Teachers should know language structure when dealing with the diagnosis of pupils' language difficulties. Simple solutions, such as proofreading his/her work, underlining, and transcribing paragraph dictation may be suggested for students once the teacher grasps the sound/symbol/syllable structure of English. (CL)

The modal "should" can be taught by first delineating its meaning of "good advice," then proceeding to its meaning as expressing the speaker's sense of duty, propriety, and expediency, and finally dealing with its meaning of "reasonable expectation." The elements of "must" implicit in "should"…

Second language learners must acquire a generative system of grammar. There is, as yet, no way of describing notions in generative terms. Long-term syllabuses will have to continue to be syntactically based, but the incorporation of notions from a checklist is acceptable. (Author/JB)

The present study investigated the effects of deductive and inductive teaching approaches to the acquisition of pragmatic competence on learners of English as a foreign language. In this study, 60 adult native speakers of Japanese with intermediate-level proficiency in English were each randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups, which consisted of 3…

This paper examines a high school drug education text using critical discourse analysis (CDA) to discern its underlying ideological commitments and political dispositions. I begin with an overview of CDA and why it is a suitable methodology for my work, and then provide a brief history of drug education in North America. Next, I consider some of…

The article shows that Russian syntax and word formation should receive more attention in language instruction, and suggests a functional approach as opposed to a taxonomic presentation in teaching syntax. Examples are given to show that the facts of underlying syntactic relationships should be incorporated into a teaching grammar. (CLK)

The writing of ESL students, while sophisticated in some respects, often contains fragments and run-ons. Because these students have no reliable, self-monitoring system for analyzing their writing and because they believe they are communicating effectively, they fail to recognize their difficulties in forming complete sentences. This paper…

This paper discusses how an understanding of speech acts contributes to the communicative competence in foreign language learning. Reviewing John Searle's five categories of speech acts (1976), the directive is discussed in terms of its manifestations in various foreign languages. Examples of directives in English, German, French, and Spanish are…

Specific limitations of past research in teacher verbal questioning behavior are presented in this article for the purpose of providing recommendations for future research activities. Analyses are made by reviewing related literature. Limitation factors are identified as resulting from variations in the following aspects: teacher characteristics,…

It is asserted that noun errors made by students of Russian show that they have not grasped the syntactic functions of the declensional desinences. A number of teaching techniques are outlined which attempt to follow the subconscious processes that speakers of Russian go through in selecting declensional desinences. (RM)

Defines the characteristics of a "teaching grammar" (a text that aims to provide teachers of English as a foreign language with the linguistic information that they require for effective teaching) and contrasts such grammars with purely theoretical or linguistic grammars. Uses the passive voice in English to illustrate the contrasts.…

The cloze technique is very flexible and can reinforce reading skills and encourage writing. (JH)