Explores six Chinese terms that are among a handful of identifiable cultural keywords that have played an important role in Confucian heritage cultures. by examining common translations and explanations of the keywords in English, shows that their meanings are interrelated and overlapping.A questionnaires was used to investigate how native Chinese…

A study examined the validity of the distinction between interactional language, used to express social relations and personal attitudes, and transactional language, which conveys factual or prepositional information and is message oriented, within and across languages and cultures. Data were drawn from natural telephone conversations of three…

Discussion of oral communication between native and non-native speakers focuses on proficiency-related differences in interactions where the non-native speaker is experienced and those in which he is a novice. Research in oral proficiency development, discourse domains, and communication strategies is reviewed. It is argued that the ways in which…

A New York-based corporation found that communication difficulties between native and non-native English speakers were limiting company efficiency and were obstructing the professional progress of nonnative speakers who were otherwise competent employees. Phonology, especially intonation patterns made continuous discourse hard to grasp, while some…

A pilot study investigated the varieties of English used in two commercial contexts and the success of speakers from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds in transmitting intended information to listeners from other native language backgrounds. A questionnaire was administered to both native speakers of English (NS) and non-native speakers…

A native speaker of a language possesses both grammatical and rhetorical competence. A grammatical model, in its deep structure, represents an "is a" relationship. It seeks to offer some explanation of a human being as a human being. A rhetorical model represents a "counts as" relationship. It seeks to offer some explanation of…

This study compared how Taiwanese and U.S. graduate students at one U.S. university made e-mail requests to professors. Taiwanese students had received formal English education in Taiwan but none in the United States. All participants provided several e-mails containing requests to their professors. E-mail data were divided into high-imposition…

A study investigated 42 native English-speakers' (NSs) perceptions of the pragmatic appropriateness of refusal statements. The NSs rated the appropriateness of 24 written statements in 4 different refusal scenarios, which were collected from both native speakers and non-native speakers. Four weeks later, as a reliability check, the subjects rated…

A study investigated patterns of usage of "can" and "may" (e.g., "May/Can I go to the bathroom?") among native speakers and non-native speakers of English. A questionnaire was administered to 25 native English-speakers, most aged 19-26 and the remainder over age 45, and 56 non-native speakers taking advanced…

A study of Texas high school students who are native speakers of Spanish with high levels of language ability was undertaken on the assumptions that (1) a large number existed, (2) bilingual schooling may have increased the prevalence of these individuals, and (3) from academic and professional points of view, these abilities might be used more…

A study sought to determine: (1) what factors had made a difference in student achievement on the Havasupai reservation in Arizona after the Havasupai had contracted for control of their education system, and (2) whether these phenomena repeated in other Native American schools which had contracted for control. The fact that Native American…

Although research on bilingualism in the schools shows the importance of measuring both English and Spanish language skills regularly, the testing of Spanish falls behind in both quality and frequency. Concerted multidisciplinary cooperation among bilingual educators, linguists, and psychometricians is now needed to produce a variety of valid…

Bilingual education involves the use of two languages as mediums of instruction. The particular goals of a bilingual education program often determine the type of program established. The two polar types of program models are: (1) that in which the native language is used only as an oral medium until the national language can be learned, and (2)…

This study investigated the word recognition processes of readers of Chinese as a native language (L1) and as a second language (L2), focusing on the effects of two factors, word familiarity and word structure difficulty (complexity of orthographic symbol), on reading accuracy and response time. Subjects were in three groups: (1) 14 adult native…

A study of Chinese logograph recognition investigated: (1) whether word-length effect is generalizable to Chinese readers in recognizing context-free logographic characters; (2) whether readers from mainland China would outperform readers from Taiwan when each group read its own familiar logograph version; (3) whether both groups would perform…