Describes three experiments that investigated the influence of a context sentence on the processing of a subsequent sentence. Concludes that context can affect within-sentence processes in comprehension. Test materials used in the experiments are appended. (FL)

Supports the function of analogy in activating specific background knowledge and generally related knowledge in reading unfamiliar text, a view consistent with emerging schema theoretic notions. (AEA)

Indicates that readers monitor their comprehension as they read, evaluating whether the ideas expressed in the text are consistent with one another. (AEA)

Explains how semantic webbing (a process for constructing visual displays of categories and their relationships) works with a basal reader story and presents some teaching strategies for effective semantic webbing. (HOD)

Instances of conversational disruption caused by a clanger, or interactionally aggressive utterance, which disrupts the expected relationship of verbal moves in conversation are examined at the phonological, lexical and syntactic levels. Speakers use clangers to redefine the relationship between the participants in the interpersonal domains of…

Discusses the changes that have taken place in college English studies and emphasizes the need for the integration of composition and literature. (HOD)

Presents a classification of discourse, designed for the beginning writer, for which the basic taxon is the tactic--"any conscious decision of the writer to add to, subtract from, or alter in any way what he or she is writing." (JM)

Describes documents in the ERIC data base that review research on schemata and reading comprehension and discuss the implications of using the schemata paradigm in educational research and practice. (MKM)

Presents data which shows, in a systematic and objective way, how the same speaker can express the same meaning in a variety of ways depending upon the social situation. Such data offer the teacher of English a basis for discussing some of the linguistic features involved in this variation. (Author/PJM)

Gives a syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, and discourse structure analysis of mothers' speech to children of 1;0, 1;8, 2;3, and 5;0 years, showing that the age of the child to whom mothers were speaking could be predicted very accurately from her speech. The changes in mothers' speech are responses to concurrent changes in children's language…

Investigates the functional nature of the communication process observed in interactions of English-speaking and Japanese-speaking children from the two-word stage onward, with special attention to the given/new contract and pragmatic factors. (Author/AM)

This study replicates findings of a study reported by Anderson et al. (EJ 184 138). Interpretation of ambiguously worded paragraphs was related to sex and college major. Titles on the paragraphs reduced ambiguity, although some students still gave an interpretation that was not consistent with the title. (Author/CP)

Reviews aspects of Halliday's Systemic-Functional Grammar, emphasizing language functions, modality vs modulation, process types, transitivity, information distribution, and cohesion. Implications for language teaching are discussed. (AM)

Language samples of college- and middle-aged respondents were analyzed to determine if the language use of college students is appropriate for generalizations to other elements of the population. (PD)

Defines the term "le lexique" showing it as an approach to language study which comprises all levels of linguistic analysis including syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. (Text is in French.) (TL)