When the ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher discovers the reasons underlying student errors, error correction will become a positive learning experience for both student and teacher. (CFM)

Four points in first versus second language teaching practices are contrasted: (1) order of mastery of linguistic structures and fluency; (2) ordering of presentation of linguistic structures; (3) teacher's role; (4) order of acquisition of linguistic form and function. Ways to use first language teaching practices in ESL are suggested. (CHK)

American and Canadian research is reviewed concerning the language needs of native primary students entering English schools from homes where a language other than English is spoken, and a study is reported that contrasted the language performance of children entering school from homes where only English is spoken and from homes where a language…

A description of a study which tried to establish the sequence of language development in a language other than English (Farsi) and to measure the syntactic complexity of the first language against that of the second. Results indicate a direction toward the construction of better course materials and tests. (AMH)

The "state of the art" in the three fields of contrastive analysis, error analysis and interlanguage is critically examined from the point of view of evolving an explanatory theory of a second language learner's performance. Each field is discussed with respect to its outreach, theoretical assumptions, methodology, claims and empirical…

The article criticizes present-day overemphasis of contrastive analysis procedures in second language instruction. Recommendations are for language teachers to reappraise their classroom objectives and to give paramount importance to mastery of language use rather than mastery of language structure. Pedagogical procedures based on situational…

A research report summarizes second language study, language training practices, and trainee attitudes toward language learning in the Peace Corps. The two equal parts of the study consist of findings and appendixes. Conclusions are grouped under (1) training practices and trainee attitudes, (2) associations and relationships, and (3) qualitative…

This study focused on linguistic analyses used in the PIF Project (Project in Error Analysis, Interlanguage Studies and Contrastive Linguistics), an ongoing study of learner language and a project in foreign language pedagogy. For the project, 120 Danish learners of English were divided into 12 groups representing different Danish educational…

Two basic issues underlie problems associated with the teaching of Bahasa Indonesia in the Indonesian primary schools. The first involves language standardization and deciding what form of the language will be taught. The criteria of understanding and communication are involved and such features as pronunciation, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation,…

This report presents detailed, nonevaluative descriptions of instructional methods used in a sample of outstanding language training centers. Together these 19 different training programs represent a student age range from subteen to adult. Included are both intensive and nonintensive, military and civilian, and governmental and nongovernmental…

This selective bibliography is divided into 2 main sections. The first deals with Thai-English contrastive studies and lists 3 books, or sections in books, and 11 journal articles. The second section deals with error analysis for Thai speakers learning English and lists 2 journal articles. The entries range in date from 1955 to 1974. The books…

This paper presents some thoughts on teaching listening and speaking skills in second language learning. Both teacher and student roles are discussed along with learning devices. Teacher and student share active and productive roles in the development of listening and speaking skills; the breadth of each of their roles encompass both self-analysis…

THE HYPOTHESIS THAT TYPEWRITING INSTRUCTION COULD BE USED AS AN AID TO THE LEARNING OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE WAS TESTED. STUDENTS WERE ASSIGNED TO EXPERIMENTAL AND CONTROL GROUPS, MATCHED ON THE BASIS OF PRECOURSE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEST SCORES AND SUCH OTHER FACTORS AS NATIVE LANGUAGE. BOTH GROUPS COMPLETED THE REGULAR 12-WEEK, ENGLISH…

In 1976, small special sections of English A (basic composition) were initiated within the English Department of the University of California at Davis to teach university-level writing skills to students in the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP), seventy-five per cent of whom speak English as a second language. This paper describes the design…

A Language-research experiment designed to examine the linguistic competence of bilingual Italian-American children demonstrates that structures shared by Italian and English are acquired in approximately the same order and at the same rate, and that the sequencing of specific structures reflects linguistic complexity. Structures appearing in both…