The aim of this paper is to clear up some of the confusion that has developed around interpretations of Bernstein's concept of code-distribution. After a rapid review of the main dimensions of linguistic variation within a given society, with particular attention to sociolectal and register variation, 'codes' are examined and compared with…

Filled with examples of French slang and colloquialisms, this article notes the importance of learning such everyday language to speak French correctly. (CHK)

Discusses the use of law reports in English for academic legal purposes (EALP) instruction. Examines problems with using reports in the EALP classroom and focuses on the more widely available newspaper law reports. Offers a description that draws on Martin's (1992) context of culture in order to identify important social and cultural factors and…

Discusses the impact of technologies on genre variation, especially in relation to authentic material as teaching support. An example of changes brought about by information technologies on a classroom project is given. (Author/VWL)

Explains individual and institutional code and style choices as locally motivated pragmatic selections within the specific contexts of the workplace settings and the larger Malaysian sociolinguistics context of English as the normative choice of Malaysian business and Malay as the lingua franca. (Author/VWL)

Many genre analyses have been carried out in English for specific purposes settings, but none has made full use of computer analysis to obtain exact linguistic information on the moves and strategies of a genre. This article reports a genre analysis, complemented by the Wordsmith suite of computer programs for corpus analysis, of the moves and…

Characterizes the perception of stylistic nuances of lexical items in both Swedish and Finnish among members of the Sweden Finnish minority in Sweden, with special emphasis on Swedish. Results are discussed in the context of the ongoing debate on immigrants and integration, and suggest a more similar language use may indicate a higher degree of…

Analysis of the speech habits of Spanish language instructors at the University of Southern California revealed that native Spanish speakers, as well as near-native Spanish speakers, sometimes produce labiodental [v] as an allophonic variant of Spanish /b/. Quantitative analysis by the VARBRUL statistical program indicated that linguistic, social,…

This paper investigates English language literacy practices among teenagers, focusing initially on three young Singaporean students who are struggling to do well in English. By employing a conceptual framework that builds on a recent treatment of style as identity construction and drawing on interview data that recount the students' practices of…

Good translation requires writing skills in each of its three stages: decoding the original text; transferring its cultural and linguistic element into the context of the target language; and encoding the information in that context. During decoding, the translator must be conscious of speech level, word usage, cultural references, syntactic…

Krashen's (1981) second language learning monitor model and Labov's (1978) first language acquisition monitor model are compared, and it is concluded that monitoring is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon, but is variable. It is also suggested that the ability to monitor in formal language styles may improve accuracy in less formal styles, based on…

Knowledge of a language requires more than mastery of grammar; effective communication includes social and cultural aspects of language use, such as speaking volume and intonation, conventions of politeness, and set social formulas. The language teacher must be aware of these rules to convey them to students. (CHK)

A study investigated the relationship between language style and variability in the phonology of Japanese learners of English. The subjects were five adult native speakers of Japanese at the intermediate stage of English learning. Speech materials elicited three different speech styles of varying formality: reading of a word list, reading of a…

A study investigated variations in five native Japanese-speakers' consonant patterns in English as a Second Language. The eight phonological segments considered were English consonant clusters and final consonants. Subjects listened to a recording of a text by a native English-speaker and then read the text aloud five times. A similar procedure…

The article presents an audio-visual teaching method for advanced students of Italian, in which major emphasis is placed on phonostylistic and semiotic factors: intonation and stress, rhythm, and gestures. A sample exercise is included. (CLK)