Spanish verbs pose contextual problems for the non-native speaker in his use of the subjunctive, reflexives, and pronouns. The semantic range and syntactic contexts of many common verbs are usually treated and learned very unsystematically. One ordinarily seeks answers to contextual questions from a dictionary, but dictionaries do not provide…

In recent years, there has been a growing research interest in the analysis of errors adults make while learning a second language. The underlying objective of most of these analyses has been to reveal the systematicity of adult errors in an effort to understand the process of adult second language learning. This paper deals with errors from a…

This paper explores the meanings and distribution of the perfect in contemporary American English prose, with reference to problems encountered in teaching English as a second language. The English perfect comprises forms traditionally called present perfect tense, past perfect tense, and perfects of the infinitive, gerund and present participle.…

This paper presents three viewpoints of the coding of language in English spelling: the classical view (that letters are a code for phonemes but that English spelling contains much irregularity), the revolutionary position (that letters do not code phonemes at all), and the eclectic view (that English spelling does code phonemes but that it also…

A device of emphasis in French syntax is defined as a construction of syntactic paraphrase whose function is to make certain parts of a sentence stand out for purposes of contrast, clarification, differentiation, or because a given element is considered important. These devices exist in French because of the lack of a phonemic stress system, and…

In this paper, an attempt is made to explicate the notion "equivalence" in contrastive analysis. It has been suggested that a learner formulates successive hypotheses about the nature of the target language at least partially on the basis of his knowledge of the native language. A deep contrastive study of the two language systems will…

This paper suggests that traditional syntax describes a sentence's syntactic structure, and that verb valence theory describes a sentence's semantic structure. According to this theory, a verb has a certain valence, or power to attract a certain number of "adjuncts." It is further shown that a given semantic structure can be converted into…

The hypothesis of the research described here was that nine-year-old second language learners would improve their linguistic skills through the method of peer tutoring. Four tutors were selected from a group of fourth grade volunteers. The four tutees were second language learners having difficulties with acquiring sufficient English language…

This paper suggests methods for teaching the Russian verbs that govern what are loosely termed "objects" in oblique cases. The case government of such verbs is not necessarily an individual irregularity. Definite patterns emerge, both morphological and semantic, to facilitate grouping these verbs into classes. Russian verbs requiring genitive…

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to teachers' classroom language as a variable in the formal learning process. The language used in class by teachers assumes additional importance in formal second language learning situations, where the target language as used by the teacher is not only the means for conveying content, but also…

The prenominal relative modifer construction (PREM) in German, while not a compulsory grammatical feature of the language, is a stylistic means of expression which native speakers use readily in non-casual speech and writing. Teaching the active use of this construction at the intermediate level of German study may be an effective means of helping…

Contrastive analysis is vitally associated with foreign language teaching. A competent bilingual's intuition about the relationship of the forms in the two languages is the most important part of the valid data for analysis. By means of contrastive analysis major grammatical problems for American students learning Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) noun…

This paper explores the implications of presumed language universals and language particulars for second language teaching and learning. It is felt that an awareness of the universal features of language design builds confidence in the student who can concentrate on features which distinguish the target language from the native language. Examples…

This paper discusses the English verbal inflectional system within the lexicalist framework. A lexicalist approach to syntax is one in which all syntactic grammatical relations, lexical items, and the result of transformations are subject to semantic interpretation. That is, semantic information cannot be generated by syntactic rules. A filtering…

This paper attempts to give a unified view of the workings of noun clauses. These are considered according to three main types corresponding to three different kinds of source sentences. All three types can be used in any usual noun-phrase function, especially subject, direct object, and prepositional object. Four factors which complicate the…