The purpose of this paper is to clarify the theoretical concept of a syllabus by specifying important variables and priorities in its preparation and application. The scope and nature of the syllabus are discussed, followed by an examination of learning processes and strategies. The focus of the syllabus is seen as being fluency and flexibility,…

The underlying theory of comprehensive achievement monitoring is applied and illustrated in this German 1 language instruction guide. This computer-oriented approach to individualizing instruction and to student evaluation monitors progress in every basic idea and skill in the language course. Materials used in this course include advice to…

The 13-year study reported in this monograph attempted to accumulate a mass of longitudinal data on every aspect of linguistic behavior in 211 students representing a cross-section of American urban children. Presented as the major objectives of the study, which followed the subjects from kindergarten through grade 12, are 11 hypotheses to be…

Changing social attitudes of students in American schools are seen to have a direct bearing on currently declining enrollment figures in foreign language programs. The author discusses ways in which motivation can be improved. Comments are directed to the use of class time, dialogues, pattern drills, memorization, prereading experience,…

A number of the axioms of tagmemics are explored in order to develop exercises based on these axioms about language structure but specifically designed to develop writing competence. Exercises for unit definition through contrast with other units; range of variability; and distribution in class, sequence, and system receive particular attention.…

This report documents results of a two-year effort toward the study and investigation of the design of a prototype system for Chinese-English machine translation in the general area of physics. Previous work in Chinese-English machine translation is reviewed. Grammatical considerations in machine translation are discussed and detailed aspects of…

This paper reviews current literature concerning the development of children's comprehension of the processes of natural languages and it recommends a new study approach designed to evaluate the joint effects of lexical and syntactic devices on comprehension. It discusses three main kinds of investigations--studies of the comprehension of…

This study presents the procedures and results of an experiment conducted in Sweden to assess the relative effectiveness of two methods of teaching the grammatical structures of English as a foreign language to adults. The main objective of the study is to find indications as to which of the two theories (the audiolingual habit theory or the…

A Language-research experiment designed to examine the linguistic competence of bilingual Italian-American children demonstrates that structures shared by Italian and English are acquired in approximately the same order and at the same rate, and that the sequencing of specific structures reflects linguistic complexity. Structures appearing in both…

This book provides a discussion of rhetoric and its importance in second language learning in general, with specific remarks on problems in teaching English as a second language. Logic (not in the strictest philosophical sense), the basic rhetoric, is evolved out of a culture; it is not universal. Rhetoric is not universal either. Rhetorical…

This study presents a quantitative analysis of cohesion of the academic writing of Chinese English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) graduate students by applying Halliday and Hansen's (1976) model. Six Chinese graduate students from a Midwestern university were selected for the study, representing two proficiency levels in written English--advanced and…

Noting that the collective stories of special education have grown out of a tradition that, by its nature tends to perpetuate problems, this book examines such narratives and how they influence thinking and belief about intelligence and learning. It begins by examining how the current story of intelligence developed and illustrates some of the…

The purpose of this paper is to review research in the general area of linguistic abilities that might have relevance to the selection and training of translators and interpreters. An important issue to be addressed is what is the criterion of success, that is, how can success in translation and interpretation be measured? The procedures used in…

Test fairness or bias may be defined in many different ways, and the existence of possible bias is difficult to demonstrate. Sociolinguistic analysis may be used to check for fairness or bias in test directions, test content specifications, or test items. Four sociolinguistic principles are held to be relevant for this task: (1) pragmatics--that…

Little has been done to test or describe reading strategies of second language learners. The study reported in this paper was an attempt to begin to investigate the nature of perceptual strategies which second language learners employ when reading certain English structures, and to ask the question of whether second language learners, when…