Notes that information presented in dialog form in a foreign language lends itself more easily to conversation than does intricate narrative prose. Using background information on Halloween, the article adapts the text to present information about the target culture as well as to humorously present facts about the North American festivity.…

Presents a contrastive statement of the potential that intonation has for differentiating identically worded syntactic patterns in English and German. Focuses on tonality, rehearses some well-known examples of tonality contrasts and introduces some less well-known ones as well, both of which provide examples of syntactic distinctions concealed in…

Raises the issue of the integrity of "voice" while discussing deaf culture and language. Focuses on deaf users of American Sign language and encourages examining whether an imperialistic attitude underlies society's expecting the deaf to learn a spoken language, such as English, even if the teaching is critical in orientation. (41 references)…

Examines four models of a two-step flow of the agenda-setting process, highlighting the role played by certain individuals (early recognizers) in mediating between the public and the media. Highlights the role of early recognizers, not only in identifying emerging issues in the media and diffusing them among the public but also in affecting the…

Presents a study that explores (1) whether listeners regard speakers with similar global speech rates as more competent and attractive and (2) the influence of gender on their perceptions. Explains that the judges consisted of 17 male and 28 female listeners. (CMK)

Argues that English used in the Mid-Atlantic United States should replace British English as the educational standard in Europe as the English spoken by Europeans is increasingly influenced by American English. The article discusses the political aspects of learning a specific variety of English and points out that the development of Mid-Atlantic…

Describes the major types of studies used to determine language attitudes of native and nonnative speakers of English and highlights a number of differences in their methodologies. The article shows how one of the techniques used in sociolinguistic research with native speakers, called apparent time, would improve research into nonnative speaker…

The influence of selected cognitive factors on age-related changes in speech recognition was examined by measuring the effects of recall task, speech rate, and availability of contextual cues on the recognition performance of 10 young listeners (ages 18-40) and 10 older listeners (ages 65-76). Hearing loss affected performance. (Author/CR)

Argues that pupils in the second language classroom should be encouraged to respond to questions for personal information truthfully and that certain aspects of existing teaching practice encouraging the opposite should be scrutinized. Focuses on the objections to this premise and outlines reasons for seeking truthful student responses. (CK)

Describes a freshman-level communications course within a business college that uses holistic instruction and that fuses the language arts to help students with college-level reading, writing, speaking, and listening. (SR)

This article provides information about the hardware components and speech-processing strategies of cochlear implant systems. The use of assistive listening devices with cochlear implants is also discussed. A brief description of surgical procedures and the initial activation of the device are also presented, along with programming considerations.…

Calls for greater attention to the perceptual processes involved in second language listening, and particularly to the part they play in breakdowns of understanding. Suggests employing basic auditory phonetics as a means of classifying, diagnosing, and predicting problems of lexical segmentation. (Author/VWL)

A study investigated temporal resolution of auditory perception (TRAP), verbal working memory, and speech perception in 15 children with language impairment and 99 controls. No deficits in TRAP were found in the subjects and thresholds were similar. There were significant differences in performance on speech perception and verbal working memory.…

A study investigated perception of elliptical speech in an adult cochlear implant patient. Two experiments were conducted using sets of meaningful and anomalous English sentences: one set contained correct place of articulation cues, the other was transformed into elliptical speech. The patient and controls labeled the sentences as the same.…

Discusses the use of sexist expression by men against women in a school context, both in the classroom and on school grounds. Includes discourse ranging from direct intimidation or harassment to utterances that, though derogatory, are statements of an ideology or a point of view. (KEH)