The frequency with which the reader of the British press encounters Germanisms is surprisingly great. This article charts the frequency of German material in one Sunday newspaper and then indicates which individual items occurred most often. (CFM)

Considers two aspects of contemporary Russian language usage: (1) synonymity of prepositions, and (2) semantic and stylistic differences arising when certain verbs govern nouns in different cases. Material is excerpted from "Stilistik der russischen Sprache" (Russian Language Style) by Rosental and M. Telenkowa. (Text is in German.) (FB)

A production-based method of investigating children's understanding of deictic verbs is described. Use of "come/go" and "bring/take" by 4-7-year-olds is compared with Clark and Garnica's 1974 study. Data reveal different facts about verb acquisition processes and order. (CHK)

Discusses the English words "computer," and "calculator" and other related terms, their equivalents in French, and problems resulting from discrepancies in translation. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

Discusses the problems encountered in translating the term "solid-state" into French. Its various English uses are outlined, and a list of French equivalents are provided. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

An instrument called "Focus" has been developed to classify communications people send and receive and help them give similar accounts of the same events. This article teaches five characteristics of communications, provides a rationale and suggests applications. Used in teacher training, it can describe teaching acts and communication accurately.…

Language choices in Spanish bilingual kindergartens are discussed and pupil and teacher language compared. In Concurrent Translation classrooms, English was used over 70 percent of class time, especially for directing and correcting children. In Alternate Day classrooms, there was a more balanced use of Spanish and English. (CHK)

The use of "yige" in various situations in Chinese is discussed. "Yige" resembles English "a/an," but its primary function is to highlight the presence of a following noun phrase and the qualities it represents. This paper aims to illustrate how seemingly irregular sentences can further understanding of the language. (CHK)

Presents brief annotations of 30 children's trade books published in 1996 considered to be outstanding for their enhancement of language awareness among students in grades K-8. (SR)

Suggests that part of the problem with instruction in mechanics has to do with the intuitively unappealing nature of most of the "rules" that have remained unchanged for a century. Discusses problems with current rules on the use of the apostrophe. Presents a one-page reproducible handout that summarizes a technique to teach usage of the…

Shows that main idea statements were used by a variety of leading American writers of nonfiction in the nineteenth century; that usage patterns bridged gender and racial differences; and that even a difference of purpose or audience did not materially alter main idea patterns. Shows the importance of main idea recognition skills as tools for…

Examines issues raised by corpus linguistics concerning the description of language. The article argues that it is necessary to start from correct descriptions of linguistic units and the contexts in which they occur. Corpus linguistics has joined with language teaching by sharing a recognition of the importance of a larger, schematic view of…

Presents four short essays by teachers on foreign words and phrases, letting students critique textbooks, speeding grading by alphabetizing, and role playing using computers. (RS)

Two experiments showed two-year-olds pairs of videotaped actions, one familiar and one novel, and asked them to select referents of novel verbs. For actions not involving objects, children tended to select the novel action over the familiar one in each of four experiments. For actions involving objects, novel actions were chosen more often than…