Two centers of diffusion of the English language are (1) schools on the Navajo Reservation and (2) off-Reservation towns; these diffusion centers were studied to examine factors involved in language shift, especially in terms of internal (on-Reservation) and external (off-Reservation) contacts with English. Teachers in schools with Navajo pupils…

An attempt to shed some light on one type of linguistic structure, that structure which is sometimes called a structure of modification, is presented. The study is based on a fairly limited, but statistically ample corpus of 1,200 sentences taken from four metropolitan daily newspapers for the two years 1894 and 1964. From various sources a…

This study investigated verbal behavior of five third-grade children representing three cultural groups: Afro-American, Afro-Caribbean, and white. Ten sessions involving various language arts activities were tape recorded over a five-week period; session 7 was also videotaped. Sessions 3 to 10 involved group interaction across three interaction…

This paper proposes that curriculum theorists replace abstract language with more descriptive terms in order to achieve productive criticism, and it examines issues inherent in such a change. American educational discourse, traditionally focused on technical rationales, encourages theorizing, but a descriptive, aesthetic rationale might facilitate…

This study investigated the effectiveness of the Story Writing Scales of the Personalized Progress Assessment set in determining the writing capabilities of fourth, sixth, and eighth graders and assessed the relationship between students' story-writing competencies and their achievements in reading comprehension, vocabulary, usage, and spelling.…

Evaluation of a bilingual's proficiency in a second language (S) should consider the extent to which his performance is influenced by his competence in his native or primary language (P). An evaluation of proficiency in an S language should reflect the intuitions of S's native speakers. It is found that native speakers do not regard all instances…

Bilingual education, the objective of which is to render bilingual a group of monolingual or quasi-monolingual speakers, is distinguished from the "education of bilinguals," whose goal it is to teach the content of school subjects through the medium of two rather than one language. The present paper establishes this distinction and justifies the…

Much research and writing has been carried out in recent years in an attempt to account for and eliminate, or at least minimize, the poor performance of many Black, lower-socioeconomic status, urban children in our schools. This annotated bibliography lists articles, books, and papers that explore the theoretical frameworks employed to describe…

The methods and objectives of teaching Arabic in the Arab world are outlined here. In elementary school (ages 6-12) about 1/3 of the instructional time is allotted to teaching Arabic. It aims to provide the child with basic skills in reading, conversation and writing. The speech taught is that of modern Arabic used by educated speakers. Reading…

An examination of recent linguistic and sociolinguistic studies on bilingualism has resulted in a reappraisal of the notion of interference. The implications of this reappraisal lead to the conclusion that the principles of transformational generative grammar could successfully be applied to the study of bilingualism if the bilingual's mental…

It is possible to think of women's language in terms of the model implied by the following statement. Insofar as native speakers of English are concerned, the language of women in America has four sets of components: those shared with the language of men in America; those shared, in varying proportions, with other women living in patriarchies;…

Three major meanings of "empathy" are discussed with reference to the widespread imprecision in its use. It is suggested that undifferentiated use of the term in social work education is dangerous, particularly in view of the positive valence associated with being empathetic. (Author/BH)

Types of errors Arabs make with definiteness are classified and the rate of occurrence of errors are counted. Sixteen three-hour college-level American history final examinations written by Arabic speakers were examined. (SW)

Discusses "proper intake" (intake that contains certain designated features of informal communication) in the classroom, when the goal is for students to be able to use language in informal communication. (Author/HP)

Four short articles discuss how to transcribe voice messages quickly and easily, how to learn to debate, new French expressions and games for language students. (Text is in French.) (MLA)