A study on language transfer phenomenon from Thai to English is reported. The purposes of the study were to: (1) analyze the transfers from Thai to English caused by linguistic (syntax, lexis, meaning), organizational (sequence of development), style (genre, tone), and field (topic, function) factors; (2) compare the language transfers in…

For many teachers of reading comprehension, the establishment of communicative competence as the important criterion of analysis has brought about new and interesting insights into their work. But as more and more analyses of written texts refer to communicative analysis, it may be time to pause and think about what different people mean by…

Discusses the importance of the cultural component in the language learning process for providing a sound communication base. Examples are presented that reflect differences in speech patterns, such as politeness, of native speakers of British and Moroccan Arabic, with emphasis on culturally specific language patterns. (25 references)(OD)

A selection of the papers from a symposium on the application of linguistic concepts to teaching composition are contained in this document. The papers and authors are as follows: "Introduction: Coherence, Composition, and Text Linguistics" (Nils Erik Enkvist); "TUAP and the Teaching of Writing in Sweden" (Lennart Bjork): "Discourse-Level…

This study analyzes the use and distribution patterns of the Discourse Marker (DM) "You Know" in interviews with members of a Hispanic folklore dance troupe. The study attempts to demonstrate how the use of this DM expresses identity among Hispanic females and if its use is affected by the ethnic labels each speaker uses. By assessing…

A yearly cross-section of current work in Edinburgh University's Department of Applied Linguistics is offered with the aim of eliciting reactions and criticism. Papers in this compilation are: "Discursive Aspects of Metafiction: A Neo-Oral Aura?"; "The Reaction of Learners to Tape-Based Listening Comprehension Materials in French,…

This graduate level text on second language learning is divided into three sections. The first two sections provide a survey of the historical underpinnings of second language research in contrastive analysis and error analysis. The third section includes discussions of recent developments in the field. The first section contains articles on the…

This study of the linguistic acts of assenting and confirming is inspired by an attempt to create instructional materials for the learning of spoken English as a second language, with communicative competence as a goal. Observations are based on several hours of informal conversation between native speakers of English, mostly students and…

This syntactic analysis of Egyptian colloquial Arabic is based on the author's dialect which he designates as educated Cairene. This study offers a phonological as well as morphological background for the grammar of this particular dialect. The basic syntactic approach used is immediate constituent analysis. String analysis and transformational…

Emphasizes that applied linguistics, especially within the context of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction, faces a critical juncture and that publishing activities will influence the assessment of the discourses available to reconceptualize the field. Examines the process of editing an article about teaching the Gulf War to ESL students…

Focuses on the use of inexplicitness by native speakers (NSs) and nonnative speakers (NNSs) engaged in English conversations, for example impromptu, uninstitutionalized discourses. Shows that a characteristic of NNSs spoken language is the inappropriate level of inexplicitness used and the ways in which inexplicitness is manifested in the…

A planned 3-year joint project of the Nordic research council for the humanities that focuses on writing development in school-age children is described. Four Nordic countries are involved in the project: Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. In the study, discourse-level performance analyses of student writing in English as a Second Language are…

A major implication in the communicative approach to the teaching of foreign languages concerns classroom interaction in which students should participate. Ideally, this interaction should be identical to interaction in real-life communication situations that students will encounter. A prerequisite for determining whether these situations are in…

To determine the usefulness of cohesion frequency analysis in differentiating proficiency in the oral and written composition of English as a second language (ESL) learners, 22 adult learners of ESL were asked to write and tell a story. After transcription, the data were analyzed by holistic evaluation, cohesion form and frequency count, and error…

Papers from the conference include: "English and Human Morphology: 'Naturalness' in Counting and Measuring" (Sullivan); "Phonetic and Phonemic Change Revisited" (Lockwood); "Virtual Reality" (Langacker); "Path Directions in ASL Agreement Verbs are Predictable on Semantic Grounds" (Taub); "Temporal…