Attempts to define the cultural discontinuity (between schools and students) hypothesis by distinguishing between universal, primary, and secondary discontinuities. Suggests that each of these is associated with a distinct type of school problem, and that secondary cultural discontinuities commonly affect minority students in the United States.…

A study of desired residential mobility among residents of San Francisco's Chinatown generally confirms the thesis that confinement to a first settlement enclave is due to constraints on choice, and abandonment of this area occurs with increased economic status and greater choice availability. (GC)

Examines the conversation behavior of mothers toward their children with respect to two hypotheses: that the mothers' underlying interactional intent can be inferred from patterning in their conversation and that the utterances having a directive or controlling function will show a negative relationship to those designed to elicit conversation…

In order to make a difference to people, librarians need a strong belief in the utility of reading and access to information; sensitivity to the hidden needs of people; and the determination to ensure that library/media/information services are available to all who need them and supported as a common good. (LLS)

The importance of talk in the drama classroom is described. Students view talk as either development of vocal skills or preexperience for various kinds of social situations. Teacher talk was dominant, however, and emerged in the form of verbal control through closed questions and instructions to students. (JN)

Cautions that teaching manuals preclude a teacher's instinct for individualized teaching, and addresses the issue of what teachers need to know about language, culture, and learning for effective reading instruction. (HTH)

Details a cross-cultural study of cloze procedure and comprehension conduced in Japan, Canada, Sweden, and the United States with 10- and 11-year-old children. Concludes that cloze procedure is a valid and reliable measure of certain aspects of reading comprehension in all the linguistic and cultural areas sampled. (FL)

Studies the simultaneous language development in American Sign Language and spoken English by a hearing girl. Findings show: (1) a mixture of oral and manual babbling, (2) a code-switching ability across modalities, and (3) a single syntactic system incorporating rules from both languages but with two separate lexicons. (Author/PJM)

Surveys the legal status of English in Israel before and since the country became independent, attitudes toward the language, its use in schools and by the media, the influence of English on Hebrew, the kinds of English used, and related topics. Since 1948, English has played an increasingly greater role. (Author/PJM)

Criticizes the reduction of English instruction in the Hauptschulen ("terminal" schools, grades 1-9) of Lower Saxony, with a warning of the possible results of making English an elective subject. (IFS/WGA)

Study concludes that linguistic deprivation, defined as differences between language or dialect spoken in the home and that of the school, influences success in school. As long as language proficiency determines success, culturally different groups will have difficulty advancing socially and economically. (RW)

Discusses the teaching of French at the secondary level in Tanzania, in terms of the role of French, the methods and materials used, and evaluation. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

This study sought to investigate the role that language and educators play in supporting positive identity development in mixed-heritage children, beginning as early as kindergarten. The multidimensional relationship between powerful social hierarchies and individuals also was studied. Focus group interviews were used as the primary investigative…

Sees English as the language of power and status, with a gatekeeper role in the economics and political contexts of many countries. Discusses the English classroom as a site that breaks down the barriers between the school discourse and the world discourses. Discusses specific classrooms where teachers, students, or community members take the…

Discusses the feasibility of Basic Variety (BV) principles proposed by Klein and Perdue, arguing that some of them need clarification with learner varieties and that they are not part of Universal Grammar (UG) as they exclude phenomena (e.g., psych verbs) that cannot be excluded from the core of natural language. (15 references) (Author/CK)