As the title suggests, this book specifically attempts to illuminate the communicative habits and expressive life-style of urban black Americans within the community setting. The volume consists of four sections: "Nonverbal Communication,""Vocabulary and Culture,""Expressive Uses of Language," and "Expressive Role B Behavior." Articles in the…

This article explains the linguistic situation in Greece and the condition of diglossia that has arisen there through the use of common Modern Greek, developing from the Athenian dialect into a medium of communication used by all Greeks, and the use of Katharevusa, the "pure" or "purifying" language which is supposedly an imitation of Ancient…

Despite similarities between Hindi and Urdu and mutual intelligibility, at least on the spoken level, slight grammatical differences between the two languages do exist. The treatment of gender provides an example of such differences. Explanation of the actual differences in gender usage can be based on a synchronic, linguistic level as well as on…

The most basic and simplest act of communicative competence in Spanish involves the appropriate decoding and selection of the pronominal address forms "tu" and "Usted." Their selection and semantic value are not, however, determined by linguistic criteria alone. Since "tu/Ud." mark the relative status of each speaker in a given context, their…

Metalinguistic knowledge, or linguistic awareness, involves the ability to focus attention upon the form of language in and of itself, rather than merely as the vehicle by which meaning is conveyed. This ability to analyze language structures lags behind spontaneous speaking and listening performance because of the additional cognitive skills…

Communicative competence often remains the aim rather than the product of language instruction. One cause may be the fact that language learners tend to need "knowledge of second language use" more than "knowledge of a second language" in their oral communication situations outside the classroom. This results in low transferability of…

This collection includes twenty-one papers, a book review, and a bibliography of English-Polish contrastive studies in Poland, and is the fifth volume resulting from the Polish-English Contrastive Project. The overall purpose of the project is to prepare a Polish-English contrastive grammar and to develop pedagogical materials. Topics covered in…

The purpose of this learning activity packet is to acquaint students of Spanish as a second language with letter-writing in Spanish. Upon completion of the packet, students should be able to: (1) identify some of the major differences in mailing customs between the U.S. and Hispanic countries, (2) read and write mailing and return adresses, (3)…

Landes (1975) reviewed research studying adult-child linguistic interactions. Evidence that the language which adults use in addressing young children is different from that used in addressing adults and that parent-child interaction patterns change with the increasing age and language skills of the child has important implications for the study…

Analyzes President Reagan's foreign policy address of October 27, 1983, on events in Lebanon and Grenada, by taking a flexible approach to Kenneth Burke's "pentad"--preserving the inherent ambiguity of act, agent, agency, scene, and purpose. Concludes that the speech reveals a formulation of American character incompatible with a…

Argues that classroom teachers must take the responsibility of preparing students to live in a pluralistic society and must become aware of cultural and linguistic diversity in the country and the world. (FL)

Summarizes some preliminary findings from research into the nature and effect of various discourse modifications by a native speaker to a language learner. These modifications include (1) idiom avoidance; (2) comprehension checks and pauses; and (3) selection of information. An informal experiment gauging foreign students' impression of…

Reviews recent research on the nature of teachers' and students' talk in the classroom, specifically addressing the teachers' expectations of student talk and behavior. (SRT)

The results of synthesizing 40 studies regarding the effects of gender characteristics of instructional materials on students indicate that sex-equitable materials can improve both male and female students' learning experiences and assist in developing gender-balanced associations and more flexible sex role attitudes. Effects on preference and…

The "health literacy environment" of a healthcare facility represents the expectations, preferences, and skills of those providing health information and services. Some of these demands are in the form of physical aspects of the hospital or health center, such as signs and postings. At the same time, access to and navigation of health…