Pragmatic proficiency has been incorporated in the EFL teaching and testing syllabi in China, but the corresponding tests still focus on linguistic competence. The gap between the teaching and testing is mainly due to the lack of generally accepted measures of communicative abilities such as pragmatic competence. This study developed a…

The text of dialogues published by the British Broadcasting Service and reprinted by the U.S. Information Agency were studied to determine various aspects of the two versions of the English language, particularly differences in the uses of the present perfect tense. (three references) (LB)

The current study examined the effects of Korean elementary school teachers' accents on their students' listening comprehension. It also examined students' attitudes toward teachers with American-accented English (a native speaker model) and Korean-accented English (a nonnative speaker model). A matched-guised technique was used. A Korean American…

The study examines how learner biases toward a particular national type of English affect interlanguage pragmatics. Specifically, this study assesses the degree to which Korean ESL (English as a second language) students' preferences for North American English influence their willingness to use Australian-English routines while studying in…

Although second language (L2) research has explored connections between sociopsychological variables and L2 socialization processes, relatively few investigations have compared heritage language (HL) learners to traditional foreign language (FL) learners in the North American context. This descriptive study compares the learning and acculturation…

The power and status of America in the world today are undeniable. This paper presents some empirical data about the attitudes and perceptions Danish learners of EFL have about British and American English. Ninety-six EFL learners participated in a verbal-guise experiment that involved rating different accents of English: American, Australian,…

Addresses the need for replication studies in the field of second-language acquisition and discusses the problems surrounding standards of reporting research. Notes a lack of uniform standards in reporting second-language learners' proficiency levels and proposes ways to achieve more thorough reporting of research that will allow others to engage…

Concerned with the student that uses the non-standard language of his family and friends, and suggests ways and techniques the teacher can use to teach language to these students. (RB)

Shows that results of a study that suggests one difference between Indian English (IE) and American English (AE) varieties is the phonetic realization of prominence may be due to misinterpretation of the positioning of stress in Indian English. Shows that by considering the louder syllable to the stressed one, IE stress correlates differ in…

In the absence of a comprehensive theory of the spoken language, the exploration of dynamic phonotactics--of actual running speech--can contribute to the understanding of oral language properties. Information based on spoken language data may also have fundamental implications for second-language learning. (24 references) (Author/VWL)

In recent years, increasing emphasis has been put on pragmatic competence as part of foreign language curricula. This article analyzes the devices used by learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) in order to perform the "speech act of disagreement" in their L2. Data from 27 ESL learners were gathered by means of Discourse…

Paper presented at the 16th Annual Conference, International Linguistics Association, New York, New York, March 13, 1971. (VM)

A comparison is made between the modal verb systems of German and English with an emphasis on the interference caused by slight variations. (TL)

A study investigated the effect of classroom instruction in giving compliments on actual encounters between native and non-native speakers of English. Production of compliments and replies to compliments were compared in two nine-member groups of Japanese learners of English as a Second Language, one group receiving six hours of formal instruction…

Research, pedagogical implications for reading, and the exploration of issues surrounding social dialects and reading are addressed in this annotated bibliography. Criteria for choosing the articles include (1) that all American children and teachers whose first language is English speak a dialect of American English; (2) that all dialects of…