Discusses teaching students to be sensitive to the nuances of word choice, intonation patterns, slang, and grammatical deviations in a second language. Suggests some classroom techniques to develop this awareness. (EKN)

Teachers should know language structure when dealing with the diagnosis of pupils' language difficulties. Simple solutions, such as proofreading his/her work, underlining, and transcribing paragraph dictation may be suggested for students once the teacher grasps the sound/symbol/syllable structure of English. (CL)

Discusses the noun-plus-adjective construction in contemporary German and problems in translating this pattern into English. (AM)

It is proposed that many students are unable to distinguish between unguarded writing patterns and literate or expository ones, and it is becoming increasingly necessary in writing instruction to clarify and impose the distinction between these patterns. This problem is confounded by current trends toward exclusively spoken language in the…

Measures fathers' and mothers' linguistic involvement in the development of communication between young siblings--infants and toddlers. In a laboratory setting, 39 families, each with a mother, a father and two children, were videotaped in semistructured activities. Results suggest that fathers very actively direct sibling interactions, especially…

Examines word families, words grouped together by common meaning, orthography, form, and spelling. Discusses ways to encourage children's language acquisition and understanding of how words work in specific contexts. (HTH)

This study of 40 hearing-impaired college students found that highly intelligible speakers were uniformly consistent in their speech production patterns, whereas speakers who exhibited low overall speech intelligibility were either extremely consistent in their aberrant production patterns or extremely inconsistent in their error patterns.…

The relationship between Eastern and Western languages is explored. Possible origins and the spread of language over the Eurasian land mass are discussed. (CW)

Spanish language teachers are encouraged to introduce popular sayings, figures of speech, and proverbs into the language curriculum, both as a means of maintaining the usage of the expressions and to bring variety to the language taught. Definitions, characteristics, origins, and general uses of such expressions are outlined. Some of the most…

A simplified pattern of noun formation is outlined that can assist the German teacher in helping students understand constituent relationships in long or obscure German nouns, providing an overview of significant patterns that covers a relatively complete noun system. First, significant patterns in nouns outside the process of formation, and…

Suggests ways of getting students involved in the study of poetry: (1) showing how poetic elements appear in everyday life, (2) using demonstrations and gimmicks to generate enthusiasm, (3) starting with contemporary poetry before examining the "classics" and "masterpieces," and (4) having students practice writing poems. (RL)

Presents a set of rules for learning grammatical gender in French. (AM)

Presents an approach for helping students to explore the auditory level of meaning of a poem in a step-by-step manner. (TJ)

The language of argumentation, taught increasingly often at the advanced level of French second-language learning, is discussed. Rationale for its teaching, basic concepts within the emerging discipline, and its relationship to traditional language teaching are examined. (MSE)

This 16-unit text is an instructor guide and student workbook in one text to accompany a videotape for intermediate and advanced English-as-a-Second-Language students, focusing on some of the different functions and idiomatic uses of the English language. Goals are to bridge the gap between classroom English and real-life English and to improve…