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…

This paper discusses the present state of the art in neurolinguistic studies of bilingualism and delineates areas of further research. The most pertinent studies are reviewed historically. The paper then focuses on some fundamental concepts, such as a definition of bilingualism, interference, recovery process, specific localization, and synchronic…

The "natural" acquisition of a second language is compared to learning from instruction, including aspects of learning such as sequence of items learned (e.g., syntactic) for both children and adults. It is concluded that suggestions offered hitherto for applying findings from research in natural acquisition to the field of foreign language…

The need for applied psycholinguistics to be a distinct discipline, the objectives and scope of that discipline, and its theoretical basis and methodological tools are discussed. (MSE)

This research deals with a series of preliminary studies of the management of questions by second language learners of Swedish. Question management here refers to the ability to produce an utterance which successfully elicits a response from an interlocutor, and the ability to determine correctly when a response is required. The three exploratory…

Applied linguistics, like language teaching, is in a state of disarray. It has been caught in the turmoil associated with the downfall of the theoretical model and the rise of several others. It is no longer identified solely with language teaching, but has begun to explore the solution of language problems in nonformal educational settings and…

Definitions of communicative competence and research on developing communicative competence in a second language are reviewed and implications for teaching are discussed. Communicative competence refers not only to knowledge of the forms of a language but to their functions and appropriate use in context. Five areas of communicative competence are…

Research findings on semantic cohesion within a sentence and its effect on individuals' performance in using the sentences illustrate how research methodology can influence research outcomes. (MSE)

Investigates some of the affinities between the traditions of communicative competence and literacy studies by examining the historical and current use of ethnographic methodology in such studies. Describes how communicative competence theory is "branching out" into communicative approaches to second language pedagogy, mingling both psychological…

Course designers and teachers of English as a second or foreign language need a pedagogical grammar, that is, a collection of linguistic statements about English which specifies the linguistic behaviors that an ESL/EFL learner will need to acquire and which can easily be used in the preparation of materials and lessons. Pedagogical grammars…

Recent research findings that have potential application or are already contributing to the refinement of educational practice in bilingual education include developments in language research, teacher effectiveness research, and ethnography. In language research, these contributions include work on the need for and types of language proficiency,…

A review of literature on foreign language testing indicates that the earliest approaches to language assessment were generally uninformed by contemporaneous linguistic and psychological theories and were characterized by a lack of psychometric sophistication. This trend was followed by the development of test instruments that were heavily…

An argument is made that new kinds of transnational literature (i.e., literature that is no longer linguistically and/or culturally rooted in national categories only) are rapidly multiplying in the changing geography of the world. It is suggested that for linguists this trend offers new sources of data, new insights into the operation of language…

This paper examines the phenomenon of final consonant deletion in clusters which do not agree in voicing and compares this phenomenon with clusters sharing the voicing feature. The speech studied is that of Puerto Rican and black Harlem teenagers. The data reported here refutes many of Bailey's (1972) claims. Clusters where voicing is not shared…

This article describes some of the frustrating obstacles that a scholar researching the field of applied Chicano linguistics is likely to encounter. Good scholarship in this field is found primarily in dissertations. Sources of bad scholarship (i.e., lacking is scholarly rigor) include theses done in colleges of education, articles in teachers'…