This paper reviews the history of contrastive analysis (CA) against the background of its objectives and its present problems and presents an outline of procedures which seem to be necessary to make the methods meet the objectives of applied CA. CA in the United States was closely connected with structuralism, which was an obvious cause for later…

Examines the loss in popularity of contrastive linguistics as a method for explaining second language learning systems, and calls for a turn to pragmatics in language teaching. (AM)

A discussion of the field of contrastive linguistics (CL) begins by defining the relationship between theoretical and applied CL in terms of the concept of finalization, which originated in the philosophy of science. Then, the historical development of CL in the United States and Europe is sketched. This development is seen as characterized by a…

Language is viewed as a nonhomogeneous hierarchical system, where complex correlations between a psychological/social dimension (external) and a linguistic dimension (internal) permit measurements of the stability and acceptability of its structures. Frequency of occurrence and integration in the system are presented as the key factors in the…

As part of a wider study of metalinguistic skills, a study examined the segmental awareness skills of adults with a low level of literacy and compared them with the skills of more literate adults of similar backgrounds. Subjects, 60 adults enrolled in adult education classes, were divided into three groups of 20 according to reading level.…

A project that investigated the metalinguistic awareness of adults (what they know about language as distinct from their ability to use language) is described and summarized in this final report. Subjects were 60 monolingual English speakers and 26 bilingual (Spanish and English) speakers enrolled in adult education classes. They fell into three…