Reviews and synthesizes speech act analysis (Austin and Searles), politeness phenomena (Brown and Levinson), rules affecting speaking (Hymes), and activity analysis (Wittgenstein). Advances the notion that the theories are complementary rather than contradictory. (EKN)

A study indicates that many elementary-age disabled readers pass through the same developmental stages in acquiring complex syntactic knowledge as do average and above-average readers. (CJ)

Examines whether significantly high correlations exist among language skills in second year students as measured by their final exams. Results support previous research suggesting the existence of shared language aspects across skills. However, each language skill appears to retain enough unique variance that the score in one skill cannot…

Examines strategies a reader of a foreign language uses to identify unknown words in context and if there is a hierarchy of application. Includes recommendations concerning foreign language acquisition skills which will allow the foreign language student to possess vocabulary independently. (EKN)

Indicates that the way different languages reduce speech to script affects how visual information is processed in the brain, suggesting that the relation between script and speech underlying all types of writing systems plays an important part in reading behavior. Compares memory performance of native English/Chinese speakers. (JN)

Discusses the development and evaluation of CAVIS, which consists of an Apple microcomputer used with audiovisual dialogs. Includes research on the effects of three conditions: (1) computer with audio and visual, (2) computer with audio alone and (3) audio alone in short-term and long-term recall. (EKN)

Studies employing or investigating the metalinguistic judgments of native and nonnative speakers are reviewed. Their results and methodologies are compared to stimulate reliable and informative applications of such judgments in future research. Metalinguistic judgments are found useful in language acquisition studies, given appropriate controls…

The 1959 Survey of English Usage has provided researchers and teachers with a corpus of spoken, manuscript, and printed Standard British English. New uses have been found for the survey's resources in recent years, and the spoken part is more widely available in book and computer tape form. (MSE)

Data in the Survey of English Usage are useful not only for frequency counts but also usage information not normally obtained from introspective analyses of self-made examples or from study of existing grammars or handbooks. Some of these findings are relevant to ESL teaching or syllabus writing. Examples are given. (MSE)

Discusses the second language production of adults when responding to the same stimuli (the SLOPE test) under two conditions: (1) unmonitored, when giving spontaneous oral responses and (2) monitored, when giving written responses without time limit constraints. (EKN)

Spontaneous and imitated-sentence responses of six children were examined for their sound patterns in the acquisition of /x/, /f/, and /s/. The data tend to support the position that children may produce forms exemplifying geographical-dialectical constraints, general developmental processes, and variability in development across children.…

Discusses an aural discrimination test given to British students of French and examines the relationship between good aural discrimination ability and high achievement in a second language. (EKN)

Analyzes mothers' speech in free-play interactions with their 12- to 27-month-old children for frequency and type of fantasy relationships. Results indicate that the older the child, the more fantasy talk a mother is likely to use. (EKN)

Examines psychologist David R. Olson's current work on children's language development and its possible educational implications. Stresses the increasing tendency to investigate children's language development in relation to their thinking and learning rather than in isolation and to include literacy development in the oral language development…

Describes adjustments in speech patterns made by two- and three-year-olds when talking to their 14-month-old siblings and compares these changes with those made by mothers addressing their babies. Individual differences between the children indicate two types of influence on the adjustments made--pragmatic and emotional. (EKN)