The linguistic purposes of this research were to focus on content, themes and topics, and to analyze the way the target language (English) was used in e-mail. Communicativeness and the roles of the communicator (writer-reader) became central, emphasizing the multidirectional character of e-mail communication. The basic tenet of communicativeness…

This study compared techniques for teaching collaborative writing to English majors in Taiwan, focusing on the effectiveness of computer-mediated (CM) vs. face-to-face (FF) peer response sessions, measured by amount of speech produced by students and the level of participation in discussion. Subjects were 17 university sophomores in a composition…

Current trends and issues in second language education are summarized to provide background data for discussion in these areas: language use patterns in Canada and in the world; language education in Canada, with a focus on Alberta's situation (federal and provincial roles in multicultural education and second language study throughout Canada, and…

A survey of 98 Papua New Guinea technical university graduates in the applied sciences, engineering fields, and forestry investigated their language skill use and language needs in the workplace. Results indicate that, as in Papua New Guinea society in general, English and Tok Pisin are the two most important languages for technical communication…

This guide addresses problems in communication occurring between teachers in training and their observers/trainers, particularly after an observation session. It presents a series of activities intended for workshop use and designed to encourage communication that conveys intention and meaning more effectively. The activities include exercises in…

Suggestions for improving communication and public relations are offered in this guidebook for school office personnel. Because of the high visibility and accessibility of their positions, such staff serve important public relations functions for the school. Chapter 1 examines the public relations role of school office personnel, and chapter 2…

Focusing on children's production of written language, a two-year study, conducted on the Oodham (Papago) Indian Reservation in Arizona, explored social context, linguistic systems, and the creation of meaning as aspects of the writing process. Ten American Indian children in third and fourth grade provided over 200 stories that formed the basic…

Speech, language, and composition professionals should take a leadership role in working toward a national public policy on language. The declining rates of literacy and educational achievement in AfroAmerican communities serve as evidence that such a policy is needed. However, the policy would govern language teaching and language use throughout…

An experimental, interdisciplinary, mastery learning course in intercultural communication--designed to help students at Santa Barbara (California) City College overcome barriers arising from language, attitudinal, nonverbal, and ethnocentric variations in communication styles--is described in this collection of documents. The collection includes…

The Adolescent Communication Screen--a criterion-based instrument designed to provide speech-language clinicians a measure for screening the communication skills of students in grades 5 through 12--is described in this document. Included in the description are the instrument's subtests: vocabulary, temporal concepts, language comprehension,…

Papers on contrastive linguistics in this volume include: "Contrastive Discourse Analysis in Language Usage" (Juliane House); "Typology and Contrastive Analysis" (Vlasta Strakova); "On the Tenability of the Notion 'Pragmatic Equivalence' in Contrastive Analysis" (Karol Janicki); "On the Relevance of Phonetic,…

As part of a larger study of significant bilingual instructional education features, the stability of instruction by 10 teachers was examined. Six aspects of instruction were investigated: instructional organization, time allocation, active teaching, use of the students' native or English language and culture, curriculum intent, and the teacher's…

A study examined the match between the vocabularies of children of different ethnic and socioeconomic status groups and the school vocabulary revealed by readability formulas and word lists. The Spache 1040 and the Dale 769 readability formula word lists were used as indicators of school vocabulary in the early primary grades, and a corpus of talk…

A survey of the status of language usage in Mexico begins with an overview of language distribution among the population, mono- and multilingualism, changes in patterns of usage between the 1970 and 1980 censuses, and linguistic issues related to assimilation of the Indian population and the role and philosophy of the Instituto Nacional…

Intended to help readers develop an appreciation of the contributions of Franco-Americans to the cultural heritage of the United States, this book, the fourth of six volumes, presents 15 chapters representing many perspectives--from the historical to the sociological--illustrating the thinking and feelings of those in the forefront of…