A study was undertaken to determine if the removal of black English dialect as oral reading errors would influence the scores obtained on three oral reading diagnostic tests: the Gray Oral Reading Test, the Gilmore Oral Reading Test, and the Spache Diagnostic Reading Scales. In addition, the study investigated whether there were differences in the…

Results of a 1975 sociolinguistic survey of all the ethnic groups of the South American Black population are presented. The sample of 3,653 people between the ages of 15 and 54 was from the urban and rural areas of all the provinces and homelands of the Republic of South Africa. Findings indicate that proficiency in English is relatively strongly…

THE SCOPE OF THE NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY CURRICULUM CENTER'S RESEARCH PROGRAM IN TEACHING COMPOSITION TO THE BEGINNING WRITER IS DEFINED IN THE EIGHT PAPERS COMPRISING THIS COLLECTION. THE TOPICS FOR THE PAPERS ARE--(1) LIMITING THE AIMS OF TEACHING COMPOSITION IN THE SEVENTH- AND EIGHTH-GRADES TO INCLUDE ONLY NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE WRITING AND…

A study was undertaken to explore the relationship of mothers' language to infant development in terms of the infants' development of sensorimotor intelligence. Specifically, the study chronicled the infants' advances in sensorimotor development from J. Piaget's Stage II to Stage III as a possible explanation for changes in maternal language. It…

The use of formulaic speech is seen as a learning strategy in children's first language (L1) acquisition to a limited extent, and to an even greater extent in their second language (L2) acquisition. While the first utterances of the child learning L1 are mostly one-word constructions, many of them are routine words or phrases that the child learns…

An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that the use of swear words by women elicits more negative perceptions of the speaker than the use of the same words by men. Subjects (undergraduates) read vignettes describing fictitious clients' initial interviews at a mental health center. One described a forty-year old teacher troubled by…

This study investigates the effects of the language factor and the cultural content factor of mathematical testing on two different non Anglo ethnic groups: the Chinese and the Chicano. Twenty five word problems, judged to be biased against the Chinese or the Chicano students, were selected from several seventh and eighth grade mathematics…

Intended for preservice and inservice teachers at all educational levels, but especially for those in English education classes, this book examines the foundations of grammar instruction and supplies some definitions and examples of grammar usage. Part one of the book explores relevant language research, reasons for teaching grammar, the…

Much recent research into college writing has focused on syntactic measurements. Significant problems inherent in such use of these indices arise for their validity at and beyond the college level and center on the terms "maturity,""complexity," and "growth.""Maturity" has not been satisfactorily defined, nor has the level of competence been…

This pamphlet is the eighth in a series of ten stemming from the view that language is central to learning, that teachers can gain insights into their work and into learning by examining the language of the classroom, and that current language theory can be the means to such insights. The pamphlet contains a discussion of the uses of language in…

STORIES DICTATED BY STUDENTS FROM GRADES 1 AND 2 OF SCHOOLS IN A POVERTY AREA OF TUCSON, ARIZONA WERE TRANSCRIBED BY CLASSROOM TEACHERS AND ARE REPRODUCED WITH ACCOMPANYING SEMANTIC ANALYSES. ANALYZED FOR BASIC PREDICATION FORMS AND MAJOR FORM-CLASS CONCEPTS WHICH ARE CONTAINED IN THEM, THE STORIES ARE PRESENTED TO SHOW (1) DIFFERENCES IN THE…

A curriculum guide was prepared for the teaching of standard spoken English in the Los Angeles junior high schools. This guide focuses specifically on the language handicaps of Mexican-American students. The lessons were designed for use with accompanying tapes and filmstrips. (See also UD 007702 for parallel program to help Negro students). (NH)

IT IS IMPORTANT TO RECOGNIZE THAT APPALACHIAN CHILDREN ARE NOT ILLITERATES. THEY HAVE A VERY SOPHISTICATED LANGUAGE WITH WHICH THEY COMMUNICATE EFFECTIVELY WITHIN THEIR OWN COMMUNITY. THEIR LANGUAGE SYSTEM, HOWEVER, IS NOT LIKE THE STANDARD AMERICAN ENGLISH, BUT IS LEARNED ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY FROM ORAL TRADITION AND HAS CHANGED VERY LITTLE FOR…

Over a 10-year period, the oral language development of 338 pupils was studied from kindergarten through grade 9 to establish the most crucial and frequent oral language difficulties. Recorded samples of oral English from each subject were segmented by oral intonation patterns and syntactic units, and were analyzed yearly in terms of 21 oral…

There are 452 idioms in this listing compiled from the 1,920 idioms in Gaetano Massa's work, "Italian Idioms and Proverbs." The study attempts to determine the range and frequency of each idiom by checking the master list against the end-vocabularies of 25 representative Italian texts consisting of novels, short stories, and plays. A bibliography…