Investigates why graduates of Arabic courses in English-speaking countries are so few in number and why they so often compare poorly in spoken language performance with graduates of other language courses. The most important factor in this phenomenom is the gap that separates written Arabic from spoken Arabic. (SED)

Describes two programs that involved teachers using closed-captioned television materials to develop skills in the areas of reading comprehension, vocabulary, and oral reading fluency with hearing, remedial readers. (FL)

A typology of classroom exercises according to the functions they serve in teaching textual and discourse competence and focusing more on the text than on the sentence is proposed. (MSE)

This article presents an analysis of errors found in writing samples produced by Black children in urban schools. Errors influenced by Black-English oral usage, hypercorrections, and morphologic errors influenced by Black-English speech patterns are focused upon. (Author/DF)

Discusses various informal measures of writing proficiency. (FL)

This bilingual text by Zhou Youguang (in Chinese) with English translation by Zhang Liqing makes it easier for English speakers to gain advanced level skills in East Asian languages. It also exposes learners at or above intermediate skill levels to the vocabulary and discourses of academic disciplines and provides entries into discussions with…

The articles, written in French, in this issue refer to research and intercultural practices with regard to confrontational situations between two or more cultural systems. The titles are as follows: "La culture universitaire comme culture en soi" (The University Culture as a Culture in Its Own Right) (Aline Gohard-Radenkovic);…

Noting that electronic communication places new demands on language that leads to interesting variations in written language use, this Digest summarizes insights gained from research on writing behavior and performance in the electronic age. It concludes that both the process and the content of writing are evolving in response to the increased use…

This study analyzed informal Finnish compositions written by the first pupils in Vaasa (Finland) who were taught Swedish by immersion method and the compositions of their parallel class. Compositions in the fourth and fifth forms were compared. The immersion pupils were taught mostly in Swedish, while their peers in the parallel group were taught…

Revised version of a paper presented to the 1972 TESOL Convention in Washington, D.C. (DD)

Ninth grade remedial readers at a suburban Chicago high school were given a language development program which included reading while listening to tapes and lessons in syntactic manipulation. Analysis of program effects showed that students improved their ability to understand and manipulate syntactic structures. Reading did not improve markedly.…

Summarizes a study of advanced ESL university students from eight first-language backgrounds and discusses the proficiency differences found between several groups in processing two types of information patterns in written English. Suggests possible variables in cognitive strategies and skills related to the students' different cultural/linguistic…

Discusses problems experienced by non-Anglo-Saxon university students in assimilating scientific and technical materials written in English. Argues that instruction imparted in a foreign language impoverishes the learner's language, affecting negatively his ability to function in the native environment. Supports the use of translations against…

Analyzes the problems of multilingual societies, arguing that multilingualism will not hinder economic development and communication, provided that the requirements of the various regional sections and social strata are respected. Denounces foreign language dominance as an instrument of colonialism and advocates enrichment of local languages…