Examines invented spelling as a stage of progress in children's writing growth. Suggests that children generally understand consonant sounds first. As a consequence, they start invented spelling often omitting all or most vowels. Gradually, as children make the transition to conventional spelling, vowels are added. Proposes ways to facilitate…

Reports on a development in interactive Japanese at a new facility where lexicographical information can be viewed with full contextual information. This information is available for any word in the 65 texts incorporated in the course. This method of showing all the collocations of a word was implemented to help users monitor progress. (24…

Analyzes the metadiscourse in persuasive essays written by university students studying English as a Second Language at a midwestern university. Results indicate that skilled writers are aware of their readers' needs and control the strategies for making their texts accessible to the reader, whereas poor writers cannot generate considerate texts.…

Presents a review of cognitive psychology research dealing with the organization and functioning of oral and written language production mechanisms. Discusses works dealing with the microstructural aspects of language, primarily oral production. Describes how the research perspective has evolved from modular to connectionist models. Examines the…

To study the adequacy of the brief oral examination format as a basis for assessing oral skills, the study compared samples of 15-minute oral exams with 3-hour written exam results by the same students. The resultant average size of oral samples was about 77% of that of written samples, with good comparability, leading to useful conclusions about…

A rationale is presented for improving the curricular design of intermediate- or advanced-level writing classes for foreign language majors. Seven practical guidelines include the following: the writing course should have its own place in the curriculum but should not stand alone as the sole undergraduate writing experience in the second language.…

Examination of examples of "Nigerian English" in novels by two prominent Nigerian authors reveals such linguistic behavior as translating directly from Nigerian languages, stressing least effort and economy of expression, incorporating sociocultural logic and imperatives of the Nigerian environment, and displaying "hypercorrected…

Suggestions for helping students learn to write in a foreign language are offered. Areas for the teacher to consider include recognizing students' basic needs, rewarding risks that students take, listening for content before correcting, introducing vocabulary and usage, and writing with the students. (12 references) (LB)

Discusses the ways in which a group of first graders used literacy events to demonstrate their understanding of the functions and purpose of print. Students prepared signs and messages to each other during a three-day camping excursion. Examples of student signs are included. (BB)

This article presents a rationale and ways to use communication games in written form to entice deaf children to try new forms of language. It emphasizes the importance of using communicative teaching methods and considering students' communicative adequacy rather than form. Games include picture/object matching games and bingo/lotto games. (JDD)

The effects of a French tutorial with spoken feedback, written feedback, written/spoken feedback, and no feedback were examined with 56 undergraduates using a Macintosh computer. Results supported the hypothesis that students receiving written/spoken feedback perform better than those in the other three feedback categories. (eight references)…

Discusses the use of a French computerized grammar checker as a learning and teaching resource. Presents the results of a controlled series of experiments in which groups of students were given the task of correcting French texts containing grammatical, lexical, and orthographical errors using an on-screen grammar checker or grammar books and…

Suggests that because the new methodological emphasis in intermediate-level foreign-0language courses has shifted from translation-based learning, which utilized literary texts extensively, to communication-based learning, literature has been overlooked as a viable tool of instruction. Argues that this shift does not allow students to develop an…

Reports the investigation of the organizational structure of introductory sections of research papers written by Polish authors in English and Polish. The aim of the study was to test whether in view of cultural differences, reflected in the Anglo-American and Polish intellectual styles, the rhetorical pattern of research papers would vary between…

A study involving 16 Japanese young men (half with deafness) and 16 Irish young men (half with deafness) found that the Japanese men who were deaf outscored their English-language counterparts in memory for abstract design, due to prolonged use of a highly visual writing system. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)