Provides several suggestions for introducing a note of humor into the French classroom while at the same time providing writing practice. Suggestions are based on primary source materials, such as newspaper ads, advice columns, graffiti, popular literature, crossword puzzles, etc. (AM)

Proposes a comprehensive model for communications research focusing upon printed messages published for juvenile audiences, and applies the model to futuristic images in children's fiction. (DD)

Presents a language-awareness (LA) perspective on the concept of autonomy in second-language learning. The article distinguishes between two kinds of LA, examines child development and the role played by metalinguistic knowledge and literacy in first-language acquisition and examines the role played by both kinds of LA in second-language pedagogy.…

Focuses on one aspect of the relationship between language and culture, that of cultural meaning and rhetorical style in writing across traditions of literacy. Adopts the approach of "socially realistic linguistics" and questions the assumptions of contrastive rhetoric in the context of English education around the world. (95 references)…

Examines imagined professional and linguistic communities available to preservice and inservice English-as-a-Second-Language and English-as-a-Foreign-Language teachers enrolled in one TESOL program. Discursive analysis of students' positioning in their linguistic autobiographies suggests that the traditional discourse of linguistic competence…

Reports on an ethnographic research project in Liverpool, England. Aimed to build an understanding of the communicative and symbolic roles of languages and literacies in the Liverpool Somali community, which forms part of the Somali diaspora within Britain. The role of literacy is of particular interest in the context of a vigorous oral tradition…

Summarizes proceedings of the second Conference on Navajo Orthography held in Window Rock, Arizona, in 1976. The conference was noteworthy for establishing writing conventions for word boundaries in Navajo and for establishing the Navajo Language Academy, charged with making recommendations for the resolution of problems associated with Navajo…

Examines through a text analysis of spoken and written discourse the meaning and function of the double genitive (DG) in English in comparison to the inflected preposed genitive. The study shows the DG to possess unique and specific pragmatic functions not adequately described for nonnative students. (22 references) (Author/CK)

This partial replication of an earlier study that found second language (L2) learners of Spanish have trouble simultaneously attending to meaning and form of aural input addresses the effect of modality on attention to meaning and form by including a written mode and using English as a Second Language. Revealed listening was more difficult than…

Investigates how effectively multimedia learning environments can assist second language (L2) students in the process of listening comprehension. Looks specifically at how written and pictorial annotations can aid learners in the acquisition of new vocabulary and in comprehension when they listen to an aural L2 passage. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the three required components for telecommunications: a modem, software, and a computer. Reviews the advantages of CompuServe. Stresses that because all transmitted information is in text form, telecommunications technology places a large responsibility for future information exchange and communications with the classroom teacher and the…

Attempts to look at the question of selection and sequencing in light of recent research into the nature of spoken English. Specifically, it is argued that a lexical metasyllabus based on statistical regularities in spoken and written language would be a useful tool to curriculum designers. (Author/VWL)

Analysis of college students' interpretation of sex-indefinite paragraphs using the generic he, he or she, or they found that men, regardless of pronoun and their personal use of gender-indefinite pronouns, interpreted more male and fewer female referents than women. (64 references) (Author/CB)

An examination of the effectiveness of the use of various computer-based communication tools (commercial computer conferences, bulletin boards, word processors, outline processors, and electronic dictionaries) in developing college students' Spanish proficiency suggested that computers offered potential for enhancing the writing process. (38…

The oral foundations of narrative knowledge are examined as a linkage to literacy acquisition problems. Examined are kinds of narrative knowledge acquired, the nature of story organization, and developmental acquisitions in story recall and generation. The performance patterns of language learning-disabled children on oral story recall and…