Reports the findings of research on the acquisition of French intonation by native speakers of Canadian English and Japanese. Results show that cross-linguistic influence in intonation is of central importance to the learner's acquisition of the target system, and that one should not underestimate the degree of the complexity of that influence.…

Evaluated attitudinal and affective responses toward accented English based on variation in role identity and intelligibility. American English was preferred; intelligible foreign accents resulted in more positive attitudes and affective responses compared to foreign accents that were unintelligible. Friends were viewed more positively compared to…

Recognizing that to learn about culture will aid the new Canadian in attaining cultural awareness, this article argues that it is imperative to develop strategies for teaching about culture. Using folklore as a critical methodology in the ESL classroom is such a strategy. Because folklore is an intrinsic part of everyday life, its use promotes and…

The paper deals with the status of American English in the Russian scholarly tradition of teaching English as a Foreign Language. The paper considers its influence on Russian values and the resulting intercultural personality transformation vs. the notion of cultural loss.

This reader is designed to accompany the sixth text in the Orientation in American English series. It is intended to provide advanced practice in reading comprehension as well as concentrated practice in composition techniques and writing. At the same time it supports and reinforces concepts and structures introduced in the text. The reader may be…

The controversy over teaching British versus American English is irrelevant, since one acquires, at least in the productive aspect, a non-native variety of English. The relative value of area studies is also considered, as are realistic language situations and use of non-native speakers for recording FL material on tape. (IFS/WGA)

Finds that American English is slighted in favor of British English in German schools. Cites examples of differlng language norms which could cause misunderstandings. Finds that American usage deserves more attention because of the political and cultural importance of the United States. (IFS/WGA)

It is widely believed that listeners understand some dialects more easily than others, although there is very little research that has rigorously measured the effects. This study investigated whether listeners experience more difficulty with regional, ethnic, and international dialects of English than with Standard American English. The results…

The transcript of and guide to a two-cassette course designed to assist Russian immigrants in erasure of their foreign accent can be used for either individual or group study. Narrative and taped demonstrations of American English that pinpoint typical phonological barriers and pronunciation difficulties are outlined. The author's own system of…

This paper discusses the concept of error in the learning of the phonology of a second language and argues that the concept of error must be viewed as a positive element, an initiation of the process of successive approximations toward the correct phonetic realization. Based on the idea that interference between two languages generates a…

Six hundred and sixteen CVC stimulus syllables beginning with /l/ and /r/ were presented by tape recording to six Japanese foreign students at Indiana University. Analysis of variance showed the effect of the final consonant variable on the identification of initial /l/ and /r/ was significant at the .05 level; the effect of the CV interaction was…

Describes the BBI Combinatory Dictionary of English and demonstrates its usefulness for advanced learners of English by administering a monolingual completion test, first without a dictionary and then with the BBI, to Hungarian and Russian English teachers. Both groups' scores improved dramatically on the posttest. (LMO)

Presents the results of an experiment which examined the temporal characteristics of voiceless plosives in American English, Arabic, and Arabic-accented English. Results showed that Arabic-accented English departed from the target language goal and constituted an articulation type characterizable as more Arabic than Arabic itself. (Author/SED)

Compares variant pronunciations of "clothes" in British and American colloquial with the D. Jones "norms" taught in German schools and with the mostly incorrect pronunciations of German students of English. Considers the genesis of the errors, and discusses possibilities for correcting and preventing such errors. (IFS/WGA)