This study compared how Taiwanese and U.S. graduate students at one U.S. university made e-mail requests to professors. Taiwanese students had received formal English education in Taiwan but none in the United States. All participants provided several e-mails containing requests to their professors. E-mail data were divided into high-imposition…

This paper discusses one Chinese graduate student's experience with English writing. Through a literature review and personal interviews with other Chinese students, the paper explores the differences between Chinese and English writing. It summarizes the literature on differences between Chinese and English writing conventions in ideological and…

These curriculum-related materials include two videotapes and a 36-page teaching guide. The first videotape, "Deborah Tannen: He Said, She Said," with a running time of 50 minutes discusses: boys and girls, status and connection, directness and indirectness, public talk and private talk, ritual opposition, and conversational style, and a…

This paper examines the written use of the "be after V-ing" construction since the reintroduction of English into Ireland. Information comes from publications beginning in 1670, including 193 works by 87 authors providing 1,316 tokens of the construction. Results support Filppula's (1999) view of historical change in the use of this…

This paper examines data from observations of language use in Taiwan (primarily Taipei) made over 12 years. The observations focused on the usage of several languages, including English, Taiwanese, Mandarin, Hakka, and Japanese. The paper introduces a distinction between the possessive power of language and the productive power of language. With…

America is a true melting pot, as exemplified by the diversity of students in our classrooms. Many are concerned with how teachers are providing instruction for the diverse groups of students they teach. Failure to embrace multiculturalism allows members of society to continue to promote disenfranchisement. For example, proponents of the complex,…

Providing grade 8 to adult students with practice and reinforcement in editing for capitalization, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, usage, and content, this computer software program contains over 30 written accounts that have been sequenced from easier to more difficult. The program has 3 levels of play: beginning, intermediate, and advanced. At…

Continuing to respond to the increasing demand for the assessment of authentic language use, this book emphasizes that portfolios must first be useful and successful as part of instruction before they can be used effectively for assessment. Portfolios are presented as "working," not "show" portfolios, to promote the student's involvement in…

Pointing out that the growing body of literature on the Holocaust has been accompanied by concern about how knowledge of the Holocaust may be conveyed, this paper argues that elucidating links between terminology and policy invites reconsideration of what Holocaust studies should accomplish. Close textual analysis of historical artifacts is used…

This book, a cultural, thematic, and sociolinguistic study of ethnic labeling in American popular speech and usage, probes for the source of the modern ethnic slur. Providing insight into the social workings of American society and culture, the book examines the history of popular speech--a rich source of information about the American collective…

Moroleon, Guanajuato (Mexico), is an industrial city on the Mexican Plateau. People from the surrounding hamlets known as rancherias frequently seek employment in the city. However, many men with low levels of education travel to Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, to work on mushroom farms. A study explored the use of English in these two communities.…

This paper examines the political status of Romani. the language of the Gypsies/Roma, in the European Union (EU). Even though some groups do not call themselves "Roma," all Romani speaking groups use the name "Romanes" for their language and "Romani/Romano/Romane" for everything related to their group. All groups use…

One story that needs to be told in composition classes K-16 is the story of language--the "composition" class or the English class might be the only setting for most students to learn the broader picture of how language is used throughout the world in real life. To become proficient writers/speakers, students must comprehend the complex…

One advantage of writing center tutorial groups over individual tutoring is that in groups students have the opportunity to become readers of others' writing and to provide feedback to their peers. In such groups, it is assumed that the tutor as facilitator serves as an interactional and linguistic model for students. To test this hypothesis, over…

In the Province of Quebec, and in particular on the island of Montreal, large communities of the French-speaking Quebecois majority and the English-speaking Quebecker minority have historically co-inhabited peacefully. There is, nonetheless, an ebb and flow in the conflict between the two languages. In recent years, the Government of Quebec has…