Presents results of a study using changes in language in the "Annual Review of Information Science and Technology" over a period of eleven years to determine the effect of such change on index vocabularies. (CWM)

Describes two sequential nine-week elective courses on the misuse of public language. (DD)

Despite official moves to reduce the importance of English in India, it remains the pre-eminent language in government, education, publishing, and journalism. The article suggests a two-tier policy of co-existence between English and regional languages, since each is used for different purposes. (CHK)

Examines the indirect strategies applied in the relationship between power and language, with particular reference to Eastern (Asian) verbal context. Argues that indirectness is both a form of politeness where a speaker avoids expressing himself explicitly and a style of formulating speech acts, which has an inherent pragmatic role. (32…

Suggests that it is important for writing teachers to focus on specific students within specific contexts and to try to reclaim the term "student centered." Proposes a new formulation of critical pedagogy that calls for an examination and location of the teachers' positions. Reflects on teaching the course "Writing and Reading about…

The Basic Variety (BV) is understood as instantiation of essential properties of human language capacity and is claimed to be a natural language in the sense that it is constrained by principles of Universal Grammar. This article raises a few points casting doubt on claim that the BV is an I-language, highlighting problem of determining the role…

Discusses the unexplored territory of the stories teenagers have to tell. Contends that teenagers tell personal experience narratives as much as anybody else, using a repertoire of tales at a high level of competence as a means of social currency within their everyday conversational exchanges. Illustrates with quotes from fieldwork in secondary…

Examines the idea that in the context of the globalized workplace, widespread use of English will exert pressure toward global uniformity yet result in the emergence of a large number of local varieties of English and hybrids. Examines such contradictory sociolinguistic tensions between the phenomenon of homogeneity and normativity on one hand and…

It is suggested that the emphasis in second-language instruction be placed less on understanding what the target culture is and more on how to behave appropriately within that culture, because the latter and not the former is the key to true intercultural communication. (MSE)

Argues that the phrase "think like a lawyer" confers a technical understanding of legal practices unavailable to ordinary people. Invites critics, in another approach, to examine ways laws are negotiated within rhetorical culture, then transformed into legal edicts. Studies the case of "Separate but Equal" doctrine to offer a…

Explores ways basic writers theorize identities that locate them in the larger culture. States that as part of the composing process students need to locate their own notions of the writer in a dominant culture that has labeled them "at risk." Studies student texts for "theories" about writing and identity; moves to construct…

Examines the ecology between biological and linguistic diversity and the implications for a biolinguistically sustainable approach to Teaching English as a Second or other Language. Drawing on interdisciplinary sources from bio-ecology and anthropology, examines the effect of the global spread of English as a lingua mundi in language shifts and…

This commentary on language curricula in universities is followed up commentaries by a language center director, on perspectives from a Spanish department, the case of Japanese, the role of foreign languages in universities, and foreign language enrollment numbers. (VWL)

Addresses the challenge of globalization with respect to English language teaching and particularly teaching English to speakers of foreign languages. Argues that some of the primary issues involved concern the increasing role of technology and communication in modern societies and the looming conflict between local communities and the…

Examines the likelihood of the dominant position of English coming under serious challenge as a world language. Discusses factors such as writing systems, standardization, and modernization.(Author/VWL)