This paper compares the tone systems of Vietnamese and English, with emphasis on the teaching of English as a second language. Rising, level, high, low, and falling tones are identified for English. Vietnamese has all of these except the last. While in Vietnamese, tones are predictable in the sense that tones and words go together, English tones…

This paper presents a review of the current English language teaching situation in Egypt. The role of English in schools, in universities, as a medium of communication among the general public, and as a language of international communication is reviewed. English within the educational system is specifically considered, in terms of when it is…

This paper argues for a reorganization of the educational procedures in the ESL classroom, in the interest of developing communicative competence. Special emphasis is placed on the use in the classroom of only structural and phonological patterns which are easily transferrable to real-life situations. In the interest of abolishing mechanical…

This paper examines the factors which govern the use of infinitives and gerunds after verbs and uses American literature and periodicals since 1945 for examples of this usage. The analysis was undertaken in order to clarify this usage for those teaching or learning English as a second language. Studies yielded three general rules for the use of…

Harold Allen states that language study will become an integral component of the college English curriculum when English departments recognize that a professional knowledge of the nature and function of language, of current theoretical studies in it, and of the geographical, historical, and social variations in language is vital to understanding…

The experimental program in remedial composition described in this interim report was designed on the assumption that students could best learn to write minimally acceptable compositions by imitating paragraph and essay models which have been divided into a series of incremental steps. The objectives of the program were to develop a heuristic…

Only the approach that integrates a study of both the "what" and the "how" of a discipline will be relevant to the practicing English teacher. Missing between the two extremes of specialized subject matter research and conventional educational research is research into the structure of a particular discipline, exploring it as a body of knowledge,…

This book explores the workings of language, explains the operation of language as a coherent system, and examines instances of effective as well as ineffective communication. Chapters deal with (1) a "meaning" approach to language and the relation of semantics to the communicator, (2) how language works and what makes it work, (3) how language…

A study was undertaken "to determine the extent and nature of change, if any, in the speech of two New England communities" since the fieldwork for the "Linguistic Atlas of New England" (LANE) was completed in 1932. Two rural communities, Granby and Deerfield, Massachusetts, were re-visited in order to interview the same three…

The loss of richness and multiplicity of word meaning can result in a decline in the metaphoric activity of the mind. A technologically-oriented civilization pressures students to devalue word connotation in favor of denotative exactitude. To counteract this tendency, teachers should adopt for themselves and instill in their students a regard for…

This guide is designed to increase the effectiveness of using portable videotape equipment in classrooms for improving instruction. A first section stresses the importance of defining goals before taping and selecting the particular type of taping best suited to the goal. Another section details technical procedures for the videotape operator in…

Since behaviorist conceptions fail to account adequately for the individual's unique reorganization of knowledge and his generation of original sentences, this study was intended to produce a conceptual structure to describe the systematic processes of high-order language events as a basis of a theory of language and teaching practice. It…

The first of six papers included in this collection--"What is English?"--calls for a greater integration of language, literature, and composition, with special emphasis on the use of grammar as a key element in both composition and literature study. The second paper, "The Voice of the Writer," describes the gap between experience, the role of the…

While reviewing the controversial concept of describing language via the phoneme, the author spells out many problems caused by the discrepancies of phonemic theory and actual speech production. Phonological variation in actual speech utterances prompts the analysis of the phonology of language on two levels--the phonemic and the distinctive…

This study investigated the role that differing speech patterns play in effective communication between teachers and students. Third grade students were tested for listening comprehension of materials presented by teachers. The students were also tested to determine the relationship between racial attitudes and sound of speech and the relationship…