Proposes that different versions of moral decision making emerged in the narrative patterns of Ferraro and members of the Catholic church during the 1984 Presidential Campaign. Discusses these visions of morality using Kenneth Burke's terms and examines them as illustrative of differences in feminine and masculine constructions of reality. (JD)

Study of the language produced by teachers in American university mathematics classrooms suggests that teachers redefine or remap the semantic domains of the first and second person pronouns to include third person and indefinite reference. There were five sets of discourse-defined semantic mappings for the pronoun "we." (Author/CB)

Discusses problems of writing introductions in light of the theories of H. P. Grice, C. Altieri, K. Burke, and Aristotle, illustrated with scientific writing, rhetorical criticism, and student letters and essays. Approaches the introduction as text both about subject matter and about the intended reader, situation invoked, and writer's own…

Analysis of data from the first six months of acquisition of English as a second language by a Japanese five-year-old illustrated the role of modular "chunking" and coupling in the second language acquisition process, apparent in the child's pre-copula and copula referential utterances. (Author/CB)

Reports on a study using 126 university freshmen to examine the effects of instruction and practice in a discourse structure reading and writing strategy focusing on main ideas, supporting ideas, and central ideas. Indicates the discourse structure treatment is effective and worthy of further study. (NH)

Indicates that (1) the prevalence of four selected cognitive strategies among voters shifted during the 1984 presidential campaign and (2) communication behavior differed between persons using the same strategies at different stages of the campaign. Supports research suggesting that campaign communication is not just a simple function of…

Describes processes of facilitation involved in exolingual conversation (interactions between persons who are dynamically adjusting their respective linguistic performances) between foreign language learners and native speakers, concluding that such behavior is dynamic and creative, and incapable of being described and defined within predetermined…

A review of research about second language learning indicates that nonprimary acquisition is sensitive to the center-periphery distinction. There is clear evidence that this construct has reflexes in interlanguage word order with respect to the probability of native word order influence, difficulty, and order of emergence. (CB)

A study of native English-speakers' (N=36) and English-as-a-second-language students' (N=60) understanding of conjunctions while reading indicated that more advanced ESL students were more capable of inferencing or using available logical relationships than were intermediate ESL students. (Author/CB)

Presents evidence to show that the development and institutionalization of non-native varieties of English around the world pose a serious problem for all existing theories of second language acquisition. The issues that need to be addressed in future research are clearly defined. (Author/SED)

Studied one aspect of communication competency: how people express emotions through verbal behavior. Found, among other conclusions, that references to unpleasant emotions outnumber references to pleasant emotions almost two to one. (PD)

Compares the performance of German school learners of English in a communicative writing task and of their teachers in assessing it with that of native English pupils and teachers carrying out the same task. Raises questions about the appropriate performance model for communicative tasks and the role of usage in teacher assessments. (Author/SED)

A teaching technique used in a short course in reading scientific and technical Russian without previous Russian language experience is described. A special grammar-and-dictionary is used in a rule-governed manner to produce semi-automatically a sentence-for-sentence analysis of specialized texts. (MSE)

This journal, which deals with topics in educational research, includes articles written in Spanish (translated here) such as the following: "Management of the Competence of Professional Action (CAP)]" (Benito Echeverria Samanes); "Concepts and Beliefs of Andalusian Secondary School Teachers on Mathematics Assessments"…

This paper presents and analyzes two examples of classroom discourse which belong to the genre of "talk about texts." Both are extracts from discussions between a small group of primary school students and their teacher (in England) on the topic of short texts of narrative fiction which they have just read together during the…