The hypothesized ability of adult native speakers to understand linguistic ambiguity was tested. An approach developed to determine linguistic competence tested the ability of 90 participants in individual interviews to interpret sentences having the potential for multiple interpretations. The hypothesis was not supported by the data. A hierarchy…

This book deals with the pedagogical, personal, and theoretical contexts of foreign language teaching. Part 1, on the pedagogical context, discusses the psychology of language learning, individualized language instruction, new directions in language teaching, and the role of pattern drills in language teaching. Part 2, on the personal context,…

This paper reviews some recent research on the relationship of group processes and cultural milieux to choice of linguistic form and Its implications for problem solving in small (minority) groups. Basic to the discussion is the concept that language usage conveys important social information and is therefore not a matter of choice but must be…

The discussion centers around the amount and kind of participation that should be asked of a student taking reading and oral comprehension tests. For each test there are four levels of participation; zero, limited, extended, and complete. The test designer should create a situation which will encourage the subject to give maximum expression,…

It can be argued that the growing dissatisfaction with native language instruction in the schools arises inevitably from the fact that the facts of life about classroom instruction do not mesh well with the key features of successful language instruction. Effective language instruction presupposes the construction of a learning environment in…

The purpose of this study was to review some of the criteria given by linguists for the development of language materials and to present a case for error analysis as a major criterion in the preparation of materials for the teaching of writing skills to Iranian freshman students. Chapter one reviews the major events and landmarks bearing upon the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the symbolic languages of movement and drama in terms of their ability to stimulate and expand the oral communication of children in grade two. Included was a substudy to determine the effect of such a program upon the self-actualization of children in grade two. The oral language was studied…

There is a need for a new kind of linguistic theory which, while being concerned with both generation and analysis, must include the roles of memory, non-linguistic knowledge, and inference. The role of logic is diminished according to such a theory because inference has no real logical content. Meaning must be studied with respect to the actual…

While agreeing with psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic theories that suggest that innate language-related cognitive structures are the basis of language development, the author seeks to establish what it is that is innate and what is meant by innateness in the first place. The author considers the claims of psychological relevance made on behalf…

It is possible to examine the development of English wh-questions in first and second language learners and to detect regularities in the order of emergence of certain linguistic structures. It is also possible to speculate whether the stages in language acquisition correspond to the transformational derivation in transformational grammar. The…

This paper reports the attempt to see which characteristics of the speech of Black and Mexican American children would be reliably evaluated by experts specializing in dialect study. Presumably, if selected characteristics were evaluated with consistency and bases for these evaluations were given, such results could serve in training teachers to…

This document considers the language arts instructional materials in use in the primary schools of Trinidad and Tobago and questions how effectively these materials cater to the development of competence in the English language by children whose vernacular language differs structurally in a fundamental way from Internationally Acceptable English.…

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…

Describes one student teacher's experiences developing the literacy skills of a 13-year-old boy from the former Soviet Union who had poorly-developed first-language literacy skills and difficulty with English. After defining and describing linguistic development in general, the paper explains how the student teacher made tutoring effective and fun…

Investigates the role of primary linguistic data in the acquisition of linguistic competence. The study examines the knowledge of adverb placement of francophone students learning English as a Second Language (ESL) one year after their exposure to a flood of data on adverb placement in English. Results indicate no change in the subjects'…