Models the spread of linguistic change by taking account of the ages of the acquirers and transmitters of change. The article focuses on three interlocutor combinations: parent-infant/young child, peer group-preadolescent and older adolescent/adult-adolescent. Findings suggest that borrowings are the easiest to acquire, while lexically…

International students in American colleges may have learned an accepted international variety of English, rather than British or American forms. Errors may persist because students want to retain their variety of English and cultural identity. Teachers need to address these errors only if they interfere with communication in the academic context;…

Learning academic English is probably one of the surest, most reliable ways of attaining socioeconomic success in the United States today. Learners cannot function in school settings effectively without it. This variety of English entails the multiple, complex features of English required for success in public schooling and career advancement. It…

Analyzes and compares the art education terms and concepts used to describe the visual properties of art objects to those used in computer graphics. Asserts that such paradigmatic differences exist between traditional design and computer media that a reevaluation of the shared terminology is demanded. (MJP)

Discusses language in the context of human development and civilization, examining a limitless field of studies and observations including the absorbent mind, the acquisition of language and grammatical structure, the linguistic capacity for abstract thought, the power of language and world community, the role of language and human uniqueness, and…

A discussion of the situation of Idoma, a Nigerian language, begins with different accounts of the language's origin, referring to both local legend and cosmology. It then proceeds to a review of modern linguists' efforts, since 1927, to classify the language. A statistical overview contains information on the number of speakers of Idoma as a…

Problems encountered by Haitian immigrant student in United States schools are examined, and information is offered to help secondary and college French teachers deal with this population equitably and knowledgeably. Difficulties for immigrants from Haiti, particularly students, include differences between Haitian Creole and standard spoken French…

The Unit for Advanced Studies in Modern Swedish (FUMS) at Uppsala University has one of the largest collections of spontaneous present-day spoken Swedish and has housed many sociolinguistic research projects since the 1960s. The four studies generating the most empirical data are on: The Urban Dialect of Eskilstuna; The Child's Linguistic…

Describes the dynamics of problem solving through spoken discourse in one-to-one tutoring of second-language writing in order to determine whether these processes vary with either instructional approach or language used. Tutors' and students' cooperative efforts to solve problems in the students' draft compositions focused primarily on local…

This paper describes cultural and educational characteristics of West African countries that may have implications for West Africans studying and learning English in the United States. Countries discussed include Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Benin, Niger, Gambia, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, and Mali. The structures of the systems of elementary,…

Portrays the effects of demographic, social, and cultural dislocation experienced by members of the Australian Strelley Aboriginal community on observed shift in languages, such as Nyangumarta and other Western Desert languages. Examines changes in code mixing and the need for English as the language of formal education. (23 references) (Author/OK)

This paper is based on my recent experiences as a classroom teacher in Coconut Island State School on Poruma (Coconut Island), a Torres Strait primary school, and discusses best practice in explicitly instructing Islander students in Standard Australian English grammar. I argue for a variety of approaches, informed by a careful consideration of…

The project Talsyntax (Syntax of Spoken Swedish), part of a large-scale study of modern Swedish language usage, examined the general characteristics and peculiarities of spoken Swedish. Three important aspects of the study are data collection, methodological results, and empirical results. The data collection effort has produced an archive of…

Among the most interesting groups of children in gifted education today are those who are "new Americans"--children of different cultures and different languages. These children bring with them the same talents, gifts, and intellect that other children have; however, the way they manifest their gifts may be somewhat different based on family…

Based on litigation patterns, discrimination because of accent occurs most frequently in colleges and universities, particularly in the classroom. Accent discrimination cases are unlike other employment discrimination cases because successful claims generally do not depend on qualifications, but on accent's effect on job performance. Specific…