Analysis of interviews with children ages 10-12, focused on prediction and generalization, reveals a category of words associated with uncertainty. These hedges--about, around, maybe, think--are used as shields against accusation of error. Linguistic frameworks are used to categorize different types of hedges. (Author/MKR)

Conversations between mothers and children in Japanese and North American cultures were conducted to account for the way in which cultural narrative style is transmitted to children. The contrasts yielded from the study are described. (JL)

Various aspects of writing style are discussed to propose concrete methods for improving students' performance. Topics covered include the relationship between syntactic and cognitive complexity and classroom techniques and the reformulation technique as applied to student writing samples. (Contains 20 references.) (LB)

Describes the dilemmas involved with teaching Standard American English (SAE) while still accepting and not judging nonstandard dialects. Relates how the teacher used "Pygmalion" by George Bernard Shaw to show students why they needed to learn SAE. (PRA)

Discusses how activities relating to dialect and nonstandard English are integrated into the curriculum in a middle school English class. Describes numerous class activities that result from reading aloud literary works in a wide array of dialects. Asserts the need for respect for linguistic variation in the classroom and in society. (PRA)

Investigates the changes in the nonverbal forms of written language, with specific attention to the art form of graffiti. Provides and analyzes data from a study of collected graffiti. Describes three phases of visible form in the historical development of graffiti. (HB)

Researchers planning to use a Spanish translation of the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist with a primarily Puerto Rican population found that it had been designed for Cuban speakers of the language and, therefore, decided to develop a new translation. Suggests the need to be sensitive to the differences in vocabulary among Hispanic subcultures.…

The ways that educators talk about teaching, borrowing from other disciplines such as business and psychology, reflect a need to create a reassuring world structured to assure results. They describe art as if it were science, but also seek to bring confidence and esteem to an undervalued profession. (MSE)

Addresses the question of whether teachers of Italian would be more effective if they understood current Italian adolescent talk. Reports a study that was carried out by University of Toronto researchers to determine this talk's characteristics. Forcefully argues that such talk become the Italian second-language teacher's primary focus. (CFM)

Describes an exercise to help students understand the difference between expressive and neutral text. Examines issues of translation (the author's style, mixed levels of expression from the colloquial to the professional, different norms in the source and target languages) as a means of doing so. (SR)

This debate is part of a larger discussion on the effect of recent developments (particularly globalization and advances in technology) on the production and perception of language and focuses on assessing the quality of source texts and target texts in translation, the nature of translation versus the changing job profile of the translator, the…

Presents results of a study on the speech act of definition in chemistry texts within two genres investigating whether or not it can serve as a criterion to differentiate the two genres. A random sample of 60 texts written by different writers served as the corpus of the study. Results suggest that definitions often cluster together in textbooks,…

Explores the relation between gender and language use in Japanese preschool children. Gender-based differences in Japanese include phonological, lexical, and morphosyntactical differences, as well as differences in conversational style. Data come from monthly naturalistic observations of 24 monolingual Japanese boys and girls engaged in same-sex…

Examines how students use gendered discourse practices in small peer group settings to accomplish their school tasks. The analysis contributes to the separate worlds hypothesis by showing how Latino children interactionally orient to their peer group as a gendered context. (Author/VWL)

Looks at genre theory and English-as-a-Second-Language instruction from a systemic functional perspective. (Author/VWL)