Four hypotheses of language use and acquisition are used to support the suggestion that story-telling techniques may be helpful in making ESL materials meaningful, recallable, and comprehensible. Eleven specific principles are discussed and illustrated. (Author/MSE)

Argues that reading and sharing poetry fosters richness in languages and encourages understanding of ideas presented through a beautiful form of expression. Offers a poetry guide for encouraging basic language skills. (FL)

Examines eight literary readers published between 1970 and 1980. Comments on the inclusion of works by women writers, attitudes toward women and men, the use of sexist language, and assumptions about the students for whom these textbooks were designed. (EKN)

Describes adjustments in speech patterns made by two- and three-year-olds when talking to their 14-month-old siblings and compares these changes with those made by mothers addressing their babies. Individual differences between the children indicate two types of influence on the adjustments made--pragmatic and emotional. (EKN)

Describes a study in which children are asked to choose the most probable or permissible of two modal propositions, a technique which assesses the children's appreciation of relative force. Results indicate that the general acquisition rule was: the greater the difference in the strength of the two modal propositions, the earlier the difference…

Describes the prevelance of sexist attitudes in modern language textbooks with many examples from dialogs and grammar exercises. Offers suggestions for combatting sex stereotyping. (EKN)

Points out problems associated with the language of textbooks and the development of reading-related skills (e.g., reading maps and charts). Discusses specific teaching strategies for coping with textbook language and facilitating text comprehension and memory. (JM)

Describes various aspects of young children's playful use of language. The kind and characteristics, functions, and teaching implications of language play are discussed. (Author/CM)

Discusses the modifications in the direction of simplified and more linear language (American Sign Language) used by deaf mothers with their deaf children. (EKN)

Examines recall of passages in order to determine relative importance of lines according to their function in argument. Results indicate that hypothetical assumptions and their logical consequences are less well remembered than facts and that facts introduced are better recalled than facts conducted in the course of an argument. (EKN)

A literary critic addresses science-oriented readers as an outsider and reviews the division between literature and the sciences. A common meeting point is seen in today's world in such broad concerns as environmental pollution. (MP)

Excoriates those who resist attempts to remove sexism from English, singling out critic John Simon as particularly offensive. (JL)

Comments on the linguistic impact of the Canadian Human Rights Act, which forbids discrimination on the basis qf sex, examining its effects on common English usages of "man." After illustrating the problems posed by government guidelines on job titles, addresses the ideological and socioeconomic implications of the "man" issue.…

Tests the hypothesis that mothers would label objects with adult-basic level terms when talking to other adults, but would label the same objects with child-basic terms when speaking to their young children who were just starting to talk, even though these labels may be very much "incorrect" by adult standards. (Author/RH)

Describes the Queensland project, "Study Talk," concerned with the study of oral language, with special consideration given to the exploration and study of the uses and varieties of talk. (HOD)