Presents examples of unintentional humor from college freshman composition courses. Suggests that by pointing out miscommunications, teachers can persuade students to use standard English more effectively. (MM)

Describes and evaluates an English-Hebrew program designed to develop biliteracy in kindergarten children. (FL)

Compares the written English of Chinese ESL students and native English-speaking Australian students. Analyzes the texts for four semantic components: experiential; interpersonal, textual, and logical. Also analyzes the errors made by both groups. (EKN)

Explores the tension between the manner in which intergroup language differences are used to symbolize group membership and the manner in which they mirror and reinforce social class and power distinctions. (EKN)

Discusses the use of PLATO in South Africa as a means of instructing non-English speakers in English so that they will be able to enroll in university courses. PLATO was not particularly effective since its materials were written for native English speakers. (EKN)

The issues of language assessment and placement raise several important questions: (1) What are the basic premises upon which current language assessment instruments have been developed? (2) What is the state of the art in language proficiency assessment? (3) What implications do current research findings have for language proficiency assessment?…

Describes a novel approach to teaching verbal communication principles to hearing-impaired students: students invent languages and attempt to use them in small groups. The assignment reveals important characteristics, functions, and limitations of language. (This approach was originally developed by Nels Juleus for nonhandicapped students. For his…

Reports the paucity of public knowledge and concern about the English language and suggests that English teachers might do something to remedy this situation. (JLZ)

Several pedagogical approaches are described that aid at in-depth understanding of the journalistic text by examining the way the journalist's discourse functions. By demystifying the discourse, the instructor makes the learner aware of the mechanisms of manipulation and orientation at the journalist's disposal. (Author/MSE)

Describes a study designed to test if, when children describe actions, they consider the role an entity plays in an action, independent of the animateness of the entity. Results indicate that young children have relational intentions which are independent of animateness. (EKN)

Examines the conversation behavior of mothers toward their children with respect to two hypotheses: that the mothers' underlying interactional intent can be inferred from patterning in their conversation and that the utterances having a directive or controlling function will show a negative relationship to those designed to elicit conversation…

A discussion of the cultural context and the reaction of Samoan high school boys to J. D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" when it is taught in English class. (RL)

The importance of talk in the drama classroom is described. Students view talk as either development of vocal skills or preexperience for various kinds of social situations. Teacher talk was dominant, however, and emerged in the form of verbal control through closed questions and instructions to students. (JN)

Reports on the success of a writing center's phone service, which answers questions about English usage, grammar, punctuation, diction, and documentation. (RL)

Describes the attitudes of Black and White, male and female, middle- and lower-class adolescents and preadolescents in response to tape-recorded samples of standard English and Black English. (HOD)