A comparison of the error profiles of monolingual (child L1) learners of Dutch, Moroccan children (child L2) and Moroccan adults (adult L2) learning Dutch as their L2 shows that participants in all groups massively overgeneralize [-neuter] articles to [+neuter] contexts. In all groups, the reverse gender mistake infrequently occurs. Gender…

Examines the field of Spanish linguistics over 100 years, subdividing Spanish linguistics into several subdisciplines: historical grammar, descriptive phonetics, Spanish phonology, contrastive structures, descriptive grammar, Spanish syntax, specific Spanish dialectology, Spanish in Africa and Asia, sociolinguistics of Spanish-speaking societies,…

Referring to a recent British publication, discusses linguistic problems in technical language and their relevance to foreign language teaching. Mentions specifically "cognitive structures" common to the foreign and the native languages, which can facilitate understanding technical texts. Discusses also "modes of discourse" which are relevant to…

The test described here is a particular type of diagnostic test; it is part of a series of tests designed to explore systematically areas of potential lexical difficulty in the English language for French-speaking students of English. The lexical units are considered under their formal, morphological, syntactic and semantic aspects. The test has…

While proficiency tests make a positive statement about the language ability of those who pass, it says nothing about those who don't. Since the proficiency test's questions are too general, a "sufficiency" test was developed to determine if students had "enough" English to meet the needs that motivated their study. (PJM)

Presents an annual survey of doctoral degrees granted in foreign languages, literatures, cultures, linguistics and foreign language education in the United States. The report lists degrees in the fields of African Languages and Literatures, Asian Languages and Literatures, Celtic Languages and Literatures, Classics, Comparative Literature,…

Applied linguistics and psychometrics have influenced language testing, providing additional tools for investigating factors affecting language test performance and assuring measurement reliability. An examination is presented of language testing, including the theoretical issues involved, the methodological advances, language test development,…

The major articles in this publication devoted to applied linguistics and second language instruction include the following: (1) "The Centrality of Language: An Editorial," by James W. Marchand; (2) "Report on the Chicago Hearing of the President's Commission," by Paul A. Gaeng; (3) "Sense and Common Sense in the Study of…

The following papers and reports are included: (1) "Prisoners of Code-Centred Privacy: Reflections on Contrastive Analysis and Related Disciplines" by Kari Sajavaara and Jaakko Lehtonen; (2) "The Methodology and Practice of Contrastive Discourse Analysis" by Sajavaara, Lehtonen, and Liisa Korpimies; (3) "Interactional Activities in Discourse…

Papers sponsored by the Language Awareness Working Party, a task force of Great Britain's National Congress on Languages in Education concerned with common concerns of professionals in all areas of native and second language instruction, include: "The Report of the Language Awareness Working Party"; "Language Awareness in Six Easy…

Although there is extensive research on Anglicisms in the German language e.g. Carstensen, 1965; Carstensen, Busse & Schmude, 19936; Fink, 1970, 1980, 1995; Grlach, 2002, few studies look beyond lexical borrowing and structural impact to consider other aspects and dimensions of English-German contact in the Federal Republic of Germany. This…

Discusses the speech act approach and its usefulness in conveying the meaning of the imperative both for the native speaker and for the purpose of language acquisition. Analyses the infinitival construction of German-language advertising slogans and describes its potential for conveying a variety of messages. (Author/MES)

The Standards for Foreign Language Learning present a definition of language teaching that includes the sociolinguistic and cultural aspects of language. The article analyzes the concept of communicative competence as used by sociolinguists and anthropologists and examines some of the components of communication (interpersonal, interpretive, and…

Thirty-five articles on teaching English as a second language are presented under the following headings: (1) "Trends and Practices," (2) "The Matter of Errors," (3) "Second Language Acquisition," (4) "Speaking and Understanding," (5) "Reading and Writing," (6) "Vocabulary," (7) "Testing," and (8) "The Matter of Culture." Authors include Clifford…

At irregular intervals, beginning in 1977, Swedish-Finnish conferences on contrastive and applied linguistics have been arranged in Stockholm and Turko/Abo. This volume presents most of the papers given at the 1982 conference. Papers include: "Free Recall of Mixed Language Lists. Error Patterns in Bilingual Memory" (Karin Aronsson, Anja Metsola,…