Discusses the differences in conversational structures and verbal strategies between languages and cultures and the teaching of such differences. The use of literary texts is advocated. (AM)

An analysis of the written compositions of German students (aged 16+, in their fourth or sixth year of English as a foreign language) with regard to their use of the progressive form. Four problem areas are enumerated, and it is suggested that these be included in pedagogic grammars. (KM)

Presents a grid for analyzing language learning materials based on certain sociolinguistic criteria. (CLK)

The reading program described in this lesson plan extends the study of Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech to demonstrate the ways Native Americans also resisted oppression through rhetoric. During five 50-minute lessons, students will: develop an awareness of both Native and non-Native movements to resist…

This report, part of a series that offers population and housing data collected by Census 2000, presents data on the language spoken at home and the ability to speak English of U.S. people over age 4 years. It describes population distributions for the country, including regions, states, counties, and places with populations of 100,000 or more.…

This collection of papers presents a kaleidoscope of shifting identities and loyalties in Western Europe and beyond, explaining how change is manifest in a variety of linguistic and other ways. After "Introduction" (Mike Holt and Paul Gubbins), 11 papers focus on: (1) "Language, Nationalism and Globalism: Educational Consequences of…

Using oral survey methods, this study examined potential language maintenance or loss of Mayan languages among the Guatemalan-Maya communities of Southeast Florida. Among dislocated immigrants and their children, the language of the dominant socio-economic forces often displaces other languages (Fishman, 1967). A Guatemalan community in Los…

The goal of this guidebook is to help writers activate their brains to stir up more and better ideas and details. The guide's thesis is that "good writing combines fresh ideas energized by vivid details." Chapters 1, 2, and 3 are devoted to providing thinking options for writers. Chapters 4 and 5 discuss options for paragraphing and…

Developed as part of the Milieu Language Teaching Project at the John F. Kennedy Center at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, this KIDTALK Behavior-Language Coding Protocol and manual measures behavior occurring during adult-child interactions. The manual is divided into 5 distinct sections: (1) the adult behavior codes describe…

The three papers presented here are critiques to a Doctoral Dissertation defense titled "Interlanguage Pragmatics: Requests, Complaints, and Apologies." The responses are written by the "disputants" or members of the candidate's dissertation review committee. The first paper, "Den empiriske undersogelse i 'Interlanguage Pragmatics'" (The Empirical…

CORDON is a computerized system for tracing and documenting changes in the use and frequency of word forms within textual language corpora. In its new form currently under development, CORDON will address the emergence of neologisms, both new words and new terminology within special areas (generally new uses of existing words). The system detects…

Children enjoy listening to bouncy rhythms and reciting catchy rhymes. Poetry provides a rich vehicle for helping children explore how language sounds and works. Such exploration helps develop skills related to language usage, listening, vocabulary acquisition, and auditory memory, while also fostering an understanding of thematically related…

By blending reading aloud, in particular "performance reading," with follow-up discussion, related activities, and plenty of wordplay, parents can prepare their children to think, communicate, and succeed in the adult world. Performance reading helps parents learn to read wordless books to relate to infants/toddlers; explore sounds of words to…

This book is a talking tour of American English. Short easy-to-read essays explicate the key features that make American speech so expressive and distinct. The tour begins in the South, home of the most easily recognized of American dialects, travels north the New England, then west to the Midwest, and on to the far west and Alaska and Hawaii. In…

Noting the importance of pragmatic behavior, or the socially-appropriate use of language, to parents of preschool children, this study examined developmental changes in the pragmatic teaching of preschoolers and differences in parents' goals for pragmatic teaching in private versus public interactions. Participating in the study were 29…