Examines the relationship between verbal and visual semiotic cues by analyzing how semiotic cues position speakers interactionally and communicate implicit evaluative messages in one television news story. (Author/VWL)

A symposium on discourse analysis and language learning is summarized. Discourse analysis can be divided into six fields of research: syntax, the amount of syntactic organization required for different types of discourse, large speech events, intra-sentential cohesion in text, speech acts, and unequal power discourse. Research on speech events and…

Discusses how current applied and sociolinguistic research and theory, which reveals the naturalness of language variation and productive aspects of error-making, seriously challenges traditional second language learning practices and postulates. (EKN)

Describes how "magnitude estimation," a technique used in psychophysics, can be adapted for eliciting linguistic acceptability judgments. The article emphasizes that this technique solves the measurement scale problems plaguing conventional techniques and provides data that make fine distinctions robustly enough to yield statistically…

Examines the conflict between applied linguistics and schema theoreticians over the relationship between the concepts of cohesion and coherence. Suggests that the positions taken are the result of theoretically different starting points. Reports the results of two studies that support the theory accounting for cohesion and coherence. (RS)

A genre-based analysis of 20 sociology research articles was used to present a provisional, pedagogically usable description of the communicative categories or "moves" found in the Results sections. The categories (described in terms of function, lexis, and grammatical form) extend and refine previous models and provide evidence of…

Two experiments on bimodality are discussed that appear to tentatively support its potential usefulness to the study of second-language teaching. The notion of bimodality and neurological learning flow are also reviewed briefly. (23 references) (LB)

A contextual analysis approach was used to explore the semantic, syntactic, and discourse properties of the conjunction "and." Results are discussed in terms of phrasal coordination, and it is shown that "and" occurs with a high frequency in the spoken/written comparison narrative texts examined, with a density of 26.4 to 66.3 tokens per 1,000…

A study examined the effects of valency (associative value representing the number of two-kanji words containing the first-positional kanji of the word) on recognition of two-kanji words in Japanese. Frequency and valency of the first constituent kanji were significant factors for word recognition, and frequency of the first constituent kanji was…

Considers key concepts of elicited imitation (EI), to clarify this technique for language testing. Reviews the literature on EI and suggests some issues for discussion, such as the process of imitating, the length and structure of the stimulus, contextual support, whether the test evaluates comprehension or production skills, whether it assesses…

A collection of seven papers developed for the 1982 Summer Institute of Linguistics of the Linguistic Society of the Philippines address aspects of the institute's research topic, the interface of the morphosyntax and discourse structure in languages of the Philippines and Sabah. They include three papers on general concerns of discourse types in…

A study examined lexical specificity, the occurrence of pragmatic information, and a syntactic aspect (presence or absence of inversion) of the acquisition of both indirect and direct wh-questions in children aged five through eight years. (MSE)

A study of strategies used by translators examines the effects of age, context, and methods of learning the first and second languages on the type of strategy chosen. (MSE)

Sets out 11 principles that relate second language teaching to more general theoretical perspectives on teaching. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the fundamental problems within speech act theory, focusing on the extent that these problems undermine attempts to apply speech act theory in the field of language pedagogy. (96 references) (Author/OD)