An examination of current educational theory regarding the functions of language, exploring the relationship of language and thought, various views of linguistic poverty, and language use and instruction in the school. (EH)

A sociolinguistic analysis is made of the use of gratitude expressions by Marathi and Hindi speakers in South Asia, and a comparison is made to American practices. (RM)

A system for teaching foreign languages to adults is described. The course material is divided into categories based on the language needs of the students, and credits are given for each completed category. (Text is in French.) (PMP)

Analysis of adult discussions reveals a lack of fit between pedagogical grammars and actual usage. (JH)

A comparison is made of American and Japanese humor in a class of English as a second language. American humor is categorized into four types: anecdotal, wordplay, wise sayings and contrived. (AG)

Discusses various uses of testing in language teaching as well as testing that occurs in normal language use. (RM)

Although appropriate for all librarians, this primer is aimed at beginning librarians and students pursuing library science degrees, and covers 150 terms used in most libraries. The purpose of the primer is to encourage its readers to analyze their use of the defined business terms and to expose them to new and applicable terminology. The work…

Six propositions express central and crucial functions of language. Knowledge of these concepts constitutes language awareness, and they should therefore be used as a basis for designing language awareness curricula. They are that: (1) each individual has the ability to produce an unlimited number of different utterances from the limited…

This study examines the changing patterns of usage of Scottish Gaelic and English in the northern Scottish counties of Sutherland and Caithness during the period 1698-1901. The study explores the way these patterns resulted from processes found in different social situations. It is concluded that although the shift from Gaelic to English was not…

To gain more information about the language awareness of young children, a study examined the relationship between 14 middle class kindergarten children's oral language and their reading achievement in third, fourth, and fifth grades. Individual children's ranks on 61 oral language features derived from a previous microethnography were compared to…

While traditional views of literacy assume that discourse is either written or oral, an alternative perspective considers different discourse samples as part of the linguistic repertoire of the speech community. Placing this perspective in a sociolinguistic context and taking language use rather than form as the starting point for analysis, it is…

A study investigating whether and how non-native speakers of English (NNS) make efforts to repair communication breakdowns with other NNS used data gathered from 59 verbal interactions by 26 students. The students were grouped by proficiency level (low, medium, and high) before the analysis of the interactions took place. Each instance of…

Meaningful use of language involves intending to have an effect and intending the audience to recognize that aim. In a Freudian modification of this premise, allowing for different levels of intentional awareness, writing can be discussed in terms of how writers intend to affect readers, as well as how aware they are themselves of their intentions…

A study examined the way argumentation in collective bargaining shapes outcomes. Specifically, it explored the types of claims and reasoning processes that characterize bargaining interaction on different subissues of a proposal and tracked the development of arguments through sequential sessions and caucus meetings by examining similarities and…