Advocates of bimodal bilingual (Bi-Bi) early intervention argue that both visual and auditory communication systems reflect optimal family and educational interactions for teachers, families, and their young children with hearing loss. The primary objective of this commentary is to highlight semantic variations noted in theoretical, ideological,…

As the first Huayu dictionary published by the Commercial Press, "A Dictionary of Global Huayu" (Chinese Language) did a pioneer work in many aspects. It did expand the influence of Chinese and provided Chinese speaker abroad a valuable reference book for study and communication. Nevertheless, there are still some demerits. First of all,…

In mid-2012, the authors organized a two-week workshop in Papua New Guinea to provide training in basic techniques and technologies for language documentation, and to gain understanding of how these technologies might be improved in the future. An assessment of the workshop was conducted by Brooks with the central idea that the workshop's…

Lindseth (2016) reported that direct instruction and practice using the German verb-inversion rule resulted in higher accuracy in an oral test for college students, supporting the hypothesis that explicit linguistic knowledge can become implicit linguistic knowledge. It is quite likely, however, that the conditions for the use of conscious…

Recently, Tunmer and Chapman provided an alternative model of how decoding and listening comprehension affect reading comprehension that challenges the simple view of reading. They questioned the simple view's fundamental assumption that oral language comprehension and decoding make independent contributions to reading comprehension by arguing…

In this commentary, we build on Xinying Yin and Gayle Buck's discussion by exploring the cultural practices which are integral to formative assessment, when it is viewed as a sociocultural practice. First we discuss the role of assessment and in particular oral and written formative assessments in both western and Samoan cultures, building on the…

This article is comprised of two essays by Paul Alper. The first essay, "Linda VA AG 2013 and Knitting Needles," provides examples of how a natural language does not necessarily work the way of logic. The second essay, "Words," discusses how the words of winners tend to become what we call the enduring historical record. The…

Transitions in ESL contexts generally refer to those linking words placed between sentences and between paragraphs. Transitions in writing (and in speaking) are helpful; they facilitate coherence and cohesion when used correctly. Understanding them when reading allows us to join the writer in seeing why and how idea B follows idea A. In this…

In this article it is argued that the development of young people's skills in using spoken language should be given more time and attention in the school curriculum. The author discusses the importance of the effective use of spoken language in educational and work settings, considers what research has told us about the factors that make group…

A subcommittee of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Executive Committee wrote the "NCTE Beliefs about the Teaching of Writing" in 2004. In over a decade since, the everyday experience of writing in people's lives has expanded dramatically. Increasingly, handheld devices are important instruments for people's writing,…

Prepositions can be found with and without adjacent complements in many forms of popular spoken French. The alternation appears in main clauses ("il veut pas payer pour ca [approximately] il veut pas payer pour" "he doesn't want to pay for [it]") and, though with a more restricted social and geographic distribution, in relative…

Mauritius is a multilingual island, where there is a linguistic and literacy paradox. While Mauritian Creole dominates as the spoken language of the population, English and French are the main print languages, as well as the main languages of literacy and education. In such a complex situation, preschool is an interesting terrain in which to…

In her paper, Burke questions whether top-down proficiency mandates will positively impact teacher practice. Her main argument is the following: The requirement that foreign language (FL) teachers demonstrate an advanced level of proficiency does not guarantee that they will be more effective K-12 FL teachers; on this point, the author agrees with…

Allen [Allen, M. (2005). "The preservation of verb subcategory knowledge in a spoken language comprehension deficit." "Brain and Language, 95", 255-264.] reports a single patient, WBN, who, during spoken language comprehension, is still able to access some of the syntactic properties of verbs despite being unable to access some of their semantic…

In "The Relation of Language to Mental Development and of Speech to Language Teaching," S.G. Davidson displayed several timeless insights into the role of speech in developing language and reasons for using speech as the basis for instruction for children who are deaf and hard of hearing. His understanding that speech includes more than merely…