Reviews some of the basic notions of semiotics to show how they can be applied to composition teaching. (FL)

No single foreign language teaching method can produce speakers with competence in all areas of the target language. Teachers should be aware that the relative importance of form versus function varies with the specific goals of language use and should consider the consequences of fossilization, error correction, and comprehensibility in teaching…

Study of a one-year-old's earliest use of prepositions found that spatial oppositions ("up-down") were learned first, and used in non-prepositional senses prior to prepositional usage. "With,""by,""to,""for,""at," and "of" were learned later and used to express case relationships and more often misused and omitted than the earlier-learned…

Reviews previous research and presents and analyzes data regarding some possible connections between small group oral interaction and language learning. Data show that communicative interaction is far more sensitive and significant to learners' needs and abilities than are other forms of language work. (CB)

Research in the area of language skill attrition encompasses such areas as first-language loss, second-language loss, dying languages, and effects of age or disease on language loss. Research has so far focused on maintenance of language skills and interventions to stop language skill attrition. (CB)

Looks at the experience of a "Foreign Expert," assigned to teach English composition and literature in China. Explores the "meanings" of reading and writing following a tradition of Chinese scholarship that holds to the belief that language is meaning. (JK)

Examines the challenge posed by the naturalist philosophy of language--the view that the meanings of symbols are fixed by the environment. Compares the naturalist philosophy with that presented in an activist Native American essay that argues for the preservation of traditional native languages. (SRT)

Indicates that oral reading, turning the text into a big book, interpretive activities, and repeated shared readings can give even young children a command of the text. (FL)

Illustrates some of the problems of second language (French) acquisition by adult Spanish-speaking immigrants in a natural setting through analysis of the European Project data (Perdue, 1982) in three areas: acquisition and use of the over-generalized marker "c'est"; acquisition of reference to time; and acquisition of reference to…

Considers the controversy over English or Kiswahili (the national language) as the language of instruction in Tanzania, discussing language use, language policy in the educational system, and prevailing language attitudes. Steps toward making Kiswahili as the language of instruction are suggested. (Author/CB)

Examined topic discourse skills in pre-operational level 2- to 6-year-olds (N=30) interacting with their mothers during free play. The results suggested a complex picture of children's management of discourse as it relates to topic and mothers' continuing role in facilitating their children's discourse skills. (Author/CB)

Today's civil rights debate is clouded by ambiguities of language. The following frequently misused words are clarified in the text so the issues can be properly addressed: 1) segregation; 2) desegregation; 3) minority group; 4) civil rights; 5) compensatory; 6) statistical disparities; and 7) racist. (PS)

Investigates the effects of reading a series-format, many-volumed story to disadvantaged first graders. Results indicate that children who had been read to outscored children in the control classes on measures of decoding, reading comprehension, and active use of language. (SRT)

Explains the importance of competence in standard American English in a developmental writing curriculum and reviews several theories of basic writing instruction. (EL)

Describes the results of a remedial program provided to an adult subject who had incurred aphasia and alexia as a result of a series of strokes. (FL)