This paper describes a project involving EFL learners in synchronous electronic discussions. The output of the students' interactions was analyzed qualitatively to uncover the main linguistic and interactional features. It was observed that the students' discussions contained a large number of spelling, usage, and grammatical errors, an almost…

Entering an "English Impromptu Speech Contest" intimidates many students who do not have a good command of the English language. Some choose to give up before the contest date while others stand speechless on the stage. This paper identifies a range of problems confronted by contestants from my college, the Yuanpei Institute of Science…

This paper examines the step show or code-switching involving two dialects of English, Standard American English (SAE) and Black English Vernacular (BEV) at a Historically Black College and University (HBCU). The data point to a reversal of dominant institutional language and literacy practices at the university under focus. The conscious and…

The focus of the present paper is on the relationship between national identities and foreign-language education policies and practices. The paper examines this relationship through a juxtaposition of three sociohistoric contexts in which sociopolitical events led to major changes in foreign-language education: post-World War I United States,…

This paper discusses findings from an extensive project examining gender, language and computer-mediated communication (CMC) in the context of undergraduate psychology courses. The contributions of 197 introductory psychology students (148 females, 49 males) participating in asynchronous CMC as part of their course were collated and coded for…

This study examined the levels of maternal stress and efficacy for Spanish- and English-speaking Latina mothers whose infants were in neonatal intensive care. Thirty-two Latina mothers participated in the study. Significant group differences were found between Spanish-and English-speaking Latina mothers. More stress was experienced by Spanish-…

This study evaluated (1) whether essay placement (either at the beginning or at the end of the test battery) impacts test-takers' performance on the critical reading, mathematics, and writing multiple choice measures; and (2) whether essay prompt type (either a simple one-line prompt or a prompt including a short passage) affects test-takers'…

Context and Purpose: This study's objectives are to: investigate potential additive and multiplicative influences of rurality and race/ethnicity on chronic physical illness in a nationally representative sample of youth; and examine intra-Latino processes using a Latino sub-sample. Specifically, we examine how rurality and individual psychosocial…

In the scientific literature, the debate around the school and class effect is polarized, because the variance between schools and classes is explained either by school and class process or by group composition. The first aim of this article is to shed light on this debate and move beyond it by reviewing qualitative and quantitative studies…

The report on the status of the Indonesian and Malay languages in Australia documents the history of those languages in Australian education, within selected communities, in international trade, and among high school students. The first chapter gives a brief history of the Indonesian and Malay languages and comments on their place in the life of…

Discussion of the use of computerized concordancers (computer software packages that enable large quantities of text to be searched for all occurrences of a particular lexical item) focuses on their potential as a tool for students to use in learning a second language. In considering the pedagogical value of such tools, three areas are considered.…

This study compared communication and interaction patterns in a college class in Dutch as a second language. Subjects were 16 native-English-speaking students. Two lessons, one taught using cooperative learning (CL) and one using teacher-centered instruction (TC), were videotaped and analyzed. The CL lesson consisted of a group reading game. The…

This participant's manual covers "People are People," the first module of a four-module training program for all individuals employed in programs funded by Oklahoma's Developmental Disabilities Services Division. This includes van drivers, recreation workers, residential staff, administrators, case managers, secretarial/clerical staff, vocational…

The choice of a reliable authority for use in decisions of grammatical acceptability in English is discussed. It is argued that commonly-heard "rules" of English grammar offer advice that is either prescriptive or proscriptive, not descriptive, and often based on inaccuracies or flawed linguistic analyses. This is illustrated in the case of…

In studying the role of context in speech act performance, the tradition has been to use controlled elicitation instruments that allow for manipulation of social dimensions. The assumption is that by controlling social context, all respondents will assess social relations very similarly, although little research has dealt with the validity of this…