Many teachers working in proficiency orientated institutions, whether they work in national, local teaching contexts or global ones, find themselves confronted with a heavily loaded curriculum, often split into language and separate skills, and a very limited time frame to work within. This dilemma often leads teachers to what seems to be an…

Suggests that by reading aloud, students may come to a greater awareness of the three subsystems of the English punctuation system--inclusion, sentence stops, and sentence marks. (HOD)

Indicates in poetic form the author's doubts about electronic devices that emphasize spelling drills; notes her preference for instruction based on patterns of language. (GT)

Uses the critical perspectives of Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of language and Lev Vygotsky's theory of language learning to examine the polyphonic texture of writing workshops, the dialogic classroom, the teacher's role as writer and authority figure, and the student's search for voice and role. (RAE)

It is proposed that etymological information, usually provided in native speaker's dictionaries but eliminated from learners' references, can serve several important functions such as disambiguate, relate words that are alphabetically far apart, illuminate by providing an image or reference, and motivate with interesting information. (Author/MSE)

A preliminary set of principles of judging the pedagogical utility of proposed grammar rules is offered. The goal is the inclusion in teaching materials of only those rules which are linguistically accurate, pedagogically sound, and relevant to specified instructional objectives. (Author)

Discusses ways of teaching complementary pronouns in Spanish, includinq pronouns of direct objects, reflexive verbs, and indirect objects. (NCR)

This essay examines a Brooklyn College-based research collective that placed African American languages and cultures at the center of the composition curriculum. Recovering such pedagogies challenges the perception of the CCCC's 1974 "Students' Right to Their Own Language" resolution as a progressive theory divorced from the everyday…

Defining regularity in the English language is not a straightforward matter because of the complex relations between sound and spelling. Predictable patterns are those spellings that can be readily predicted from pronunciation. Rare and unpredictable spellings are found only in a small set of words--probably 10% or less of the vocabulary in…

The term "communicative competence" has been in currency for approximately 10 years and is generally used to refer to teaching strategies which substitute real-life situations and contexts for meaningless mechanical and structural exercises. In essence, it attempts to put content and contact into the speech act. However, early proponents…

It is suggested that although patterns learned as a part of native language acquisition may interfere with learning a second language, the use of metalanguages may promote an understanding of the native language that in turn contributes to learning others. Specific examples of classroom exercises are included. (MSE)

Considers why basic writers write in "phrases patched upon phrases." Examines how language is patterned and acquired to clarify a framework for teaching basic writers. States that speaking and writing, two different ways of organizing and presenting information, have different structures. Explores what cognitive psychology can say about…

Examines some of the theoretical and practical objections to error analysis and proposes it would be more appropriate for teachers to lead students through the use of creative language exercises into the use of many of the possible sentences in a language. (HOD)

Looks at the ways grammar and vocabulary are interconnected and suggests some implications for language teaching. Suggests that language teachers focus on word patterns to encourage four aspects of language learning: understanding, accuracy, fluency, and flexibility. (four references) (Author/CK)

It is suggested that contrastive linguistics, the systematic comparison of two languages, be considered in the preparation of instructional materials and as a choice of teaching methods and techniques for training tranlators and interpreters. The contrastive analysis hypothesis suggests that the major source of errors committed by learners of a…