In this era of rapid globalization of business opportunities, many managers face the need to communicate with foreign counterparts who do not speak English. The solution, in many cases, is to use an interpreter. Interpreters, however, may make mistakes, and irritation, embarrassment and even major problems may arise from errors in translation.…

In recognition of the importance of diversity, and in response to numerous requests from the college community, New York City Technical College (NYCTC) developed a profile of fall semester 1989 students enrolled in each curriculum, each academic division, and the entire college, based on students' ethnicity, primary language, and country of…

Performance data on the Descriptive Tests of Language Skills (DTLS) for entering college students were collected through a pilot study of 4,234 students in 16 colleges. This study was also designed to permit several checks on the validity of the DTLS by examining the relationship of DTLS scores to the following criteria: English course grades,…

A study examined young children's emergent reading abilities through analysis of their assisted storybook interactions. Twelve storybooks were read to 41 preschool children during a two-week period preceding interviews. During the interviews, each child was asked to "read" a favorite storybook aloud to a stuffed animal and to the…

Noting the improvement that has occurred in the teaching of writing since the introduction of the process approach to instruction, this book offers suggestions for still more improvement and for solving the problems that arise in the teaching of writing. The first section of the book stresses the importance of letting children write and of…

A study examined the effects of sexist communication patterns on career choices. To gather data for the study, researchers constructed two separate questionnaires. The first questionnaire consisted of 48 items that were carefully worded to be sex-neutral. The second questionnaire contained sexist versions of the original 48 items. Altogether, 221…

In 1996, Learning Languages published an article describing a cultural exchange that occurred from 1991 to 1993 between Breck School, a private school in Minneapolis, and Paul Dukas School, a high-needs school in Brest, France. Much of that exchange was carried out through online telecommunications using the Minitel. The result of a two-year…

Before teachers begin to teach Standard American English (SAE), the schools must strive for a greater tolerance among the public and the school community toward Non-Standard American English (NSAE) dialects. Through the use of a number of motivational approaches, students retain the right to their own dialects and language while learning SAE as a…

This packet is designed to raise precollege students' understanding and awareness of writing by women, to encourage women's studies in the curriculum, and to assist in identifying bias in language use and English/language arts curriculum materials. It can also be used by companies or community organizations interested in similar issues. It…

Maintaining that the arts are composing activities and--like talking and writing--powerful ways of making meaning, this book discusses teaching English through the arts. The book provides a brief theoretical and historical basis for its fundamental approach and presents 29 instructional strategies that classroom teachers who do not have special…

This instructional unit is intended for use in helping secondary and postsecondary business students develop their communications skills. The course is designed to be taught in six weeks in conjunction with the sixth edition of "Business English and Communication," a textbook published by McGraw-Hill. Chapters addressing listening, speaking,…

Writing in English in New Zealand today is being invigorated by the strength of the Maori oral tradition: its use of metaphor, its expression of Maori values. It is the Maori tradition that is the source of a unique New Zealand identity, which emerges through the language and literature of Aotearoa (New Zealand), the use of strongly rooted Maori…

Modern Ethiopia has made progress that has altered the status and functions of its various languages. With modernization, the reasons for and means of interethnic contact have multiplied, creating the need for a common language. Amharic, once confined to a rather small area, has spread geographically and grown in status in the last thousand years,…

A child's literary experience may be "stretched" through extension activities such as reading aloud, discussion, writing, art, music, and drama. While any planned activity can be overused and work against the intent of furthering the child's literary growth, there are many valid ways of offering the child opportunities for savoring and reflecting…

A project followed the development of a curriculum of editing assignments used to bridge the gap between Miami-Dade Community College students' passive command of grammatical rules and active use of them in their writing. Assumptions and strategies used in developing the curriculum included: (1) the idea that editing must be seen as a part of the…