This is a report on a child's English and French speech before, during and after a summer vacation in France. The findings are based on recorded samples of her speech in both languages elicited at three times: (1) immediately preceding the trip at age 3 years, 8 months; (2) 2 and l/2 months later; and (3) again 2 and l/2 months after her return to…

This volume consists of the following papers selected from those presented at the 1977 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages: (1) "Educational Cognitive Style: A Basis for Personalizing Foreign Language Instruction," by Derek N. Nunney; (2) "Discovering Student Learning Styles through Cognitive Style Mapping," by Helen S.…

After a critical examination of four assumptions of current procedures in language assessment, it is argued that the pragmatic domain of language ability should be the first to be assessed. A study designed to determine the usefulness of language variation (the number of different structures a child can produce or comprehend) as an alternative…

Three similar experiments were conducted to assess language variation and politeness in the speech of English monolingual and Spanish-English bilingual children, and in Armenian children learning English as a second language. Each experiment elicited request strategies from the children with the use of puppets in a structured conversation. While…

Errors can be considered concrete representations of stages through which one must go in order to acquire one's native language and a second language. It has been discovered that certain errors appear systematically, revealing an approximate system, or "interlanguage," behind the erroneous utterances. Present research in second language…

BASED ON A SERIES OF CONFERENCE PAPERS BY VARIOUS AUTHORS, THE BOOK CONSIDERS BOTH EMPIRICAL AND CONCEPTUAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE AND MENTAL RETARDATION AND THEIR INTERRELATIONSHIPS. LITERATURE REVIEWS PROVIDE BIBLIOGRAPHIES ON RELEVANT RESEARCH (68 RESEARCH, 1955-66) AND ON LANGUAGE AND MENTAL RETARDATION (149 CITATIONS, 1929-66). FURTHER PAPERS ON…

This narrative report of a 1967 summer institute, designed to explore one of the ways of transmitting to future leaders an awareness, understanding, and tolerance for cultural differences in peoples from other nations, describes the relative effectiveness of certain methods, techniques, and procedures used in teaching experimental groups of high…

A 3-year study of the effect of 3 years of audiolingually oriented FLES instruction on student achievement in French and Spanish classes in grades 7-12 is described. Samples of the language proficiency tests used as research instruments for grades 7 and 9 are reproduced in the extensive appendixes, along with the objectives of the FLES program.…

This monograph represents a collection of reports on research into various aspects of linguistic attitudes, particularly attitudes that teachers may hold toward children of different ethnic and social status groups. Two research projects are discussed, the Chicago research and the Texas research. The Chicago study was designed to answer two…

A study was conducted to supply data on the characteristics of young adult Chicanos compared with their Anglo peers. A stratified random sample of undergraduate Mexican-American (N=153) and Anglo (N=148) students was taken at the University of Texas, El Paso, where one third of the students enrolled have a Spanish surname. A self-devised…

A study was conducted to determine the extent to which listening comprehension is impaired when students are confronted with the colloquial use of French, as opposed to its formal use. It was found that amoung 128 prospective French teachers who participated in the study, there existed a low comprehension level of colloquial French, a discrepancy…

This article considers the issue of the application of linguistic theory and knowledge about the way language functions to second language teaching. It is suggested that this application should be carried out by taking into account educational factors, such as the intended audience, the teaching methods, and the educational objectives. The choice…

The influence of mother-tongue interference is examined on the basis of data from two tests at different levels of English proficiency: a commercial-college level, covering 4-5 years of English studies, involving a composition and translation test, and a preuniversity level, covering 7-8 years of English studies, with a multiple-choice test. A…

This paper describes the past assumptions about the mismatch of child language and school language, noting the distance principle, the characteristics of language interference and the various treatments that have been hypothesized. Past research involving language mismatch and reading is reviewed, and it is noted that even though the best evidence…

Included in this volume are the reports on foreign language research and development produced by the three working committees of the fifteenth annual Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages. Discussions of (1) the Indiana and Washington State programs, (2) "Artes Latinae," a complete project of programed learning…