This paper discusses the hazards of using standardized assessment in English/language arts. Using standardized tests to measure student competency with language is problematic because of inattention to what counts as appropriate language usage. Standardized tests reify textbook language usage only and do not distinguish between correct and…

A study investigated how Korean learners of English as a second language (ESL) differ from native speakers of English in the use of supportive moves and in the expression of politeness (use of downgraders) in requests, a speech act considered to be face-threatening. Three groups of subjects participated: 30 Korean students enrolled in an intensive…

Article presents positive reasons for studying a foreign language and describes one possible outline for developing a program. (Author/RK)

Words artificially isolated from 12 parents' speech to their children aged 1;10-3;0 were significantly less intelligible to adult listeners than words originally spoken to an adult. While parents did not adjust the clarity of words, their speech was more redundant in anticipation of the children's comprehension. Research implications are…

Spanish-English code switching in the context of Miami health care services is examined, focusing on the transactional role relationships that require Spanish language use. Examples are taken from printed sources and oral language. Semantic shift, vocabulary adaptation, syntactic code switching, and Spanish acquisition by non-Hispanics are…

Discusses the radical dramatism of language and the implications for writing instruction. (MM)

The article presents some findings of the 1976 Survey of Income and Education in which the National Center for Education Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau obtained information about the characteristics and educational status of the approximately 28 million people in this country with language backgrounds other than English. (NQA)

Analyzes the American Indian Movement (AIM) with respect to (1) the role of tradition in AIM demands; (2) militant Indian rhetoric as a form of ritual self-address; (3) how Indian religious/cultural beliefs restrict the ability of language to persuade Whites; and (4) how militant Indian rhetoric fulfills its function. (PD)

Contains representative selections from issues of "Language Arts" from its sixth decade of publication. Includes articles, editorials, and ads reflecting trends in English education that are currently of conern, such as declining test scores, censorship, the "back to basics" trend, and recognition of nonstandard dialects. (HTH)

Assessed the effectiveness of two methods for teaching students to write using inclusive generic pronouns. Found that both approaches were effective but that the authority approach (one forced upon an individual) produced more change in pronoun usage than the optional approach (one made by the individual by and for him/herself). (PD)

To provide a rationale for textbook evaluation, a study examined the major and minor topics covered in 20 selected college-level business communication textbooks, the readability level presented for each text, and the number of schools currently using the text. (HOD)

An excerpt from the resolution of the executive committee of the Conference on College Composition and Communication, which espouses the view that no variety or dialect of a language is intrinsically superior to any other, is presented. Implications for teaching standard and nonstandard dialects are discussed. (KC)

Investigates the relative effects of directing adolescents' attention, either toward the "correctness" of their speech or toward the expression of their attitudes, on the amount, fluency, and syntactic structure of speech produced in a subsequent standardized interview. (HOD)

This study of 40 working- and middle-class preschoolers indicates that Black children less frequently use internal state words to express their thoughts, feelings, and desires in the classroom than they do at home, or than White children do both at home and in school. (Author/SJL)