Presents a general test of the intonational comprehension of English-as-a-Foreign-Language, in which students are required to match a sentence, spoken with particular intonation patterns, to one of three alternative interpretations. The test can also help provide insights into particulars and universals of intonation. (CB)

Explores the possibility of establishing predictability models for interference as well as ascertaining the degree of competence adult second language learners could achieve before being able to eliminate interference in production of the target language. (CB)

Examines the nature and structure of idioms and idiomatic language and offers suggestions for teaching them. Topics addressed include the relationship between idioms and erroneous language, idioms' appropriateness in context, proverbs, and metaphors. Some exercises are included. (Author/MSE)

Explains the differences between constituency and dependency theories for structural linguistics. Reasons are provided for why the former has been indirectly responsible for the neglect of lexical acquisition in language acquisition research and for proposing a notation based on dependency theory for describing learners' segmentation of initially…

A framework for analyzing and evaluating classroom interaction is proposed that links the social and psychological purposes underlying the communication with resultant discourse in terms of patterns of interaction. (76 references) (JL)

Investigation of native Chinese speakers' acquisition of French suprasegmental features found that the subjects not only perceived the different directions of pitch but also placed them in the right categories, in spite of the differences between the use of pitch in tonal and intonational languages. (34 references) (CB)

A study using 288 Japanese university level English-as-a-Foreign-Language students examined native language transfer, specifically the lexical transfer occurring in responses to yes-no questions. An analysis of answer patterns and statistical tables is included. (OD)

An analysis of Brazilian learners' errors in English word stress revealed a difficulty hierarchy of stress pattern rules and six stress prediction strategies: (1) cognate stress patterns; (2) predominant stress patterns of English; (3) initial vowels and consonants; (4) verbs with a tense vowel in the final syllable; (5) tertiary stress; and (6)…

Analysis of Chinese undergraduates' oral production of English lexical items they had already been exposed to found that factors affecting both placement and phonetic stress errors involved native language patterns, syllable structure, and the lexical item's position in the rhythmic sequence. (45 references) (CB)

An analysis of the English word stress placement of six native Arabic speakers and six native English speakers studying Arabic revealed that, while most of the native English subjects produced the expected word stress, the Arab subjects placed stress on English words in conformity with Arabic stress patterns. (CB)

Discusses the measurability of linguistic and communicative competence in light of the performance/competence dichotomy, and proposes a method for measuring loss of communicative competence using spontaneous speech data. (11 references) (Author/CK)

Examined the discourse patterns used by a native speaker of English while explaining the rules and playing the board game Monopoly with three college students of varying levels of English proficiency (low nonnative, good nonnative, and native). It found that the "teacher" must modify her speech to enable the nonnative speakers to…

Examines the effects of vowel height and place of articulation in interlanguage devoicing patterns of final voiced stop consonants (b, d, g) in words such as "cab,""bad,""bag" in the acquisition of English as a foreign language by Mandarin, Japanese, and Portuguese speakers. Results display a combinatory effect of…

Discusses the importance of the cultural component in the language learning process for providing a sound communication base. Examples are presented that reflect differences in speech patterns, such as politeness, of native speakers of British and Moroccan Arabic, with emphasis on culturally specific language patterns. (25 references)(OD)