A series of computer programs and routines intended to assist researchers in the analysis of language usage--with a power comparable to statistical computer routines--was developed by the Southwest Regional Laboratory (SWRL). This document is one of a series that describes the design specifications for the individual modules which comprise the…

Presents some points of divergence between current English and French rhetorical theory. Documents a few standard forms of composition in French that are not found in the English. Assesses pedagogies typical of the French tradition and concludes that the theory and pedagogy of the two languages are quite disparate. (AEW)

Graffiti analysis is an important means of understanding social and cultural realities at a given moment of a community's existence, realities that the media often treat only in generalizations. Comparisons of graffiti between places, periods, languages, and subjects may be revealing. (MSE)

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)

Discusses complexities inherent in correcting second language students' spoken and written errors. Alternatives to current error correction methods (1) focus on the use of error correction to improve students' language form, (2) involve the real communicative consequences of inaccuracy, (3) suggest strategies for attending to form when listening…

Discusses the phonetic module that increases the rate of information flow, establishes the parity between sender and receiver, and provides for the natural development of phonetic structures in the individual. Cites evidence and function of this specialization and architectural relations between the two classes of modules. (Author/RT)

Investigates the organization and rhetoric of sales negotiations using a methodology that draws on discourse analysis and business studies of negotiation. Differences in the status-bound behavior of New Relationship Negotiations and the role enactment of the Old Relationship Negotiations are noted, and various strategies for saving professional…

Although Eskimo languages are commonly characterized as displaying rather "free" word order compared to major western European languages, West Greenlandic (WG) has a clearly dominant, pragmatically neutral ordering pattern. It is argued that WG behaves more like Slavic languages. (Contains 36 references.) (LB)

This paper describes the strategies used by an expert in communication as he analyzed conversations between an eight-year-old hearing-impaired girl and her teacher. Protocol analysis is used to identify a pattern in the analysis, beginning with social conventions and proceeding to discourse genre, sentences, and finally, individual words. (DB)

This descriptive study analyzed the emergence of the imperfect in the written production of 30 beginning learners of Spanish. The analysis focused on the use of the imperfect and the morphological marking of state verbs. The results follow the patterns predicted by the aspect hypothesis (Andersen and Shirai, 1994), and support some refinements of…

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…

Though diversity serves as a valuable source for rhetorical inquiry, expressivist instructors who privilege diversity writing may also overemphasize the essential authenticity of their students' vernaculars. This romantic and salvationist impulse reveals the troubling implications of eighteenth-century Natural Language Theory and may,…

A current project is underway to develop a multimedia system that would support the teaching and learning of Chinese characters, as well as provide a platform for conducting research into the cognitive aspects of Chinese language acquisition. Although the number of commonly used Chinese characters amounts to thousands, there are many structural…

Possible origins for the use of "sorrow" as a negation in Hiberno-English are considered. Much of the evidence examined here comes from English literature. It is concluded that the uses of "sorrow" as negator and as euphemism probably reflect Celtic substrate influence. Structural evidence indicates that "sorrow"…

The study evaluated the effects of an auditory monitoring and feedback approach on an adolescent boy's schizophrenic language patterns. The approach attempted to increase the subject's auditory awareness and to train him to identify and correct the linguistic errors of others and, eventually, of himself. Language samples were analyzed at baseline…