This article advocates use of everyday colloquial English in the ESL classroom to give students the most exposure to the language and the ability to use English as a tool for real communication. (CHK)

A questionnaire given to graduates and students of English revealed that: most use of their English was in the home country; aural comprehension was most important, followed by reading-comprehension, speaking and writing. Abroad, English was used more in non-English-speaking countries than in England or the USA. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Describes some sample discrimination exercises, involving discrimination between forms, between two uses of a form, between different information patterns, and between forms having different social relevance. (IFS/WGA)

Conversation is not easy to teach because of the absence of natural stimuli. Role-playing is seen as the best way to practice natural and interesting conversation. (IFS/WGA)

"Gambits" are conversational tools for introducing what we're about to say, such as "Excuse me for interrupting, but..." A three-part textbook series for students of English as a Second Language entitled "Gambits" contains exercises for advanced students which attempt to recreate "real-life" language…

Presents the results of an anonymous, Internet-based questionnaire study on target language and first language use in university-level foreign language classes. Goals were to develop preliminary components of a descriptive model of target language and first language use and explore the relationships between target language and student anxiety…

Compares the attitudes towards divided or debatable usages between Hong Kong teachers and their students. Data were collected via elicitation tests. Findings showed significant differences between teachers' and students' attitudes towards debatable usages. (Author/VWL)

Examines language use and language preference of children aged 6 to 15 and their parents at the University of Botswana. Results indicate that the majority of the children speak Setswana and English, despite the fact that they come from different language groups. Language preferences of children differ from that of parents. Shows the growth of…

Provides insights into the Malaysian English language policy, required standards, and testing in language use in Malaysian tertiary institutions. Gives information about backwash effects in particular about institutional programs related to the teaching of English as a Second Language. (Author/VWL)

Explores the way in which language teachers can diagnose language learners' competence from both a sociocultural and linguistic perspective. Uses two sample "letters of complaint" to consider competence in terms of how well the writers organize and structure their texts in relation to their social purpose and cultural context and then examines the…

An earlier study of the sources of native speakers' perception of incoherence in English text produced by nonnative speakers was extended. Eighty subjects were tested using microcomputers rather than paper-and-pencil and again showed a strong effect for miscues and less significant effect for order of ideas. (Contains 32 references.) (Author/LB)

This study examined the linguistic experiences of Portuguese immigrant workers employed in a Toronto factory where Portuguese is used almost exclusively on the shop floor. It discusses why these workers often have negative attitudes toward the improvement of their English skills and what types language curriculum might be useful to immigrants…

Nonnative institutionalized varieties of English (NIVEs) are placed within a wide framework that includes the study of language contact and language acquisition in general. NIVEs and other contact varieties are explored from a sociolinguistic as well as second-language acquisition perspective. (105 references) (Author/LB)

Examines how native and nonnative undergraduate-student speakers adjust their referring expressions to each other in conversation. Finds that lexical entrainment was just as common in native/nonnative pairs as in native/native pairs; natives uttered more words than nonnatives in the same roles; and native expressions were judged less…

Argues that students' mother tongue should be allowed in the second language classroom sometimes and for certain purposes. Conducted an empirical study within the context of tertiary level English reading classes in China to see whether students' mother tongue is used, the purposes for using it, and the attitudes of teachers and students toward…