This dissertation draws on both qualitative and quantitative approaches to investigate the linguistic practices of teachers and children who are learning Mandarin Chinese as a Heritage Language (CHL) in two dual immersion preschools in California. CHL children have been interpreted as novice members in local speech communities who actively explore…

This article reports the findings of sociolinguistic research investigating the use of second-person singular pronouns in Costa Rica. The study was carried out onsite and involved 132 interviewees from all seven provinces of the country. These subjects reacted to scenarios in which they had to choose their preferred pronoun of use…

This study investigated English teachers' use of learners' L1 (Arabic) in college classrooms in Kuwait. The purpose of the study was three-fold: (1) to describe the functions for which L1 was employed by the teachers, (2) to explore the affective, sociolinguistic, and psycholinguistic factors that may have led teachers to use L1 in L2 teaching,…

This volume offers a wealth of new information about the forms of several speech acts and their social distribution in Vietnamese as L1 and L2, complemented by a chapter on address forms and listener responses. As the first of its kind, the book makes a valuable contribution to the research literature on pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and language…

This study examines the acquisition of target-like patterns of variation by 22 American learners of French during study abroad (SA) in France and correlates such acquisition with the creation of dense, multiplex, exchange-based social networks (Milroy 1980) with native speakers (NSs) during the SA period. In this longitudinal study, naturalistic…

This volume collects empirical studies applying Conversation Analysis to situations where second, third and other additional languages are used. A number of different aspects are considered, including how linguistic systems develop over time through social interaction, how participants 'do' language learning and teaching in classroom and everyday…

Discusses teaching students to be sensitive to the nuances of word choice, intonation patterns, slang, and grammatical deviations in a second language. Suggests some classroom techniques to develop this awareness. (EKN)

An investigation of the sociolinguistic features that govern contemporary use of the Italian formal ("Lei") and informal ("tu") forms of address suggests that teachers of Italian must help students become aware of the complex factors underlying the choice of form, rather than just drill them in usage. (12 references) (CB)

Describes a study showing how the classical Chinese world view finds its way into Chinese students' written compositions. English teachers must help students progress from writing based on reasoning and rhetoric indigenous to their own culture, to writing in line with the thought and rhetoric patterns of the English-speaking context. (CB)

An approach to English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) teaching that helps students prepare for intercultural communication is described, drawing on the literature of second language learning and intercultural communication. First, potential barriers to intercultural understanding are examined, including the culture-bound nature of communication,…

Presents a descriptive analysis of speech acts in Arabic: forms of address, apologies, requests, expressions of gratitude, disagreement, greetings, refusals, partings, and telephone etiquette. Results reveal that linguistic formulas of each speech act were determined by social distance, formality of the situation, age, level of education, and…

This report shows that verbal routines are not easily acquired by adult second language learners and it identifies some of the specific problems they have in acquiring routines. Empirical data concerning the role of verbal routines, (that is, fixed expressions which have been acquired as memorized wholes), in adult second language performance are…

This exploratory study examines the efficacy of Focus on Form (i.e., brief instruction on linguistic forms while learners engage in meaning) at the pragmatic level. Specifically, comparing Focus on FormS (interactions followed by explicit debriefing on pragmatic forms) and Focus on Form (interactions followed by debriefing on meaning), the…

A study investigated whether sociolinguistic rules are taught as part of instruction in English as a Second Language in Japan. It was determined that of three types of institutions in which English is taught, the private language institutes offer far better language instruction than public schools or universities, and that some of the instructors…

One of the ways in which language testing interfaces with applied linguistics is in the definition and validation of the constructs that underlie language tests. When language testers and score users interpret scores on a test, they do so by implicit and explicit reference to the construct on which the test is based. Equally, when applied to new…