The guide provides a brief introduction to the culture and language of Italy, and is designed for visitors, students, and business travelers. It offers practical information on various aspects of daily living, including: money; food; restaurants; hotels; postal and telecommunications services; transportation; shopping; health and medical care;…

Materials concerning dialects and language variation are presented here as background information for a workshop on English dialect differences in elementary and secondary schools. Articles and essays include: "Grammatical, Phonological and Language Use Differences across Cultures" (Walt Wolfram); "A Linguistic Description of Social Dialects"…

For two working-class academics/editors, the book they co-edited, "This Fine Place So Far from Home: Voices of Academics from the Working Class," is a working-class book masquerading as a traditional scholarly work. Over 100 submissions were received for the collection, and most were autobiographical and did not resemble scholarly essays…

A survey of 104 individuals of non-English-speaking backgrounds (NESBs) living in South Australia nursing homes and personal care homes and staff of 75 institution housing NESB residents is reported. The study's objectives was to determine the culturally-based needs of the residents and the provision of culturally appropriate services to them. The…

A qualitative study explored the potential for using a male and female systems model (identified as the White Male System and the Female System by Anne Wilson Schaef) to analyze the news coverage of a woman executive mired in controversy. The female chancellor of the University of Missouri-Columbia was engaged in a public controversy concerning a…

The language planning activities undertaken by Belgium's government suggest that the goals of linguistic legislation have changed over time, reflecting the evolution and complex interplay of social, cultural, political, and economic characteristics. Initially, language legislation stemmed from the desire of Flemish militants to protect and promote…

Instruction in English for academic purposes can be enhanced by an approach using metadiscourse, or an awareness of the operations of discourse. Student competence in this area would improve the ability to appreciate the strategies of academic writers, describe the arguments of others, and write academic essays, particularly introductions. In…

Information on a Northern Kentucky University course entitled "The Mind of the University" is presented in several articles. After Darryl Poole briefly discusses the origins of the course, H. L. Wallace describes the background of the project, course themes, class materials, and testing/grading. The objective of the course is defined as…

This document presents the view that for teaching and learning written language, teachers and students in bilingual education programs must have autonomy and must be able to appropriately account for local conditions. Upper-level government policies should be broad, non-specific, and linked to appropriate general goals. Diverse and complex local…

This study investigated the multidimensional nature of language preference, language confidence, self-identity, and various attitudes and stereotypes among a sample of Polish immigrants to Canada. A total of 320 questionnaires were used in the study, 100 written in English and 220 in Polish; of this total, 248 were returned for a response rate of…

An examination of language use in 19th century Brussels seeks to explain how and why a link between language and social class came into operation. Hypotheses relating the social characteristics (material circumstances and consciousness) of social classes and segments of social classes to various resulting language patterns are proposed. This…

A study of the relationship of bilingualism to personality traits focused on two questions: (1) are any language-associated differences between memory systems in bilinguals reflected in similar differences in personality structures?; and (2) if such differences exist, can they be tapped by comparing responses to personality-evoking stimulus in the…

The proceedings of a colloquium examining the status of French in Benelux (Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) begin with an overview of the issues concerning the role of French in this multilingual, regional, cooperative union and a brief look at the future of French in the contemporary world. Discussions of the status of French in the six…

The idea that bilingualism causes cognitive damage to children is no longer held by researchers, but it lingers in popular belief. It is based on the assumption that language is central to cognitive development, which is not held by all theorists. Another theoretical issue is whether the mind is a limited-capacity container or can accommodate two…

Indian languages seem to have emerged from a phase of total dependence on English for new input. Several Indian languages have now evolved vocabularies and structural nuances to handle several new registers and styles necessary for modern society. Some of the change has occurred through conscious language policy encouraging multilingualism and the…