Utilizing the framework of educational linguistics, we investigate ways to foster greater awareness of, and facility with, academic English for educators and students across disciplines by maximizing the popularity of language-related software packages, applications and websites, those already commonly found in and out of the classroom. Our work…

Examines the syntactic aspects of code-switching from Egyptian to standard Arabic, as displayed in radio and television interviews and panel discussions. The process does not proceed randomly but is governed by principles dependent on switch position, type of category involved at the switch position, and language variety. (Author/CB)

Four realizations of the copula occur in English, two in both Anglo and Black English and two in Black English and in some varieties of Anglo English but not in standard English. This paper describes the use of the copula in English and identifies the phonological, syntactic, and semantic factors which are believed to condition its realization in…

Examined a nonstandard pattern of agreement found in certain varieties of Atlantic Canada Acadian French. Quantitative analysis of subject-verb agreement patterns in Newfoundland French revealed consistent invariant behavior in this dialect, or, where there is variation, variation constrained according to specific linguistically based factors. (19…

Purpose: The current study focuses on describing the English language narrative skills of children who have been exposed to the Filipino language. Method: Eight children between the ages of 6;0 (years;months) and 7;7 who spoke primarily English but who were exposed to the Filipino language at home participated. Each child produced three narrative…

Traces the history of Africans in Mexico and the Costa Chica and compares elements of the regional speech as described in a 1958 study with data collected on-site in 1991-1992. Findings indicate that the successful introduction of public education coupled with the ubiquity of the mass media have reduced or eliminated the more distinctively…

Discusses the idea that for many Black adolescents the use of creole is an assertion of identity and cultural difference. Examines the use of and attitudes toward creole by both Black and White adolescents in London. (EKN)

This study was designed to identify and analyze some of the common linguistic patterns that impede the academic progress of black students entering college. A questionnaire, distributed to educators in communication skills on the college level, asked for the identification of common black linguistic features according to familiarity and use in…

Foreign Workers' German (FWG) refers to the acquired German language skills of workers from various countries who were recruited to West Germany between 1955 and 1973 to fill menial, undesirable jobs. Contact between these workers and native German speakers was limited because of the nature of the foreigners' work, the tendency toward residential…

During the past two decades the educational community has focused much attention on the language of urban minority children. Analytic positions set forth tend to assume varying degrees of either language deficit or language differences. The language deficit position is examined in this work from a sociolinguistic or psycholinguistic point of view.…

This paper expresses concern that teachers do not agree on when, where, and how to deal with the non-standard English of blacks and other minorities. Sections of the paper discuss a definition of Black English, some forms and patterns of Black English, the language development of black children, the black child and the school, implications for…

The English spelling system and the teaching of English spelling are discussed in relation to students who are learning English as a second (or foreign) language. The systematic nature of English spelling is described and a brief summary is presented of sound-to-spelling correspondences and of other spelling rules. Specific difficulties which may…

Based on transcribed conversations with black children in kindergarten and the intermediate grades, a study was devised to determine whether black urban children from lower socioeconomic areas speak a systematic, consistent form of nonstandard English, and if so, to provide a syntactical analysis of the dialect of nonstandard speakers. Speech…

This study examines the usage of the auxiliaries "avoir" and "etre" in the passe compose and pluperfect. The study is primarily based on a sample of French written by agroup of grade 9 Franco-Ontarian pupils from the Sudbury region. The students' written French is shown to include a high proportion of cases where intransitive…

The great majority of poor readers in urban schools are members of an ethnic minority, a low social class, and a poor family. The simple recognition of these factors, however, is of no help in characterizing the specific sources of language norms among urban minority students or in determining the ways these distinctive norms interfere with…