Though our technical imagination is not restricted to the aesthetic, analogies of the latter in the former do give pause to consider anew the role of creativity and invention in language intervention design. On the norm side, aesthetic anticipations in the technical sphere appeal to the designers of language interventions to bring their solutions…

This book adopts as conceptual focus the technical mode of experience, exploring this characteristic mode of design as the angle from which the discipline of applied linguistics takes its cue. What makes applied linguistic concept formation possible? A number of elementary concepts and ideas are so basic to the discipline that they can neither be…

This study examines the correlation between the theory of pragmatic discourse of givenness and CP adverbial clauses from the two datasets: Q1 SCOPUS applied linguistics research articles and Thai undergraduate students' writing. The first set was 24 applied linguistics research articles from journals of "English for Specific Purposes"…

The term "communicative competence" captures the notion that the ability to use language in interaction requires not just control of linguistic form but also awareness of rules of use in different contexts (Hymes, 1972). Communicative competence is a slippery term: different actors in second language (L2) research, education, and…

This paper will deal, firstly, with the South African context, that cries out for attention to responsible language assessment. The renewed interest in language testing in South Africa is well illustrated in assessments of language ability for educational purposes generally, and more specifically in the assessment of academic literacy. Secondly,…

Applied linguists have developed complex theories of the ability to communicate in a second language (L2). However, the perspectives on L2 communication ability of speakers who are not trained language professionals have been incorporated neither into theories of communication ability nor in the criteria for assessing performance on…

Understanding and working with the complexity of second language learning and use in an intercultural orientation necessitates a re-examination of the different theories of learning that inform the different schools of second language acquisition (SLA). This re-examination takes place in a context where explicitly conceptualizing the nature of…

Summarizes Robert Lado's ideas on language testing and the study of linguistics. (DS)

Reviews two recent books on the role of linguistics in foreign language teaching, examining critically claims for the value of linguistics in teaching. Discusses the relation between theory and practice, sociolinguistic considerations, and measuring achievement. Considers what may reasonably be expected from applied linguistics. (Text is in…

This test was constructed to determine individual reaction to various linguistic principles and implications. The test consists of 170 "agree-disagree" items: 106 statements of principle (e.g., "The function of a dictionary is not to prescribe rules on how a language should operate, but simply to record what people say and write") and 64 practical…

This collection of essays includes topics from several areas of linguistics with special attention paid to the issue of language diversity, especially as confronted in the multilingual and multicultural southwestern United States. The first section contains essays on various topics ranging from the value of abstract syntax to "Homophones and the…

Part of a continuing series. (VM)

A study examined internal structure of the Discourse Completion Test (DCT), a technique used to elicit data in sociolinguistic research, and effects of systematic modification to its situational prompt on subject response. The DCT is a questionnaire containing situations, briefly described, designed to elicit a particular speech act. Subjects read…

A novel approach is examined for using developmental sequence data for deciding between Universal Grammar-based and problem solving models of adult nonnative grammatical development. Results support the Universal Grammar-based model of nonnative language acquisition. (19 references) (Author/LB)

Describes attempts to formalize and characterize a theory of communicative competence, focusing on the advantages of a preference model (which identifies and grades learning variables in order of importance) and of models developed on the premise of parallel distributed processing (which suggest that such rule-based processing are in fact gross…