Presents results of a study on how accurately instructors in composition identified various kinds of errors. (RL)

Suggests that nonfictive writing typically employs a vocabulary different from that used in works of fiction. Characterizes the vocabulary of essays, asserts that students are usually not given enough assistance in acquiring such vocabulary, and offers steps for giving students help in acquiring the vocabulary of essays. (RL)

An experiment was designed to find out whether there were any quantitative and qualitative differences in the spoken discourse of 'high' and 'low' ability 16-year-old pupils in discussions of problems arising from textual material. Cognitive, linguistic and quantitative analyses of the discourse were carried out. (Editor)

Describes the processes by which distinctive varieties of English develop in areas where English functions as a second language. The distinctions between rhetorical and communicative norms for speech events in these varieties are discussed. (Author/AM)

Studies the developmental stages deaf children pass through in acquiring the adult forms of pronominal classifiers in American Sign Language. Data were obtained on production, comprehension, and imitation from nine children aged 3 to 11. Complexities of classifier usage influence the learning strategies used. (PJM)

Tells how a teacher used activities involving puppet making and puppet play production in helping a group of five timid children develop feelings of personal worth, confidence, and responsibility. (GT)

The pragmatic and semantic categories used by Ss varied across age groups. Results are discussed with regard to age, expressive modality, mean length of utterances, and hearing loss. There was much variation among these parameters in communicative development across Ss. (Author/DLS)

The influence of the oral input of five deaf mothers on the language development of their two-year-old children was investigated. The results indicated that children, when cognitively ready, need little exposure to the normal model language to learn to speak during the early stages of development. (Author/DLS)

Discusses the significance of communication in the present-day world and the various factors affecting the comprehensibility of spoken English. Warns aqainst stressing fluency at the cost of correct pronunciation and against dogmatic preference for certain varieties of English. (IFS/WGA)

The increasing failure of cross-generational cultural transmission in America can be examined through research into the meaning of adolescent language usage. Adolescents view inconsistencies in adult society as contradictory to imposed norms. Since society is experiencing a loss of culture, secondary schools need to become the locus for its…

Shows, by discussing presupposition and speech acts, that the interplay between background information and linguistic surface is highly subtle and complex. These ideas are not always obvious to teachers, let alone English as a Foreign Language students. An examination of background information and speaker's intentions will facilitate an…

One can group and teach idioms according to their accessibility to a particular type of student. Four types of idioms exist: (1) those which have equivalents in the student's native language; (2) those having only semantic counterparts; (3) those understandable from the constituent structure; and (4) the true idioms, those not comprehensible from…

Examines samples of language usage from the Australian mass media, pointing to the media's influence on student language and to the need for teaching students how to understand media language usage. (RL)

Shows that many "liberal" educators who are in the thrall of obviously "humane" doctrines oppose semantic tyranny or suppression of free speech by their political antagonists, while failing to descry their own manipulations of language and oppositions to others' rights. (GT)

Examines recent attempts to explain children's word use and selection through recourse to information theory. It is concluded that information theory cannot account for the complexities involved in early word selection. (AM)