Noting that good writing is good business, this book offers 35 practical techniques that foster simplicity, conciseness, and emphasis. The book discusses how to: (1) write with verbs instead of nouns; (2) decide when to use active versus passive constructions; (3) recognize wordy phrases and redundant expressions; (4) distinguish the uses of…

This study analyzed the size and characteristics of monolingual and bilingual workers, using the 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey, which contains questions on English language Usage, second language usage, and language proficiencies. Interviews with a nationally representative sample of the U.S. adult population (in English or Spanish)…

Noun phrases are often used in academic writing to express the abstract character of the topics discussed. Nouns, especially nominalizations, make it possible to express complicated ideas in a condensed and compact manner, whereas the corresponding verbs make texts easier to understand and more dynamic. In this paper, a case study is presented…

Contemporary Pacific literature represents one of many bodies of new literatures written in English that have emerged from cultures of former colonies of European empires (contact literatures). They contain a blend of two or more linguistic contexts and a range of discourse devices and cultural assumptions distinct from the ones associated with…

This paper discusses the protection of linguistic rights, focusing on the constitutional and legal experience in Europe. It addresses state plurilingualism, then examines general principles (the legal status of languages, equality, and multilingualism in representative institutions). Next, it discusses recognition of linguistic rights (the right…

This paper contends that anyone who teaches English or who wants to write or publish must be sensitive to the issue of gender equity in language, whether in the use of police officers, not policemen, flight attendants, not stewardesses, or the exclusive use of the masculine pronoun, which was the standard years ago. Writers can avoid gender bias…

This digest focuses on the application of discourse analysis to second language teaching and learning. It provides examples of how teachers can improve their teaching practices by investigating actual language use both in and out of the classroom, and how students can learn language through exposure to different types of discourse. (VWL)

This study investigated the extent to which foreign words have become assimilated into the Japanese lexicon during the decade of the 1990s. Since the 1980s, a number of linguists and educators have argued that the rate of loan word absorption into Japanese has increased dramatically. However, most of the studies are speculative or anecdotal. This…

The Pew Hispanic Center/Kaiser Family Foundation 2002 National Survey of Latinos explored the attitudes and experiences of Latinos on a wide variety of topics. The survey sample was designed to include enough Hispanics from various backgrounds and national origin groups so that in addition to describing Latinos overall, comparisons also could be…

The present study was concerned with current theories of the coding of visual information and with the conditions under which this information processing differs for deaf and hearing subjects. (Author/RK)

Discusses a psycholinguistic experiment investigating a child's use of relative clauses in English. (TO)

Article related the language and concept of art, the dialogue of aesthetic experience with mental images. (RK)

The article lists and discusses examples of social studies performance objectives developed by the state of Michigan for both elementary and secondary schools. (RM)

The Saussurean thesis of arbitrariness of the sign is considered incomplete since it specifies only vertical and not horizontal relations. (DD)