Two investigations of preschool children's relative dependence upon contextual and linguistic information to discriminate between speech acts revealed that younger subjects' discrimination of each speech act appeared relatively unaffected by reduction of linguistic information, while older subjects' performance was adversely affected. (Author/CB)

A review of problems and prospects regarding the communicative approach to second language teaching considers learner needs, syllabi, "real" communication, teacher concerns, and future prospects. While there is a set of shared assumptions about the concept of a genuine communicative approach, there is no one specific communicative method. (CB)

Defines curriculum along with introduction to structural thought. Reviews why the study of curriculum has been so turbulent. Describes the movement to teach structure of the disciplines during the 1960's and analyzes this time frame from the post-structual perspectives of Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida. Summarizes the meaning of curriculum…

Contends that J. L. Austin's speech act theory can supplement classical rhetoric because it conserves the essentials of a rhetorical vision of language, defends that rhetorical view against the traditional attacks on it, yet is also free of several aspects of classical rhetoric that are now outmoded. (SKC)

Examination of the speech of 33 monolingual Spanish-speaking children found that syllable type affected the correct pronunciation of novel words. The different syllable types comprising the novel words could be hierarchized. Performance on syllable type appeared to be an interaction between the structure of the syllable and phonological processes…

Examines previous hypotheses of the causes of dyslexia. Proposes that dyslexia results from a subtle language deficiency rather than from defects in the visual system. Discusses current theories and assesses instructional strategies for dyslexics. (ML)

Suggests teaching comparative languages and literature to minorities in ways which encourage cultural diversity and create a less Western ethnocentric world view. (MM)

Discusses H. Zobl's paper, "Configurationality and the Subset Principle: The Acquisition of V' by Japanese Learners of English," and asserts that the subset principle, with certain adaptations, can apply to second language learning. In the context of Universal Grammar theory, first and second language acquisition are clearly different.…

Four publications containing the proceedings of conferences and linguistic research relating to communication are reviewed and annotated. Specific topics include interactive and interpretive strategies in discourse, general linguistics, foreign language learning, and oral French. (MSE)

An attitude dimension questionnaire was administered to a random sample of Mexican-American college students and to a random sample of Spanish-surnamed professionals in the Rio Grande Valley (Table 1). Attitudes toward use of Spanish varied by age, sex, generation, and occupational status. Tabular results in Appendix. (Author/LMO)

Six brief papers on expert systems for libraries cover (1) a knowledge-based approach to database design; (2) getting started in expert systems; (3) using public domain software to develop a business reference system; (4) a music cataloging inquiry system; (5) linguistic analysis of reference transactions; and (6) a model of a reference librarian.…

Compared linguistic flexibility of deaf and hearing children aged 8 to 15 by examining relative frequencies of their nonliteral constructions in stories written and signed or spoken. Considered seven types of nonliteral constructions. Results suggest deaf children are more competent linguistically and cognitively than are hearing children. (SKC)

Assesses children's comprehension of "because" and "so" on enactment and sentence completion tasks. Results provide evidence against a componential model for the acquisition of causal connectives. Supported is the position that understanding of relational terms is initially context dependent; linguistic development generates…

A longitudinal study of a Japanese-speaking learner of English as a second language (ESL) analyzed the learner's article system and found that it was not target-like but also not totally random. (Author/CB)

Focuses on the learner's problems in producing the correct grammatical gender for a given noun in German. Discusses the complexity of gender assignment and the lengthy process of acquisition of gender. Examines error patterns made by English students of German. (Author/LMO)