To explain the phenomenon that certain English verbs resist passivization (e.g., "*£5 was cost by the book"), Pinker (1989) proposed a semantic constraint on the passive in the adult grammar: The greater the extent to which a verb denotes an action where a patient is affected or acted upon, the greater the extent to which it is…

The aim of this paper is to find out the attitudes towards Geordie regional variety of English compared to Received Pronunciation (RP) among Turkish speakers of English. There is a recent trend in English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) studies which argue that there are different 'Englishes' and these Englishes have different attitude and prestige…

The current study tests the Interface Hypothesis through forward and backward anaphora in complex sentences with temporal subordinate clauses in highly proficient English-speaking learners' second-language (L2) Chinese. Forward anaphora is involved when the overt pronoun "ta" "he/she" or a null element appears in the subject…

This paper reports on a small-scale qualitative study of students' experience of their Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) degrees with particular regard to the relationship between language and content learning. It is framed by the identification in the recent Worton Report on MFL studies in UK higher education and elsewhere of a dualism between…

Set in the context of international concerns about boys' achievements in writing, this article presents research that explores gender differences or similarities in linguistic competence in writing. Drawing on the results of a large-scale analysis of the linguistic characteristics of secondary-aged writers, we outline gender difference in the…

This article focuses on some of the key issues that need to be addressed by 2010 if MLPS in England is going to work. The aims of MLPS need defining as educational, not instrumental; the KS1/2 experience has to be enjoyable and rewarding: an apprenticeship in learning how to learn a language, providing the tools for later learning and raising…

Examines the influence of conversational interaction on language change. Described two experiments that contrast language coordination between speakers who interacted with the same partner and speakers who interacted with different partners in a maze game context. Suggests that the experiments illustrate how a community affects language change as…

Contends that children need to learn phonic skills, not necessarily through early direct teaching, but through reading experience. Suggests using Paired Reading, which is validated by psycholinguistic reading theory and provides opportunities to learn to read from context and use innate syntactic and semantic knowledge. (SKC)

Reports on a longitudinal study on the effects of students' early linguistic development and family background on test performance when the students reach the end of their compulsory schooling years. Finds a considerable degree of continuity between early language development and later examination performance. (CFR)