This study represents a first step in helping students of English learn the use and pronunciation of the letter "s." Beginning with a large corpus of contemporary "s" words and the distribution of /s/ allophones in Old English, the research uncovers the complete rule set in Modern English. (17 references) (Author/LB)

A study investigated children's understanding of the formal and functional aspects of written Chinese in an orthographic acceptability judgment task and a creative spelling task. Subjects were 60 Hong Kong children ages 4 to 9. Results suggest that learning to read and write in Chinese is not accomplished by rote learning of characters but through…

Examines the discussion of results in medical research articles to determine the strategies used by the writers to persuade the readers that their research is either new or a development of previous work and that their study is a contribution to a specialist field. Twenty-four research articles were analyzed using Swales moves analysis as well as…

Based on the analysis of the video recording of a French Grade 7 mathematics, this analysis bears on two specific episodes when two pupils--a boy and a girl-- successively go to the board and correct an exercise. The methodology used is a psychoanalytically-oriented clinical approach enriched with a micro-analytical description of the behavior of…

A qualitative study analyzed the distribution of participation by young children (ages 3-5) in family dinnertime conversation, focusing on "backstage talk," sequences adjacent to those in which the child is involved and within his auditory range, so that the child-projected participation-role alternates between that of addressee and overhearer.…

It is proposed that error patterns in acquisition of a second language can provide otherwise unavailable evidence for testing linguistic hypotheses about the second language itself. Three types of production and perceptual error patterns found in the learning of English by native Arabic speakers are outlined to support this suggestion. The error…

An examination of the reasons behind the strong evidence that practice in sentence combining leads to overall superiority in writing began with the development of a more precise syntactic instrument than had been used previously and a new set of criteria for rhetorical analysis which focused on unity, organization, succinctness, and cohesiveness.…

This study attempts to bring some clarification into the concept of translation, especially into the theoretical problems presented by the difficulties of translation. The following aspects of the question are treated: (1) translation in the past and present, including the controversy over translation as an art or a science, the relevance of…

In view of the many and varied language problems in the typical Australian school, a general course in language studies is essential for all teachers. This paper attempts to suggest a basic orientation and a set of guiding principles for such a course. The content of a general language course is discussed in terms of what a teacher needs to know…

Examines the results of a survey that sought to discover the role of linguistics in the training of teachers of French as a native language on the elementary level, and the role of linguistics professors at the university level in the training of these teachers. (AM)

Analyzes the ways in which language use reflects alignments and symmetry between people who are well-acquainted and communicate via electronic mail in Greek. Focus is on certain discourse features that form the conventionalized style of e-mail and frame contextualization cues, particularly certain patterns of code-switching and style shifts. (MSE)

Students following an Applied Language degree program conducted an introspective study of their learning of Russian. An evaluation of the study explored the source of initial difficulties in learning Russian, and revealed theoretical issues with implications for curriculum development. Arguments against presumed epistemological problems associated…

Motivation to study French was examined among first-year students using an extrinsic/intrinsic dichotomy approach to classify motivations. Students were found to be motivated by a wide variety of reasons, with personal or intrinsic reasons dominating. (Contains five references.) (Author/LB)

The origins of the English Genitive Apostrophe (EGA) are relatively recent, and considerable variation in its use by native speakers is evident. A study of 45 undergraduates/postgraduates suggests overall that there continues to be a lack of accord between usage of and prescriptive rules for EGA. (Contains 37 references.) (Author/LB)

Differences between scores of Limited-English-Proficient (LEP) and non-LEP ninth grade students on the Hawaii State Test of Essential Competencies were studied. The LEP population scored significantly lower than the control group; results are discussed in terms of language training needs. (15 references) (Author/LB)