Examines American public discourse about civil rights in national magazines from 1939-1959, indicating three stages in the controversy: (1) a positive recharacterization of blacks, (2) an inclusion of blacks under the nation's ideographs, and (3) a final contest between segregationist and integrationist rhetorics. Discusses the potential for…

Offers 10 basic principles that express the beliefs of the deans of 12 Pennsylvania colleges about the nature of literature, how it is best studied, how it is best taught, and the relationship between writing and literature. (SRT)

The use of computerized concordances in second language teaching is discussed, drawing on the results of a study undertaken in a teaching seminar. In the study, a corpus of 401 English sentences from electronic mail (e-mail) texts written by American pupils to a German school were analyzed with an electronic concordancer and compared with 326…

This study analyzes the use and distribution patterns of the Discourse Marker (DM) "You Know" in interviews with members of a Hispanic folklore dance troupe. The study attempts to demonstrate how the use of this DM expresses identity among Hispanic females and if its use is affected by the ethnic labels each speaker uses. By assessing…

This document explores problems described by learners of second languages at the university level. It reports on three case studies drawn from a language advisory service at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. An understanding of the range of experiences learners report in a given learning context is likely to shed light on ways in…

Oppositional feminist ethnography does have something to offer those in adult education. Because adult educators adhere to a mission of social justice, concern over issues of power, knowledge construction, positionality, identity, and voice have become more prevalent. Although discourses dealing with equity are increasing, those in the field still…

The report describes a grammar program designed to reduce structural errors in written tests on non-native students of English. Subjects were 20 college English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students of different language backgrounds. The program's objectives were to (1) reduce grammatical errors in the students' writing by 20 percent, (2) improve…

The International Communication section of the proceedings contains the following 15 selected papers: "'News Aid', the New Aid: A Case Study of Cambodia" (J. L. Clarke); "Development of Public and Private Broadcasting in Post-Communist Estonia: 1991-1996" (Max V. Grubb); "Revealing and Repenting South Korea's Vietnam…

This collection of 29 original articles provides an informative overview of current linguistic research on Spanish in the United States. Many of the chapters focus on regional aspects, ranging from sociolinguistic issues among Dominicans in New York and Cubans in Miami to the adoption and adaptation of forms from Nahuatal and English in the…

Discusses two surveys conducted at the University of Hong Kong that measured students' willingness to adopt active speech roles in second-language classrooms. Findings reveal that students expressed a liking for communicative work at school and a preference for classes permitting students to do most of the talking, but that they had a low…

Examines the morpho-syntax of task-based interaction and reports some possible grammatical consequences of interaction in split and shared information tasks undertaken by adult second language learners of English. Results indicate that communication tasks for language learning can be designed to influence the use of particular linguistic…

Discusses the ways languages of Europe render the "given"-"new" distinction on the basis of data collected by means of presenting speakers of various languages with the task of reconstructing a route on a map. The article raises questions about the nature of "wh"-pronouns in English and about what is shared by these…

Includes the full text of Toni Morrison's acceptance speech for the 1996 Nobel Prize, awarded in Stockholm, Sweden. In the context of a modern day fable, Morrison investigates interwoven themes of language, creativity, and responsibility. Includes several photographs of the ceremony. (MJP)

Investigates what can be learned about second language (L2) speech acts using English language multiple choice (MC) instruments and discourse completion tests (DCTs). The study focuses on the primary language (L1) responses of native speakers and the L2 responses given by speakers of Chinese to MC questionnaires and DCTs dealing with the…

Presents a detailed account of many of the issues relating to Chinese "secret societies" and the use of triad language. The article emphasizes the pressing need to update and extend intelligent research in this area, particularly with regard to current practices of triad societies and their relationship to organized crime, in Hong Kong…