Investigates the position of adverbial clauses in a subset consisting of 42 texts drawn from 6 text types, 3 from written English and 3 from spoken English. The article identifies factors influencing the position choice for various types of adverbial clauses. Findings indicate that clause length is not a significant positional factor. (nine…

Discusses dilemmas that confront authors who must decide whether to address a relatively restricted audience in their native tongue or compete for a much larger public by either learning more widespread language or relying on translations. Focus is on the issue of free or restricted exchange of texts. What happens when more authors and readers…

Discusses the teaching of Chinese characters in the second language context. To demystify the difficulty of learning characters, a few myths that surround them are examined. (Author/VWL)

Investigates the role of kanji in second language learners' reading comprehension of Japanese text. Explores how two subgroups of Japanese learners, with Chinese and non-Chinese backgrounds, approach text. (Author/VWL)

Reviews research that has been emerging from the availability of corpora on the grammar of spoken English. Presents arguments for the view that spoken and written language utilize the same basic grammatical repertoire, however different their implementations of it are. (Author/VWL)

Investigates the developments of "strengthened" possessives such as "hers" and "hern" (earlier her) through a fresh examination of a substantial number of Middle English texts. While the "s" forms developed in different ways, both resulted in a processing advantage, as they signal to the hearer that no head…

Discusses a written linguistic system, evidenced in medieval mixed-language business texts, that was replaced by Early Modern English. Examines medieval mixed-language business writing from the point of view of suffix mergers, as the lack of language specific suffixes resulted in code-intermediate states. (Author/VWL)

This cross-sectional study was conducted with a random sample of 155 K-12 students served in public school settings and established the extent to which students with emotional/behavioral disorders (E/BD) experience academic achievement deficits with attention to age and gender differences. In addition, this study examined particular types of…

Two experiments were carried out to examine how adult readers of English learn to acquire the orthographic structure and function of Chinese characters selected from reading material in their first-semester college course in Chinese. The first experiment, an online lexical decision task, demonstrated that the learners quickly acquired knowledge…

This study examined Korean English as a foreign language (EFL) learners' ability to establish textual cohesion in English through appropriate selection of reference forms and reference management strategies in their written narrative discourse. It employed both quantitative and qualitative analysis to explore how the language-specific reference…

This study investigated the relationship of first language (L1) skills in elementary school and second language (L2) learning in high school. Students classified as high-, average-, and low-proficiency L2 learners were compared on L1 achievement measures of reading, spelling, vocabulary, phonological awareness, and listening comprehension…

Education Matters" is the monthly newsletter of the Association of American Educators (AAE), an organization dedicated to advancing the American teaching profession through personal growth, professional development, teacher advocacy and protection. This issue of the newsletter includes: (1) Fixing D.C.'s Schools: How a 38-Year-Old Rookie…

Young children are growing up in a time when literacy practices and textual productions are in flux. Yet literacy curricula, particularly for those deemed "at risk," are tightly focused on the written language "basics." What are the potential consequences? In this article, the author considers this question, drawing on an ethnographic study of…

English has gradually become the lingua franca of medical publications and conferences across Europe, with scholars from "smaller" languages opting for English because of the greater scientific impact and prestige associated with a wide international audience; at the same time, however, this transition has disrupted well-established textual…

Chinese characters are used in both Chinese and Japanese writing systems. When literate speakers of either language experience problems in finding or understanding words, they often resort to using Chinese characters or "kanji" (i.e., Chinese characters used in Japanese writing) in their talk, a practice known as "brush talk" ("bitan" in Chinese,…