This article draws on an interview study with teachers and teacher educators on the topic of the feasibility of task-based teaching for implementation in schools. It focuses on a single theme from the study: student use of the mother tongue. A number of dimensions are addressed: the extent of classroom interaction in English in the context under…

Though much of the research looking at the issue of language in the Spanish heritage language field is intended to guide the Spanish heritage language teacher in the classroom, students' voices are often stifled. This article fills this gap by giving voice to students' opinions on language use in the Spanish heritage language classroom. Survey…

This paper presents the beginning of an approach to the study of language use and religion, a sub-area of language and religion that has been little explored. Essential features of the approach include segmenting a religious service into its constituent parts and checking what language is used in what part and for what purpose. The proposed…

This study examines the JUNIOR SUMMIT online community, which consisted of 3,062 adolescents representing 139 countries, varying SES, and a range of experience with computers. The online forum culminated in the election of 100 delegates. By analyzing the messages posted before results of the election were announced, we explore whether language use…

The imperative need for the editing of a dictionary of Latin Americanisms should be a cooperative effort between both individuals and language academies. (Text is in Spanish.) (Author/DS)

The comparison of a tape recording of Pompidou's press conference on Sept. 21, 1973 and its reproduction in "Le Monde" on Sept. 23, 1973 shows what changes the text undergoes on being put into writing, from the spoken original. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

To help teachers stay abreast of changes in language usage, this update presents 100 alphabetically arranged short answers to questions often asked by teachers, parents, and students. The guide takes a "style" approach to usage, providing answers that draw attention to the language choices and flexibilities available in particular situations. For…

Suggests that the field of semantics has effectively instructed us not to be manipulated by language but has neglected to emphasize that words do have magical qualities and creative and constructive use can be made of that fact. (TO)

Discusses some of the sexually discriminatory problems encountered and solutions employed by the makers of "The School Dictionary" published in 1972 by the American Heritage Publishing Company. (TO)

Attempts to prove the existence of semantic atoms from the existence of minimal contrasts (phonologic or semantic). (CHK)

Applies Kenneth Burke's "Five Dogs" segment in "Language as Symbolic Action" to analyze Mother Teresa's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. (MM)

This article identifies five interrelated issues about the concept of disabling language including the evolutionary nature of disabling language and the lack of a database to support changing language patterns. Comparison of word choice in journal titles showed that the use of "disability" as a noun has declined substantially in eight years.…

Definitions of literacy necessarily express a social relationship between self and other, projecting the way literate members of society wish to relate to those considered illiterate. This essay questions current definitions of the "illiterate other". (Author/LHW)

Argues that ascription of meaning should be based on the satisfaction of contextual criteria, following Wittgenstein's concept of meaning as use. Shows how the notion can serve a bridging function between general rules and situated contexts. (MS)

Describes the current use of comparative subordinating conjunctions or coordinators on the basis of data collected from a corpus of one million words of German in print. Revises a number of the grammatical rules regarding the use of these words. (SED)