Detailed analysis of frequencies of the primary auxiliary verb "be" in Scots dramatic texts leads to consideration of the typological relationship said to exist between different varieties of Scots and between them and standard English. (Author/CB)

Compares the rhetorical strategies of 20 opening paragraphs from "Psychology Today" to those in 20 first paragraphs from student essays. Observes that professionals regularly begin exposition with narratives, indirection, and irony, while students begin with rhetorical questions, truisms, and muddled strategies. Concludes that students'…

Examines the expression of temporality in the basilang speech (the earliest stage of second language development) of five adult subjects. Temporality is studied from three perspectives: morphology, semantics, and pragmatics. The taxonomy provided by the pragmatic analysis best captures the expression of time at this level of interlanguage…

Analyzes 10 edited essays written by freshmen native and nonnative speakers of English who are novice writers of English. Both groups produced approximately the same number and kinds of sentence level deviations from standard written English, but nonnatives produce fewer faulty structures and more coherent essays with clearer illocutionary guides.…

Describes the use of the English Natural Form Instruction (ENFI) computer conferencing system to teach language skills in college writing classes at Northern Virginia Community College. Highlights include local area networks; discourse processing; interactive writing; the teacher's role; textual analysis of writing by two classes; and other…

Argues that many interventions for introducing Aboriginal children to literacy continue to be based on "language deficit" models. Examines whether there is indeed a mismatch between the nonstandard spoken language of some Aboriginal children and textbook language. (RAE)

Discusses the theoretical basis, implementation, and pedagogical considerations of CALLE (Computer-Aided Language Learning Environment), a dialogue-based beginning Spanish language instruction system. CALLE uses Lexical Functional Grammar Theory to analyze errors in student input. Sample screen is shown. (Author/LMO)

Summarizes the benefits and limitations of the use of story grammars in the elementary reading classroom. Provides suggestions for implementation in the classroom. (ARH)

Compares the environmental rhetoric of former U.S. Interior Secretary James Watt and U.S. President Ronald Reagan, explaining that Watt's political value outweighed his political liability. Notes that cabinet members extend a President's influence by reaching issue-specific audiences while maintaining philosophical consistency, and serve as…

Observation of mothers and their two-year-olds (N=10) in routine, free play, and novel discourse settings suggested that object labelling was more varied in natural than in experimental settings. Basic level tokens were less prevalent and subordinate level term usage was more common in the routine and novel contexts. (Author/CB)

Indicates that membership in pausing and skimming clusters appears to relate to text comprehension, grade level, and rated academic ability, but that these relationships are not all simple or direct. Finds that the cluster-analytic approach provides a useful empirical adjunct to current theoretical perspectives on text analysis and reading…

Suggests an alternative approach to the variable rule method of accounting for linguistic variability. This alternative approach, which is sensitive to social context and the relevance of meaning, is used to support an analysis of "-ing/in'" variability in some North American industrial workers' speech. (SED)

Texts from a variety of genres (letter, narrative, biography, film scenario, and dialogue) and a variety of French authors of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries are provided as examples of discourse with the common theme of passion and as sources for the study of the semiotics of passion. (MSE)

The effects of four major types of expository text on the comprehension performance of 69 third and 69 sixth graders were investigated. Results suggest that knowledge of discourse types underlies effective expository comprehension and that this ability increases as children reach the upper elementary grades. (BS)

Gives recommendations for sequencing writing assignments in courses structured by genre or definition, by chronology, and by theme. (CRH)