This study investigated English teachers' use of learners' L1 (Arabic) in college classrooms in Kuwait. The purpose of the study was three-fold: (1) to describe the functions for which L1 was employed by the teachers, (2) to explore the affective, sociolinguistic, and psycholinguistic factors that may have led teachers to use L1 in L2 teaching,…

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)

Suggests that the acquisition of German syntactic patterns can be facilitated by providing 10 rules for German word order at the beginning of the first semester of instruction. The 10 rules and illustrative examples are included as well as notes on their use. Two sample student handouts are appended. (SED)

Consistent areas of difficulty for Navajo and Chicano speakers learning English as a second language are summarized. Exercises to correct these specific problems are cited, using a contrastive approach. (HTH)

Demonstrates how a constructivist approach to teacher education helps inexperienced teachers understand learning and teaching of aspect, a core grammatical concept. By consciously experiencing the process of narration, apprentice teachers construct deeper awareness of form/meaning aspectual correlations of the target language. More generally,…

A review of research on second-language speaking and its instruction focuses on (1) methodological issues concerning the form/function dichotomy and their implications for teacher and learner interaction; (2) the nature and scope of current teaching materials, particularly with regard to their representations of speaking interaction; and (3)…

Describes an exercise in lexical analysis, involving verbs of sound in English and Spanish. The aim of the exercise is to enable students to discover underlying patterns of meaning that are representative of lexical-conceptual structure. (Author/VL)

This study examined use of connectors in oral narratives of 27 adult American learners of French, classified into four groups according to length of instruction and learning environment (classroom, immersion, mixed). Results show patterns of acquisition generally similar to those of children learning French as a native language and…

A system for classifying (coding) translations of sentence-length or similar material is presented and illustrated with codings of entries in the "Dictionary of Foreign Phrases and Classical Quotations." Problems in coding are discussed, relating especially to intertextuality, intention, and ownership. The system is intended for pedagogic use, and…

Investigated changes in pronominal usage of students in a classroom situation where attention to usage was heightened by instructor use of "she" as the generic singular and by instructor assessment of reactions to the practice. Results indicate that pronominal usage is susceptible to change. (Author/JAC)

Examines why the French verb of motion "passer" is used so much more widely in French than its English cognate "pass" is in English and identifies features of "passer" that distinguish it from similar motion verbs in French, concluding that the key is its relatively neutral semantic content. English avoids the…

Examines the nature and structure of idioms and idiomatic language and offers suggestions for teaching them. Topics addressed include the relationship between idioms and erroneous language, idioms' appropriateness in context, proverbs, and metaphors. Some exercises are included. (Author/MSE)

Looks at the influence students' native languages have on comprehension of Anglo-Saxon and Greco-Latinate elements of English vocabulary. Suggests use of a dictionary with etymologies, dictionary of English idioms, small group work involving both non-native and English speakers, etymological reference book, pre-med courses in Greek and Latin…

Onomatopoeia is overlooked in many French grammar courses but plays a key role in everyday speech. Classification according to the feelings communicated stresses their importance. Students enjoy learning the sounds produced by animals in a second language and discovering the abundance of onomatopoeia in songs, commercials, comic books, and slang.…

The comparison of languages can be an effective instructional technique if used well. The comparison of isolated elements is less effective than the examination of languages at several levels: system, norm, and usage. (MSE)