Critically examines papers by Wellman and Estes, Olson and Torrance, and Hall and Nagy. (AEW)

Suggests the use of principal components analysis as an alternative solution to the problem of grouping speakers by sociological characteristics prior to quantitative analysis. An example is presented of its application to vowel variation data collected as part of a sociolinguistic survey of English in Sydney, Australia. (Author/CB)

Presents arguments for and against: the theoretical acceptance of language skills breakdown; the Unitary Competence Hypothesis/General Language Proficiency theory; and the existence of a separate listening comprehension factor in language ability. Also considered is the technique of factor analysis in language research. (CB)

Examples of the Croats in the Burgenland and the Slovenes in Carinthia (Slavic minorities in Austria) are presented to illustrate the importance of comparing different multilingual communities to make a typologically relevant description of them to understand typological similarities and certain idiosyncratic characteristics. (Author/CB)

Identifies some underlying assumptions about language, testing and its use, and second language acquisition (SLA) for those current on the issue of oral proficiency assessment. Suggests that even with its limitations, the assessment procedure can become a source of data for future SLA research. (Author/LMO)

Foreign language acquisition research (concerned with the theoretical and practical issues related to socialization into and literacy in another language and culture) can help integrate language, literature, and culture in foreign language departments because it draws on insights gained from such diverse fields as anthropology, sociology,…

Assesses the attitudes of Arab parents living in the United States toward their children's bilingual education programs and the role in their children's education. Findings revealed that parents highly valued their child's placement in a bilingual class environment because of its more positive, accepting atmosphere and attention to Arab culture.…

Presents a brief overview of good research design and related statistical concepts in deliberately non-technical language and argues that an awareness of the basic principles of valid research on the part of teachers and researchers is necessary to put the findings of language and education research into proper perspective. (Author/CB)

Reports on the results of a two-year study finding that college students' communication competence is linked to success in college, that high school communication experience is related to higher G.P.A., and that communication apprehension is related to perceptions of communication competence. Recommends replication employing a larger, more…

Research in the area of language skill attrition encompasses such areas as first-language loss, second-language loss, dying languages, and effects of age or disease on language loss. Research has so far focused on maintenance of language skills and interventions to stop language skill attrition. (CB)

Illustrates some of the problems of second language (French) acquisition by adult Spanish-speaking immigrants in a natural setting through analysis of the European Project data (Perdue, 1982) in three areas: acquisition and use of the over-generalized marker "c'est"; acquisition of reference to time; and acquisition of reference to…

Analysis of reading comprehension and recall of text by college students studying Spanish indicated that three components of background knowledge--context, transparency, and familiarity--affected the way learners read, comprehend, and recall passages. Interaction between these components and the reader is extremely complex. (CB)

Indicates that (1) children's violations decreased with age; (2) in the dyadic context, fathers assumed a more directive role in response to children's violations than did mothers; (3) there were no between-parent differences between parents regarding reactions to children's violations in the triadic context. (NKA)

Describes four experiments on the speech segmentation procedures of English listeners listening to English words and compares them to earlier work based on French speakers listening to French words. The results indicate that the segmentation process characteristically employed by French speakers and English speakers differs. (SED)

Discusses the differing points of view of foreign language teaching research and second language acquisition research. The article shows that second language acquisition research works with linguistic data as a product of output, while foreign language teaching research, in addition, tries to interpret classroom data by taking into account the…