Tanzania's post-independence language policy has promoted Swahili as a means of achieving national and linguistic unity. This policy has affected the Ngoni language in south-western Tanzania. Today, Swahili has permeated communication all over Tanzania, even in rural and remote areas. This paper discusses lexical borrowing and especially borrowing…

This study examined potential differences in vocabulary found in picture books and adult's speech to children and to other adults. Using a small sample of various sources of speech and print, Hayes observed that print had a more extensive vocabulary than speech. The current analyses of two different spoken language databases and an assembled…

Beliefs about language learning are considered key for success in language learning. These beliefs can be shaped by contextual factors (Amuzie & Winke, 2009; Dole & Sinatra, 1994; Negueruela-Azarola, 2011). This paper explores the beliefs about language learning of Thai secondary school students in two educational contexts: in the…

A multiple baseline design across participants was used to examine the effects of a portable video modeling intervention delivered in the natural environment on the verbal compliments and compliment gestures demonstrated by five children with autism. Participants were observed playing kickball with peers and adults. In baseline, participants…

The present article investigates the use of first year university students' formulaic sequences in written and oral texts in an English as a foreign language context. The corpus of the study consists of eight descriptive texts--four written and four oral--which were composed of four students of English Pedagogy at a university in Santiago, Chile.…

Adopting a bimodal bilingual language acquisition model, this qualitative case study is the first in Germany to investigate the spoken and sign language development of hearing children of deaf adults (codas). The spoken language competence of six codas within the age range of 3;10 to 6;4 is assessed by a series of standardised tests (SETK 3-5,…

Irony comprehension in seven- and eight-year-old children with typically developing language skills was explored under the framework of the graded salience hypothesis. Target ironic remarks, either conventional or novel/situation-specific, were presented following brief story contexts. Children's responses to comprehension questions were used to…

Background Children with severe cerebral palsy (CP) (i.e. "non-speaking children with severely limited mobility") are restricted in many domains that are important to the acquisition of language. Aims To investigate comprehension of spoken language on sentence type level in non-speaking children with severe CP. Methods & Procedures…

This study examined the structure of oral language and reading and their relation to comprehension from a latent variable modeling perspective in Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2. Participants were students in Kindergarten (n = 218), Grade 1 (n = 372), and Grade 2 (n = 273), attending Title 1 schools. Students were administered phonological…

Food science researchers have pronounced the Institute of Food Technologists Success Skills to be the most important competency mastered by graduates entering the work force. Much of the content and outcomes of the Success Skills pertains to oral communication skills of public speaking and interpersonal and group communication. This qualitative…

Oral presentation skills are considered one of the most important proficiencies needed for higher education and future careers. Thus, the present study is interested in eliciting English as a Foreign Language (EFL) college students' perceptions of the difficulties they face in oral presentation as a form of assessment. Participants were 500 female…

Taking a dynamic usage-based perspective, this longitudinal case study compares the development of sentence complexity in speaking versus writing in two beginner Taiwanese learners of English (identical twins) in an extensive corpus consisting of 100 oral and 100 written texts of approximately 200 words produced by each twin over 8 months. Three…

Oral language is a critical component to the development of reading acquisition. Much of the research concerning the relationship between oral language and reading ability is focused on children, while there is a paucity of research focusing on this relationship for adults who struggle with their reading. Oral language as defined in this paper…

This study aims to show the effectiveness of a business communication course offered in a business school in India. All students who enrolled for the Master of Business Administration program in the school were considered for the study. The study adapted a pretest and posttest approach to find the effectiveness of the course. It also describes the…

Children with specific language impairments (SLI) have difficulties in producing written text. It was hypothesised that the constraints on writing in children with SLI were similar to typically developing younger children with the same level of vocabulary knowledge. Twenty-three children with SLI (aged 10:5) were matched with 23 children for…