Discusses how perspectives on the critical period hypothesis (CPH) have shifted over the last 20-20 years, because of the work of applied linguistics and other disciplines. Advises caution into translating CPH research into personal practice or public policy. (Author/VWL)

This study investigates whether "socialness" increases the memorability of newly acquired knowledge of a second language (L2). Three groups of beginning learners of Japanese learned 10 novel Japanese words through a Q & A session. Group 1 did the session with a human interactant and learned the novel words from him. Group 2 did the session alone…

A new case of Foreign Accent Syndrome is described. This American woman presented with a British- or Australian- sounding accent after stroke, which resulted in a lacunar infarct in the left internal capsule. The atypical etiology and apparent changes in lexical use are described. It is hypothesized that an abnormally tense vocal tract posture may…

This study examined whether differences in phonological awareness were related to differences in speech comprehensibility. Seventeen adults who learned English as a foreign language (EFL) in academic settings completed 14 tests of phonological awareness that measured their explicit knowledge of English phonological structures, and three tests of…

This paper describes a training course for oral skills devised for the intermediate and advanced students of the Japanese language, utilizing the media of the Wesleyan University campus broadcasting station, WESU. The training starts with correcting the students' pronunciation and pitch accent and goes to the higher level of skills, such as…

Intended to be used by secretarial science students in a single skills laboratory, this performance based instructional unit on spelling contains ten assignments covering the following areas: pronunciation, homonyms, often confused words, compound and hyphenated words, "ei" and "ie" words, silent "e" words, prefixes, suffixes, word endings, and…

The dictionary is designed for learners of St. Lawrence Island (Alaska) Yupik, an Eskimo dialect. An introductory section gives an overview of the Yupik alphabet and phonology. Alphabetical word listings in St. Lawrence Island Yupik follow, with definitions in both Yupik and English. A sample sentence in Yupik using the entry word is followed by…

The dictionary of the Central Koyukon Athabaskan dialect contains the most commonly used words in the language, and is designed for use in bilingual education programs in the elementary grades. A pronunciation guide distinguishes between and compares the three Koyukon dialects, and offers details of the orthography and phonology of all three. The…

All consonant sounds involving the sound /y/ omit the letter Y, such as few, cute, immune, and view. Perhaps 75% of high school students whose formal reading level is below seventh grade will not be able to pronounce these words that contain the "invisible" Y sound. Good students usually do not have to be taught this pattern, but average…

The few remaining fluent speakers of the isleno dialect of Spanish vary their casual pronunciation of /s/ in a manner consistent with, but not identical to, other Caribbean Spanish dialects. The behavior of /s/ in the speech of nonfluent islenos parallels that of fluent speakers, differing only in the higher degree of aspiration and deletion. This…

Three short articles provide tape recording instructions for braille transcribers and teachers of the visually handicapped, for transcribing instructional materials. The first article gives instructions for creating a "mini" table of contents, or index, to be inserted at the beginning of each tape. The second article provides…

This paper contends that neither taxonomic nor generative phonology is a satisfactory basis for contrastive analysis or for teaching Russian pronunciation. A third theory, known as natural phonology, is more useful. (CHK)

The French pronunciation of 88 first-year German university students having studies French at grammar school for five years was analysed and compared with results of contrastive analysis. The composition of error categories according to contrastive features was confirmed by factor analysis. (Text is in German.) (Author)

Recommends and illustrates the use of oral lists of familiar English words in acclimatizing students of English as a second language to common sounds before exposure to a text or to conversation. (MSE)

Gives the justification, text, and examples of two recordings illustrating the phonetic oppositions of four French vowels. The tapes were produced and tested at the Universite de Lausanne, and are intended for language laboratory use. (Text is in French.) (MSE)