The purpose of this study was to change preservice teachers' attitudes toward black English in a positive way. The students were shown that the deep structure of black English and standard English is the same; it is only the surface structures of the two dialects that exhibit variations. Pre-test data garnered from the control group and the…

This article discusses the language planning problems that India faces. The distribution and usage of the various languages are outlined. There is considerable linguistic heterogeneity, with 80 languages currently being used as media of instruction at least at an elementary level, and 14 languages being used at the secondary level. Since language…

This study examined the impact of culture, language, and familiarity with materials on the ability to solve traditional conservation problems. A total of 80 Tzeltal speaking children from two traditional Mexican Indian (Mayan) villages participated in the study: 5 boys and 5 girls drawn from each of four age group (6-7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13). The men…

This publication presents four suggested language arts curriculum units. They represent a cross-section of materials that have been developed to deal with the learning problems of students with special language difficulties. Originally developed for grades 7-12, these units may be adapted for use in adult education or at other grade levels. They…

In addition to the communicative end served by language learning, there is another objective: the discovery, by the student, of the system and the workings of his native language. The values of this objective include: (1) formative value: the possibility of achieving a better understanding of the fundamental and uniquely human phenomenon which is…

Solving methodological problems of language instruction lies in analyzing the dynamics of verbal behavior and the process of language acquisition. The glossodynamic model of language learning is based on the recognition that language behavior is basically a stratificational and hierarchical system of dynamic structures. An integrated view of…

This is the second in a four-volume experimental series of instructional materials on English for Vietnamese speakers. The present volume deals specifically with grammar. The aim of the grammar lessons is to give the students a thorough command of spoken English. The lessons are based on a comparison of English and Vietnamese grammatical…

This short description of the sound and spelling systems of the Vietnamese language is intended for the sponsor, teacher or friend (of Vietnamese refugees) who may have difficulty in pronouncing Vietnamese names, reading handwriting, or using a Vietnamese-English dictionary or phrasebook. Focusing primarily on the Southern dialect of Vietnamese,…

This paper discusses Esperanto as a planned language and refutes three myths connected to it, namely, that Esperanto is achronical, atopical, and apragmatic. The focus here is on a synchronic analysis. Synchronic variability is studied with reference to the structuralist determination of "marginality" and the dynamic linguistic…

This paper suggests that new approaches are needed in the study of language standardization. One such approach is the consideration of standardization in terms of processes, i.e., in terms of series of related events, rather than as a group of unrelated discrete happenings. Borrowing is one recurring feature in language standardization, and in…

Bull (1965) has proposed that grammatical gender in Spanish is not an intrinsic characteristic of nouns but rather a matter of matching terminal sounds of nouns with those of adjectives and determiners. One implication of this theory is that the child has a cognitive understanding of the matching of terminal noun sounds with particular adjective…

This is a comparative analysis of the Japanese and American languages and cultures. The following are discussed: verbs, kinship terms, category terms, apologies and thanks, honorifics and postpositional particles, and levels of usage. A final section relates conclusions about linguistic patterns to culture patterns. (AM)

Seven objective measures of language production--number of words, T-units, subordinate clauses, clauses of all types, words per clause, words per T-unit, and clauses per T-unit--were applied to 269 compositions written by seventh, ninth, and 11th graders to test assumptions about the relationships between quality of writing and students' age and…

Although spelling instruction has traditionally treated almost every spelling word as requiring a separate learning act, recent research indicates that over 90% of American-English orthography actually is determined by a set of rules for unit phoneme-grapheme relationships, based with decreasing productivity upon three levels of…

Because of the vast differences between the ghetto child and the middle class child in home environment, parental models, language development, and the ability and desire to communicate, an elementary school language program which will educate both must differ radically from traditional orientations and practices. Such a program should provide the…