Males and females completed questionnaires on self-esteem and their use of gender-specific nouns. The preferred terms did not vary with self-esteem or with psychiatric vs. nonpsychiatric status. These findings may differ with the use of pronouns. The results are discussed in terms of societal sex roles. (Author/VM)

A discussion of the use of French puns for teaching both language and culture looks at possible class activities and proposes that advertising is a good source of puns. Types of puns are examined. (MSE)

Emphasizes the need for teaching specificity as well as accuracy in beginning journalism courses. Presents a questionnaire which can be used to show how general phrases are often misinterpreted by readers. (MM)

Critiques in educational organization theory and the "new" sociology overlook humanity's fundamental dispositions that impinge upon world view and knowledge acquisition. Universal semantic "primitives" involve searching for conceptual universalities; acquired semantic primitives impose phenomenal hierarchical orders.…

The third person in French grammar demands separate treatment from other pronouns because of the great differences in its rules, forms, and functions. (MSE)

Contends that conventional teaching and textbooks fail to promote a critical analysis of the content they convey. Argues that failure to examine the meanings of words and ideas dehumanizes education, divorces knowledge from power, and promotes viewpoints which are both parochial and ahistoric. Describes how critical reading and the use of…

The authors discuss the meaning of the term "generic" as it applies to nursing education and suggest that it be dropped from the language associated with the field. They also explore the terms "first professional degree" and "second professional degree." (CH)

Young, middle-age, and old adults ranked similarities of word pairs in a conditional rank-ordering task. Analyses of variance revealed an age-related decline in semantic processing but no such decline for elaboration. Older adults' retrieval was less compatible with initial processing than was the case for younger adults. (Author/ABB)

The conceptualization of teacher education as a socialization process focuses attention on the more covert aspects of professional development such as self-esteem and confidence. Using the Coulter/Elsworth semantic differential instrument, this study measured shifts in student teacher professional self-perception in order to evaluate the…

Presents three studies which examined adults' and preschoolers' sensitivity to implicit causality in interpersonal verbs. Findings suggest that the scenes concerning the causes and consequences of interpersonal events can readily be activated in the process of understanding these verbs. This finding holds true for both preschoolers and adults.…

The verbs in Gougenheim's Basic Dictionary are regrouped according to three classifications (synonyms, antonyms, and association) and organized according to semantic fields. Exercises designed to emphasize these relationships are suggested. (MSE)

Aspects of syntax, semantics, morphology, and vocabulary that would be helpful in teaching elementary French slang are outlined briefly. (MSE)

The consistency of factor structure of Osgood's semantic differential was examined in three different adult samples, aged 18 to 87. Three different concepts were used: the University of West Florida, Myself, and Death. Results indicated consistency for the evaluation factor and moderate consistency for potency and activity. (Author/GDC)

Describes a study that tested deaf and hearing readers' sensitivity to the morphological structure of English words by using a lexical decision (word/non-word classification) task. Results indicate that despite prelingual and profound hearing impairment, it is possible to acquire a sensitivity to the morphophonological structure of English words.…

Discusses research which suggests that language learning occurs by learning the regularities inherent in the semantic system and not by learning any regularities present in the syntax system. (EKN)