Discusses the birthday notices that appear in the advertising section of the Papua New Guinea "Post Courier." The texts of these notices are analyzed from a sociolinguistic perspective, and their context is considered as a register of the variety of English that has become known as Papua New Guinea English. (Author/OD)

Discusses the recommendations made by compositionists from 1950 to 1980 to apply the findings of linguists to composition instruction. Argues that the noncontextual orientation of modern linguistics renders it insufficient as a comprehensive source of theoretical or practical assistance in composition instruction. (MG)

Focuses on written business communication in a changing technological environment. The article presents the results of a questionnaire and interview study conducted among Finnish business professionals on their English business communication with special emphasis on developments in the organization, structure, and language of written…

Examines hypotheses concerning the appeal of three types of feedback in the second-language writing process: teacher-, peer-, and self-directed feedback. Results show that students overwhelmingly prefer teacher feedback to peer feedback. (Author/CK)

Deaf and hearing children at two grade levels (fourth and eighth) provided written texts for an analysis of text structure and quality. Deaf writers used as many cohesive devices as hearing writers but used fewer different lexical terms per device. The deaf children's texts are discussed in terms of possible language transference. (66 references)…

Students at the U.S. Air Force Academy participated in a study of Chinese language skill acquisition. Findings included more rapid and accurate character recognition was associated with higher proficiency; printed frequency had the greatest effect upon accuracy of naming; character density correlated with recognition accuracy; and denser…

Francophone learners of English as a foreign language performed metalingual and preference tasks requiring them to utilize second-language knowledge brought to mind under an aural priming activity or a written task. Results indicate important differences between recall with awareness and recall without awareness, which strongly suggests a positive…

Reviews demographic and economic trends promoting cultural diversity in postsecondary education. Urges educators to support cultural diversity and respect cultural differences, rather than forcing students to reject their culture of origin and adopt the dominant culture. Discusses instructional implications of ethnic/racial differences,…

Analysis of spelling errors collected from final examinations of native-Arabic speaking students majoring in English found significant differences in frequencies of error types among remedial and advanced students. Mispronunciation and lack of awareness of spelling rules and regular spelling patterns strongly contributed to spelling errors, even…

A study analyzed and compared the discourse of electronic mail messages from commercial and academic environments. Key text features were examined for style and convention patterns. Results suggest commercial messages follow normal conventions for standard written business English, and academic users may view the medium as a pseudo-conversational…

Reports a study of Japanese students learning English in Japan. Supports the notion that the necessity to communicate forces learners to notice linguistic problems, and that noticing a problem can push learners to modify their original input. Through this cognitive process, learners acquire second languages, especially the ability to produce oral…

Describes and evaluates a program developed within the English Centre at the University of Hong Kong to assist students who are required to present dissertations in English. The program is based on data collected from detailed interviews with graduate supervisors and from a survey of graduate students. (Author/JL)

Discussion of the linguistic character of electronic mail (e-mail) looks at technology's role in shaping spoken and written usage, the growth of e-mail as a new communication genre, and formal linguistic properties of e-mail. Proposes a model of e-mail as a creolizing linguistic modality, analogous to pidginization and creolization processes well…

Exploration of a specific use of Text Based Virtual Reality--not just as powerful communities for authentic communication and collaboration in language learning but exploiting role-playing and writing aspects. The "Walk on Ice" takes a group of adult English-as-a-Second-Language learners through the creation of imaginary characters who…

The relationship between oral and written language skills was explored in this study involving 97 participants in an adult literacy program. Analysis of pragmatic language skills identified behaviors likely to detract from communicative effectiveness. A test of metalinguistic/semantic skills correlated with reading levels of subjects. Follow-up…