Notes that poetry writing can be a natural and interesting part of the language arts curriculum. Offers an approach to teaching poetry to intermediate grade students that leads them to accept and like poetry. (FL)

Presents (1) suggestions of a sex-related frequency variation in vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar; (2) evidence of increased sensitivity to sexist language in the manuscripts submitted to the National Council of Teachers of English; (3) a proposed substitution of "Dear Reader" for "Gentlemen" in business correspondence; and (4) a description…

Looks at research and practice in the area of idioms and offers suggestions for teaching them effectively. (FL)

Explored the effects of sex-biased language in occupational information on subject's attitudes regarding gender appropriateness of occupations, in a sample of 184 eighth graders who read neutral or biased occupational briefs. Results showed a nonsignificant language effect and a significant sex difference in occupational interest. (JAC)

A participant in a British teacher workshop that focused on student talk describes the progress of the group toward defining the types of language they wanted to focus on in the classroom and the group's publication of weekly progress reports. (HTH)

An often-neglected aspect of daily language is syllable doubling or repetition, as in infant language ("nounou"), onomatopoeia ("ronron"), interjections or responses ("oui oui"), names ("Mimi"), or military slang ("coco" for "commandant"). The mechanisms and semantic functions of this phenomenon are outlined, drawing on examples from French…

Points out that children must master a great deal of information about form classes, written conventions, and word referent relationships in order to understand what teachers mean when they use the term "word." (FL)

Although propaganda appears to be universal, its language may not be, reflecting instead the particular cultural context in which it emerges and is used. To understand the various styles of propaganda is to better understand their cultural functions. (MSE)

This feature consists of instructional materials to be used for vocabulary development and language use in French instruction. Specific areas covered include advertising, travel, and journalism. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

This article, reporting a study of teacher attitudes toward the linguistic situation in their Caribbean communities, suggests that the social values attached to varieties of English in Creole Communities must be regarded as substantially different from those which obtain in more usual dialect situations. (POP)

Is Black English a true language form? A history of its development was discussed with suggestions for language teachers and school systems in meeting the language needs of the black student. (RK)

Using a fictitious text, the article discusses the "sexism" in current spoken English, which discriminates against the female sex consciously and by negligence. Objectionable words are listed. An exercise for Secondary Grade II is offered, with sentences to be written, avoiding the "sexist" element. (IFS/WGA)

The Japanese Keigo system is the whole of the grammatical rules related to expressions of respectful or pejorative feelings concerning all persons involved in speech acts. This article proposes a new approach to the problem of teaching this system at the elementary level. (CLK)