Metrical phonology, a linguistic process of phonological stress assessment and diagrammatic simplification of sentence and word stress, is discussed as it is found in the English language with the intention that it may be used in second language instruction. Stress is defined by its physical and acoustical correlates, and the principles of…

The importance of training second language learners in the patterns of occurrence of certain phonemes is discussed, focusing on the use of spelling as a primary predictor of pronunciation. Four different pronunciations of "ng" in English (as in "engaging, singer, changing, dangle") are used to illustrate this principle. A review of pronunciation…

A study investigated spelling error patterns in native Spanish-speaking students of English as a Second Language to determine the degree to which errors can be attributed to phonological patterns. Specifically, it examined (1) which spellings can be attributed to differences in voicedness of consonants, and (2) whether the voicedness can be used…

This guide is designed to help college-level teachers of English as a Second Language address the particular linguistic characteristics and instructional needs of native Chinese-speaking students. The first chapter profiles four Chinese students at the City College of New York, focusing on their basic literacy in Chinese, immigration issues,…

Use of poetry in advanced college-level classes of English as a second language is discussed, focusing on the oral (acoustic) texture of poems as contrasted with their syntactic, lexical, or figurative qualities. Discussion begins with the characteristics and objectives of the learners in question and the basis in both literary and linguistic…

A collection of essays on pronunciation instruction theory and practice includes: "Teaching Pronunciation as Communication" (Marianne Celce-Murcia); "Learner Variables and Prepronunciation Considerations in Teaching Pronunciation" (Rita Wong); "Pronunciation and Listening Comprehension" (Judy B. Gilbert); "Pronunciation Tutorials for Nonnative…

Specific tools and techniques to help students of English as a Second Language overcome pronunciation problems are presented. The selection of problems addressed is based on the frequency and seriousness of errors that many native Chinese-speaking learners produce. Ways to resolve various problems (e.g., missing final consonants, misplaced stress…

Papers from the 1998 Hispanic Linguistics Symposium include: "Patterns of Gender Agreement in the Speech of Second Language Learners"; "'Nomas' in Mexican American Dialect"; "Parsing Spanish 'solo'"; "On Levels of Processing and Levels of Comprehension"; "The Role of Attention in Second/Foreign Language Classroom Research: Methodological Issues";…