As the integration of Internet-based social networking tools becomes increasingly popular in foreign language classrooms, the use of modern communication technologies is particularly critical in the context of less commonly taught languages (LCTLs), where student exposure to the target language and its speakers is usually minimal. This paper…

This article explores multimodal literacy practices in a transforming multilingual context of an indigenous and endangered Sámi language classroom. Looking at literacy practices as embedded in a complex and shifting terrain of language ideologies, language norms, and individual experiences and attitudes, we examined how multilingual Sámi children…

This study on code-mixing focuses on the influence of Spanish in Nahuatl discourse as revealed in narratives produced by adults and children. Results indicate differences in frequency of content word embedded language (Spanish), lexical items across grade level (for children), grade level attained (for adults), and correlations (for children)…

Examines interactional strategies in several South Asian languages. The norms that affect politeness in South Asian languages are very different from those that operate in native English. Implications for teaching English in South Asia are discussed in terms of the relationship between language and "grammar of culture." (Author/LMO)

Explores the use of English in Cypriot Greek, focusing on extensive data from informal conversations between members of a Limassol family. Suggests that instances of language alternation can be accounted for in terms of discourse analytic categories such as the distinction between local and global phenomena and the tri-partite scheme of…

This book is a comparative study of the syntax of Arabic dialects based on natural language data recorded in Morocco, Egypt, Syria, and Kuwait. These four dialect regions are distinct and geographically diverse and representative of four distinct dialect groups. The analytical approach of the book is both functional and descriptive, combining…

Explores the possible applications of text linguistics in the field of translation teaching, focusing on the analysis of discourse texture within Functional Sentence Perspective and Theme-Rheme Theory. It is concluded that texture provides the means for the realization of discourse intentions (context). (OD)

A study investigated whether instruction focusing on text structure would affect Japanese college students' listening comprehension. Subjects of the study were 29 students of a women's junior college and 38 students of a national university. Three passages were selected for their comprehensibility of content, short length, and readability. Each…

Discusses some aspects of the Japanese language that look inexplicable at first but that turn out to be explainable by pragmatic principles shared with English. Focus is placed on how the Japanese choose a particular word to use in a sentence involving indirect quotations, when the words would be synonyms in other languages. (20 references) (GLR)

Describes ongoing research aimed toward finding a minimum discourse grammar to help Brazilian students learning English for special purposes to cope with the sort of texts they have to read in their own disciplines. The research has involved review of scientific philosophy, a reading miscue study, and a comparison of English and Portuguese…

Compares two separate classroom ethnographies in higher educational institutions--one on African American students learning academic writing and another on Sri Lankan Tamil students learning English for general purposes. Attempts to overcome the separation of the concerns of bilingual and bidialectal minority students in English-language teaching.…

In its first year, the Hawaiian Language Immersion Program combined kindergarten and first-grade students in two classes. About half of the students had no speaking knowledge of Hawaiian; the remainder had attended Hawaiian-language preschools and/or spoke Hawaiian at home. Both teachers, fluent speakers of Hawaiian, were new to teaching. The…

In this paper we propose a theoretical reassessment of the discourse-analytic tools that are used in classroom research and of the data that are addressed. To that end we present in-depth analyses of 1) an IRE structure in a first English (EFL) lesson in a Dutch secondary school; 2) episodes from Dutch as a second language classes in a school for…

Examines the evaluative component in bilingual discourse in order to show that for the purpose of evaluation, the bilingual often switches from one language to the other. The study examines spontaneous stories, unplanned short narratives and conversational exchanges occurring in the recorded speech of two Finnish-English bilingual children. (32…

Fifty-five structures of the Chinese language are described and their particular usage patterns are discussed for the use of teachers, linguists, and advanced students of Chinese. Each structure is listed by its major structural element(s), its grammatical element(s), or a combination of the two. The examination of each structure consists of an…