Analyzes listener back-channel responses observed in conversations--in English--between American and Japanese university students. Emphasizes the importance of careful attention given to the interactional management observed in intercultural conversation as well as the significance of realizing "otherness" in communication and social…

This study compared tone choice in parallel readings of scripted dialog by 12 speakers of British English and 12 learners of English from Korea, Greece, and Indonesia. It found that the nonnative speakers failed to use rising tones for socially integrative purposes in the way observed in the data from native speakers. Contains 27 references. (MDM)

Examined the comprehension of English restrictive relative clauses containing three universal factors (interruption, word order rearrangement, and parallel function) by Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students at American universities studying English as a Second Language. The findings support the dominance of language universals in the course of…

Examines the effects of vowel height and place of articulation in interlanguage devoicing patterns of final voiced stop consonants (b, d, g) in words such as "cab,""bad,""bag" in the acquisition of English as a foreign language by Mandarin, Japanese, and Portuguese speakers. Results display a combinatory effect of…

Analyzes the effect of training on perception of English vowels by native speakers of Basque and Spanish. University students who took a training course in English phonetics completed questionnaires and vowel perception tests. Findings confirm that training exerts a positive effect on the perception of English vowels and that this effect is also…

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)