The first of two papers on language history broadly defines historical linguistics and considers the activities of the descriptive linguist, who classifies the features of a language; the comparative linguist, who relates languages to one another; and the historical linguist, who is interested in the changes, completed and anticipated, of a living…

Fourteen research proposals related to the psychology of second-language learning are described in this report. Each project description includes: (1) background and objectives, (2) procedure, (3) duration, (4) personnel recommendations, and (5) budget estimates. Discussion questions center on the areas of language teaching materials, student…

European language-teaching theory and practice in retrospect covering the period from 1920 to 1970 are noted to be an amalgam of underlying disciplines, teaching methodologies, and technical aids. Chronologically presented, the "orthodoxy" of 1920-40 charts general similarities in the state of the art prior to a 10-year period of major…

This volume, one in a series on applied linguistics and language instruction, contains five articles dealing with teaching methods and linguistic course content. The articles, particularly germane to the teaching of French, include: (1) "The Relation of Linguistic Analysis to Foreign-Language Teaching," by Simon Belasco; (2) "The French Pronouns…

This volume, one in a continuing series in applied linguistics, contains 11 articles which guide the teacher seeking to understand and implement the individualization of instruction in the classroom. Written for language teachers at every instructional level, this text views individualized instruction as a realistic goal, emphasizing the…

Effective teaching of a foreign language to people who already have a command of their mother tongue requires surveying the main elements of the second language to determine differences from the first language. Phonological, lexical, and grammatical systems and cultural differences are considered. (SW)

WITH PROGRESS IN THEORETICAL AND APPLIED LINGUISTICS, THE APPLICATION OF LINGUISTICS TO LANGUAGE TEACHING HAS COME UNDER INCREASING SCRUTINY. WHILE THE STRUCTURALISTS HAVE FOUND COMPETITION IN THE MORE RECENT CONCEPTS OF THE COMPETENCE-ORIENTED AND THE PERFORMANCE-ORIENTED APPROACHES, AND MENTALISTIC THEORIES SEEM TO PROVIDE MORE EXPLANATIONS THAN…

A report of a round table meeting on Anthropology and Language Science in Educational Development (ALSED) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is presented. The purpose of the discussions was to develop national strategies to take advantage of the resources of anthropology and language science to improve the…

TO SECURE A BETTER ALIGNMENT OF THEIR MENTAL PICTURES WITH "EXTERNAL REALITY," MEN NEED TO PAY CLOSER ATTENTION TO WORD MEANING, PARTICULARLY WHEN CONVEYING INFORMATION ABOUT A CULTURE DIFFERENT FROM THEIR OWN. THE TRANSFER OF MEANING WITHOUT CONFUSION WILL OCCUR MORE READILY IF THE FOLLOWING POINTS FROM GENERAL SEMANTICS ARE KEPT IN MIND--(1) "NO…

This book, written for those who have no formal training in linguistics but who have an interest in language or language teaching, is meant as a practical text for use in introductory courses in Applied Linguistics. Its emphasis is on second language teaching, but it is also of interest to those who teach native speakers because it covers the…

The nature of conversation as communication is explored in its psychological, linguistic, and didactic aspects with particular reference to the learning of French as a second language. Major emphasis is placed on psychological and linguistic theories. In the didactic section, the problems, value, and methodology of conversation classes are…

This issue of the ALSED newsletter contains: (1) a description of the Anthropology and Language Science in Educational Development (ALSED) program; (2) information on the meeting of experts on diversification of methods and techniques for teaching a second language or foreign languages (Paris, Unesco, 15-20 September, 1975), which discussed such…

The first volume of this series is divided into reports, studies, and preliminary results of work in progress. All were presented at a meeting on contrastive linguistics held in Romania. The project is intended to reveal the specificity of the structures and systems of Romanian and English with a view to comparing them and, on that basis,…

The sixth volume of this series contains eight contrastive studies in the syntax and semantics of English and Romanian. They are: "Criteria for the Contrastive Analysis of English Nouns," by Andrei Bantas; "Adjectives as Noun Modifiers in Post-Verbal Position," by Ioana Poenaru; "Towards a Semantic Description of 'Tense'…

This paper is a summary report on the Second International Congress of Applied Linguistics held in Cambridge, England in September 1969. Because of the large number of papers delivered, only a selection of the papers delivered in any one section of the Congress are considered, and the author attempts to identify current interests and trends in…