A study investigated the substitution of the Japanese flap for English liquids /r/ and /l/ by 11 Japanese students in their first and fourth years of college. Phonological patterns were examined at the two different stages, in reading vs. spontaneous oral language tasks, and for word-initial singleton vs. word-initial cluster environments. The…

A study demonstrated that court interpreter failure to preserve pragmatic features in the interpreted version of courtroom testimony can potentially distort both the lawyer's question and the witness' response. Pragmatic features are defined as those aspects of an utterance that signal how the speaker intends the message to be taken. While some of…

Argues that children with limited English-speaking ability are often misdiagnosed as poor readers on formal and informal measures of reading ability. Offers suggestions for management of true miscues made in oral reading. (FL)

Presents results of a survey on the content, organization, staffing, participants, and perceived effectiveness of 14 bidialectal language arts programs (those that use a child's indigenous dialect in the instructional process, usually to demonstrate contrasts with standard English). Suggests that more guidelines for developing and evaluating such…

Voice quality settings (physiological configurations contributing to phonetic production) can be used to characterize ESL students' accents and help improve pronunciation. Settings of one variety of North American English and those in other languages are identified. Suggestions are given for making students aware of their own settings. (MSE)

Sets forth five principles that should be emphasized in programs designed to help teachers teach nonstandard English speaking students more effectively. (FL)

Results of an error analysis of compositions by students of Spanish are reported. Advanced students are shown to still make errors in morphology, syntax, choice of prepositions, and lexical choice. Error patterns suggest utilization of variable rules in the analysis of transitional competence. (JB)

Describes the experimental methods used to verify two hypotheses concerning the variability of linguistic behavior at the social and individual levels, within a homogeneous community. Postulates correlations among data from the social/individual "external dimension" and the "internal dimension" which is based on structural properties such as…

Considers school writing situations in comparison with speech situations. Discusses the responses of five Australian high school girls to questions about writing v speaking. (RL)

Statistical data from the U.S. Census Bureau Survey of Income and Education reveals societal patterns of language shift. The data can confirm the adequacy of theories of the causality of language shift. Examination of the data indicates geographic regions where language shift has occurred and is likely to occur. (PMJ)

Discusses changes in the pronunciation of colloquial Brltish English, reflecting changing social attitudes toward traditional Received Pronunciation. Finds that a study is needed to determine a new standard for the use of future foreign students of English. A pilot study is described. (IFS/WGA) i

Finds that American English is slighted in favor of British English in German schools. Cites examples of differlng language norms which could cause misunderstandings. Finds that American usage deserves more attention because of the political and cultural importance of the United States. (IFS/WGA)

Surveys the distribution of "a" and "an" in both oral and written English. Journal availability: see FL 512 512. (AM)

Discusses the relationship in language and specifically in French between the standard language norm, the various registers and styles available to native speakers of a given language, and second language learning. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

This article reviews the situation of the instruction of French in Quebec, in terms of the role of French and attitudes toward standard and non-standard varieties of French, the acquisition of French by native French speakers. Bidialectal instruction is suggested as one way of dealing with non-standard varieties. (Text is in French.) (CLK)