Most teaching and reference materials on English idioms are primarily intuition based. As such, they often include seldom-used idioms and incorrect descriptions of the meaning and use of some idioms, hence limiting their usefulness to ESOL students. This article demonstrates how this problem can be addressed through a corpus-based study of the…

Language learning motivation plays an important role in both research and teaching, yet language learners are still largely understood in terms of North American and European cultural values. This research explored language learning motivation constructs in a Chinese cultural setting, where large numbers of students are required to study English.…

This transcript of and guide to a two-cassette course designed to assist Swedish and Norwegian immigrants in erasure of their foreign accents 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…

This paper presents a comparative analysis of the sounds in American English and Brazilian Portuguese in order to focus on the problems that Brazilian students may encounter when learning to speak English. The comparative analysis of the consonants, vowels, and diphthongs describes how a given sound is pronounced in both languages. Particular…

Investigates the role of dialect variation in the acquisition of American English by adult second language learners. The study revealed that dialect differences present problems for learners and cause variable intelligibility and negative learner attitude toward some varieties of English and its speakers. This attitude could negatively affect a…

Reports on two studies addressing the issue of ultimate attainment of pronunciation by late second-language learners. Findings indicate that it is not impossible to achieve an authentic, nativelike pronunciation of a second language after a specified biological time. The article argues that certain learner characteristics and learning contexts may…

A study of native and non-native English speakers' production of vowels in stressed and unstressed syllables found that non-native speakers had most difficulty with four-syllable words, producing a first-syllable vowel of variable quality, failing to reduce the second-syllable vowel, and failing to produce appropriate durations for vowels…

This transcript of and guide to a two-cassette course designed to assist Filipino immigrants in erasure of their foreign accents 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 is a contrastive analysis of British English, American English and Hungarian sentence prosody. The first part is an introduction stating the study's objective, scope and data, and briefly surveying the related literature. It outlines the study's view of prosodic features and its principles of comparison and prediction. Part Two inventories…

Examples of conversational interactions between a native speaker of English and a Japanese person learning English illustrate the need for more culturally sensitive English as a second language teaching, pointing out that language instruction requires attention and sensitivity to not just linguistic factors but also sociolinguistic aspects. (CB)

In view of the fact that the teaching of Standard English has high educational priority in American schools, and that its use as the medium of instruction makes it a vital skill for nonstandard speakers, the present paper reports on an investigation of the Standard English performance of young children from minority groups in which Standard…

An investigation of instances of phonological contact between Hungarian and American English concerns the perception and production of English interdental fricatives and English stops, in a representative selection of contexts, by native speakers of Hungarian. Implications of structural differences between the stop and fricative subsystems of the…

Examines the phenomenon of pragmatic transfer as a possible basis for cultural stereotypes. Data from second language (L2) German learners of English are compared with data from native speakers of American English. Results suggest that the German English L2 speakers produced responses more in keeping with German rules of speaking and conventions…

Examines the quantitative conditioning of English lone nouns of one language used in discourse in Ukrainian in a Canadian setting. Results yield a synchronic portrait of the integrated loanword, even when it bears no surface indication of that integration, is neither recurrent nor widespread, and has no history of attestation or other status in…

Focuses on the use of taboo language as beneficial for second-language learners. The article suggests that learners need to understand what constitutes "obscene" language in North American contexts, why native speakers choose to use it, and what it signifies sociolinguistically. Some nonlinguistic variables relevant to cursing are discussed. (15…