that the usage errors least distracting to both audiences were lexical elements and the use of an adverbial…

Maintains that the English language reflects sexist, male-centered attitudes that perpetuate the trivialization of female experience and socialize children into gender roles. Changes in the language are fundamental to improving the culture's construal of women and women's interpretation of their lives. (BB)

Examines American Sign Language (ASL) in the context of the orality/literacy debate and issues of language and cognition. Posits that ASL is a natural language independent of English, and asserts that examining other modes of language use can illuminate the nature of discourse in both oral and written forms. (MM)

Analysis of how students of English for Science and Engineering use certain categories of nouns in their technical writing projects revealed a significant use of "sub-technical" and "text-structuring" words serving both referential and discourse-oriented functions. The use of matching or cloze-type and open-ended writing exercises to improve…

Attempts to clarify the notion of language competence and draws on its relevance to language teaching practices. Language use competence may involve the adjustment of pre-assembled and memorized patterns and not so much the generation of expressions by direct reference to rules. (Author/CB)

Discusses adaptability of Welsh language as key to its survival. Summarizes history of Welsh in relationship to English. Details Welsh usage and cultural education in schools from 1940 to 1985. Analyzes current hindrances to development of bilingual education in Wales' secondary schools. (TES)

Describes the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE), a project at the University of Louvain in Belgium that collects written work from, and analyzes the usage of, advanced adult English as a Foreign Language learners. Recurring combinations and concordances in ICLE are examined. (Contains five references.) (MDM)

In a sociolinguistic study of nonpathological language loss, residents of German-speaking background who arrived in Australia between 1970 and 1981 were interviewed. Quantitative findings show an insignificant difference in favor of the second language, whereas qualitative feelings of competence in the first language had decreased. (Contains 27…

A study of two year olds investigated the nature and development of children's early productivity with verb-argument structure and verb morphology. Results indicated that the children showed no signs of productive verb morphology, but they did use newly learned verbs in some creative ways involving nounlike uses and the appending of locatives.…

An experience-based learning model is reported that helps intermediate and advanced students make the transition from language to literature courses in the context of real-life situations. In the Santa Clara project, students meet practical needs of underserved Hispanic populations while practicing their language skills. (Contains seven…