This volume collects empirical studies applying Conversation Analysis to situations where second, third and other additional languages are used. A number of different aspects are considered, including how linguistic systems develop over time through social interaction, how participants 'do' language learning and teaching in classroom and everyday…

Feminist pedagogy as a research construct can be classified into gender and liberatory subgroups. Gender models frequently focus on learning. Liberatory models underline the social structures and power relations which constitute systems of oppression. Humor in practice may be used as a social corrective, or it may be used to extend power distances…

Humor means understanding not only the language and words but their use, meaning, subtle nuances, the underlying culture, implications and unwritten messages. Humor does not often travel well from one culture to another, as each society has a somewhat different concept of what is funny (Dobson, 1987). In Foreign Language Learning (FLL), the…

While interaction inside the classroom--frontstage discourse--has been a subject of study and has been considered the most significant type of discourse that teachers engage in, I propose that interaction outside the classroom--backstage discourse--is equally significant and has not thus far received as much attention as it merits. This paper is…

Analyzes a humorous monologue, stressing the particular techniques and uses of language, and discusses six traits of humor that talented high school journalists should study. (RB)

Study supported in part by a grant from the California State Department of Mental Hygiene

Humorous statement that the ability to write suffocatingly fuzzy prose is really the art of camouflage, and, at times, can be helpful to school administrators. (Author/MLF)

A humorous guide advises scholars on how to channel their intellectual energies into becoming "distinguished scholars." Four suggestions include invent a continuum; learn more about something than anybody else has; compare the unrelated works of famous people; and draw upon knowledge from other disciplines. (MLW)

Offers a number of quotations, many humorous, on a variety of subjects, such as persuasion, the limitations of data, making difficult concepts more intelligible, writing clearly, the computer's future role in communication, and self-reliance. (EL)

Illustrates how the punchline finds the flaw in the system, but the system remains operable. (EL)

Parodies "quick" language learning books using invented spelling and illustrations. (FL)

A parody of Swift that calls for American parents to once again take the responsibility of education for their children by teaching them by computer at home and abolishing the school system. (CRH)

Notes that the language of reading education contains many acronyms and initials, leading to confusion among professionals as well as noneducators. Proposes, humorously, a generic acronym, FUSS, based on sound psychology of reading. (FL)

A total of 230 children, ages 3 to 8, made six paired comparison judgments as to which of two brief incidents was funnier. At all ages children significantly preferred aggressive and incongruous incidents to neutral incidents. When aggressive and incongruous nonverbal incidents were paired, there was no significant preference. (Author/SB)

A tongue-in-cheek description of how to render management-by-objectives harmless.. The MBO subversion model operates in six phases: (1) Lampoon-tation, (2) Concept Isolation, (3) Gandhian Passive Resistance, (4) Overhead Magnification, (5) Feigned Paranoia, and (6) Prophetic Self-Fulfillment. (Author/JF)