A preprint from a forthcoming pamphlet of the National Conference on Research in English. (Editor/SW)

Describes a study of the effectiveness of "clozentropy, which combines a variation of "cloze procedure (for measuring readability) with an "entropy measure (for indexing the compatibility of one's responses with those of a criterion group). (Author/RD)

A survey of secondary students' attitudes toward French as a second language in two schools analyzed how students' choice or rejection of the subject was related to career choice, sex, social class, travel in France, and success in French. A secondary intent was to refine attitude study techniques. (MSE)

A five-week summer course which combined art, drama, and language instruction for non-English-speaking children of Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Cambodian backgrounds is described. Serving children from ages 6 to 17, the program encouraged artwork as a basis for conversation and for introducing grammatical concepts. (KC)

Proposes that foreign language teaching can operate as a factor in the formation of interlanguage-specific rules either (1) by presenting the learner with foreign language material which deviates from target norms, or (2) indirectly by triggering off psycholinguistic processes, which in turn lead to interlanguage-specific rule formation. (EKN)

Presents results of research on the second-language proficiency of children participating in an experimental bilingual school, where children used mother tongue 75 percent the first year, 40 percent the second. Children attended neighborhood schools from the third year on. Supports the claim that mother tongue teaching does not harm…

Quotations from immigrants to Canada are used to illustrate some of the processes of second language learning within a very different culture: awareness of the environment's newness, first impressions, sense of nationality, broken images, initial confusion and bewilderment, concepts of nearness and remoteness, gradual understanding, and emotional…

Responding to O. Weininger's concern about Early French Immersion (EFI) programs, the author declares that evaluations from all over Canada have shown that EFI students achieve high levels of French proficiency at no apparent academic cost. Other objections to Weininger's conclusions are also raised. (PP)

The six-week immersion Summer Language Bursary Program is designed for post-secondary students wishing to study English or French as a second language. A two-year evaluation of students immediately after and eight months after indicated students had improved oral-aural language skills and increased knowledge of the second culture. (Author/BRR)

Discusses the amount of influence that a learner's native language has on the acquisition of a second language. Suggests that some important properties of a learner's interlanguage (IL) can be predicted, as shown by the different IL rules that Cantonese and Japanese use in dealing with English word-final voice contrasts. (Author/MES)

Summarizes a study of advanced ESL university students from eight first-language backgrounds and discusses the proficiency differences found between several groups in processing two types of information patterns in written English. Suggests possible variables in cognitive strategies and skills related to the students' different cultural/linguistic…

Suggests and gives examples of how a few advanced skills and concepts are related to successful reading and writing and can be introduced in low-level ESL classes. Examples include generality-specificity distinction, relevance-irrelevance distinction, underlining and making notes, paraphrasing, and summarizing. This conceptually integrated…

Ethnographic examination of the English-dominant culture in the United States and how Hispanics are affected. Through several vignettes, reveals that the civil rights of Hispanics are violated because of cultural differences. (DA)