Provides an account of the functions of "sumimasen," one of the expressions used for apology and thanks in everyday Japanese conversation. The study observes the different socio-cultural contexts in which this expression occurs, using a database of 10 hours of daily conversation. The study attempts to relate "sumimasen" to…

Examines the influence that oral language deficits exert on children's ability to learn to read and to develop reading skills. Discusses evidence that points to deficient phonological awareness as the variable that best discriminates children with reading delay. The effects of deficit phonological awareness are described. (Author/CR)

Tested the hypothesis that synchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC) can indirectly improve second language oral proficiency by developing the same cognitive mechanisms underlying spontaneous conversational speech. Findings show a significant difference between the experimental and control groups oral proficiency development with…

Examines the relationship between second language proficiency and pausing patterns in the speech of 30 Russian speakers of English performing two oral tasks--a topic narrative and a cartoon description--in Russian and in English. Findings support the view that adherence to the target language pausing norms may lead to the perception of nonnative…

Different theories of second language acquisition offer conflicting views of the relationship between metalinguistic task performance and oral production. Examined this relationship with respect to the possessive determiners "his/her" in English. Learners' oral production was elicited using a picture description task and described according to…

Examines how adult, monolingual foreign language learners' oral performance is affected by the degree to which they associate prestige with classmates and teacher disapproval. Explores relationships among learners' views of their own and their peers' pronunciation skills; values associated with native-like speech; beliefs about social conditions…

Suggestions for incorporating oral proficiency activities into the Business French course are offered within the framework of a five-skills course. (VWL)

Argues that the results detailed in Bryant, MacLean, and Bradley's 1990 article do not differ greatly with those reported earlier by Bowey and Patel, and suggests that discrepancies between the two statistical analyses reflect the relative size of simple correlations and are attributable to differences in the designs of the two studies. (30…

Multiple regression analysis of data regarding college students' oral proficiency in using the present subjunctive after residence in a Spanish-speaking country found a significant positive relationship between length of residence and subjunctive proficiency, and a nonstatistically significant positive relationship between formal study and…

During an eight-month treatment regimen utilizing simultaneous sign/speech input, all of the words of a young girl with Down's Syndrome were recorded. Analyses revealed that most of the words she initially signed were later spontaneously spoken and that most of her signed productions evolved into spontaneous spoken productions. (Author/JDD)

Reports a study of two- and three-year-olds' acquisition of complex sentences with perception and epistemic verbs that took a second verb in their complements. Complement types, complementizer connectives, and the discourse contexts in which complementation occurred were specific to individual matrix verbs. (Author/CB)

Analysis of mothers' pragmatic language use and children's language levels during free play sessions suggested that a mother-driven, direct influence model may be inappropriate for many mother speech-child language development relationships and points to the feasibility of child- and mother-driven explanatory models for indirect relationships.…

Examines linguistic and social factors reflected in the development of American Czech, spoken by Czech immigrants living in rural Nebraska communities, distinguishing between fully competent, proficient, and imperfect speakers. Despite the undisputed English influence, American Czech shared characteristics with other enclave languages developing…

In-depth analysis of topic distribution, utterance functions, and structural and lexical elements in a doctor-patient interaction revealed significant differences between authentic discourse and English-as-a-Second-Language text discourse, suggesting a need for better collection of more authentic data, for a distributional analysis of…

Argues that the terms language expertise, language inheritance, and language affiliation are less vague than the more universally used terms native speaker and mother tongue, as the former terms allow the consideration of educational questions of language ability and language loyalty alongside a broader view of society. (Author/CB)