This book teaches the Arabic Lebanese dialect through topics such as food, clothing, transportation, and leisure activities. It also provides background material on the Arab World in general and the region where Lebanese Arabic is spoken or understood--Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine--in particular. This language guide is based on the phonetic…

Investigates the linguistic attitudes of college students in Lebanon toward the languages that help define the multilingual character of the country, namely, Arabic, French, and English. Students completed a questionnaire that assessed their attitudes towards the utility of each of the three languages. Results show students perceived French and…

Investigated the effects of first language word-level reading skills on the development of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) word-level reading skills. Crosslinguistic analysis indicates that native Arabic and Japanese speakers are likely to encounter different types of ESL word-level reading difficulties. (VWL)

Focuses on the controversy among Nepali language specialists over the sources of lexical borrowing in Nepali. Lexical items currently are borrowed from both English and Sanskrit, and also Hindi/Urdu, Persian and Arabic. After reviewing Nepali history and language, the question of borrowing from different sources within different domains of…

A study investigated teacher, student, and supervisor attitudes toward and specific use of native Arabic in classes of English as a Second Language. Findings are reported, and recommendations for a systematic and purposeful use of the native language are made. (52 references) (MSE)

Differential tendencies to avoid guessing on the Psychometric Entrance Test (the Israeli college entrance examination) were studied as a function of language group, gender, and examination date for over 10,000 students. Students with different cultural backgrounds and genders differed in their tendencies to guess. Implications for test results are…

An investigation of native language influence on second-language (English) reading processed indicated that, when essential phonological information was inaccessible, Arabic and Spanish phonographic readers were seriously impaired, although Japanese morphographic readers were not affected. (83 references) (Author/CB)

Three studies examined how children of different ages and cultural backgrounds represent depth relations of near and far, and front and behind, on a two-dimensional surface. A lateral bias to place near objects on the left side appeared in English and Hebrew readers of all ages and in older Arabic readers. (MM)

Quantitative and qualitative analysis of lexical choice errors made by native Arabic-speaking learners of English in written compositions indicated that first-language interference is a major variable in lexical choice. Results lend support to the development of problematic word lists to help learners adopt practical strategies for improving…

Describes automatic information retrieval system designed and built to handle Arabic data. Discusses cost-effectiveness of automatic indexing. Compares retrieval results using words as index terms versus stems and roots. Includes 19 tables; 60 queries using full words and relevance judgments are appended. (JAK)

Presents a descriptive analysis of speech acts in Arabic: forms of address, apologies, requests, expressions of gratitude, disagreement, greetings, refusals, partings, and telephone etiquette. Results reveal that linguistic formulas of each speech act were determined by social distance, formality of the situation, age, level of education, and…

Describes the current language situation in Tunisia while maintaining a historical perspective that is helpful in understanding how language-related changes have come about, and a prospective view that may illuminate future developments. (Author/VWL)

This paper presents an exploratory study, using an ethnographic approach, of linguistically and ethnically diverse parents interacting with their children. Subjects included three Persian-speaking families, three Chaldeans, and three Euro-American families; children were aged 4-5 years. Goals were to understand cross cultural communication,…

In two previous studies, language learner behavior in which the learner tries to underproduce a certain second-language (L2) structure is termed "avoidance." The current analysis examines whether this is an appropriate term. Avoidance is defined as a genuine strategy resulting from the learner's realization that particular forms of input…

The teaching of African languages in the United States at the elementary and secondary levels is rare, but a number of schools offer one or more of the major African languages for instruction. This digest looks at the current state of African language instruction in the United States at the elementary and secondary levels and is divided into the…