Just as minority spoken languages borrow from surrounding majority languages, so British Sign Language (BSL) borrows signs from English. BSL may borrow from both spoken and written English, but here we focus on the processes involved in borrowing from the written English word, using the manual alphabet. The end result of borrowing depends on an…

The encyclopedia is designed as a reference work on the history, structure, and use of English. The first section outlines five phases in the development of the English language (origins, Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, Modern English) and then proceeds to the varieties of world English and perceptions of English and its future.…

This paper investigates the error analysis thought processes of foreign language learners regarding their written examples of the language under study, suggesting that consciousness plays a part in instructed second language acquisition. The study assumed that individual learners could offer insights into interim states of their developing grammar…

Two samples of college student writing, paragraphs from freshman compositions, are analyzed for presence or absence of two characteristics of literate prose, decontextualization and autonomy. Writing is decontextualized and autonomous when whatever is needed for its comprehension is included in the words of the text, and comprehension is not…

An analysis of oral and written discourse focuses on the hypothesis that marked structures serve to code discourse boundaries and signal the advent of new discourse units. The hypothesis is examined against three independent sets of data: (1) discourse from a larger study, in which subjects provided oral or written narrative descriptions, in…

Beginning Pashto is part of a set of materials for teaching oral and written Afghan Pashto. The Pashto writing system is taught in the first unit of the book and is used in the presentation of the material from then on. In the first three units, material is provided also in a romanized transcription. After that, the transcription of a word or…

An interpretive account of two schools participating in the piloting of a new English program in Botswana junior secondary schools is presented in this paper. Methodology involved observation; analyses of school documents and student texts; and interviews with students, teachers, and administrators. Based on the perspective that teaching is an…

One of a series of semi-annual reports, this publication contains 25 articles which report the status and progress of studies on the nature of speech, instruments for its investigation, and practical applications. Articles are as follows: "Acoustic Shards, Perceptual Glue" (Robert E. Remez and Philip E. Rubin); "F0 Gives Voicing…

This article describes how an interdisciplinary science class uses visuals in ways that can be adapted across disciplines and academic levels. The key to the use of visuals is that they are integral to the learning of the students, whether we begin with visuals to improve writing and thinking or use written texts as the basis for visual…

Language interference (which was originally posited in ESL theory) involves ways in which language learners draw upon previous language experiences to fill holes in their knowledge of a second language they are learning. Since the 1970s, language interference has been a part of the pedagogy of basic writing, concerning itself with ways that basic…

The use of Sino-Japanese in the vocabulary of the Japanese language has increased greatly since the Meiji Restoration of the mid-nineteenth century. Although there are differences in the types of Sino-Japanese writing, their meanings can be created by association through the "Kun" or meaning-based readings of the characters of which they are…

This study investigates the validity of second language vocabulary tests, and whether or not test scores accurately reflect the quality of language behavior in real-life situations. It attempts to prove the validity of vocabulary testing by comparing test scores to indices of vocabulary richness in second language production. The student subjects…

The changes in written and spoken Spanish proficiency of two college students during a semester of study in Spain are examined in their oral and written performance and in their grades at a Spanish university. Both students were initially rated, according to American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency guidelines, at…

An approach to reading instruction based on a socio-psycholinguistic theory of the language learning process is presented in this book. Chapter 1 provides an overview of oral and written language development; identifies language processes, language systems, and cultural setting; and describes a socio-psycholinguistic model of language learning and…

An overview of the research needed on the new Test of Written English (TWE), a section of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), looks at research needs in the areas of test validity, test reliability, topic development, and equating. Suggested topics for study include: the uniqueness of the construct measured by the test, in…