Uses a linguistic analysis of a sample freshman theme to argue that the motivating context must elicit a genuine speech act, that the students must conceive of their themes as semantic units or unified wholes, and that novice writers must learn to become readers of their own writing. (AA)

Focuses on some of the most important features of world and national political campaigns as constructed by and presented in television network news primarily in the 1976 presidential campaign. (MH)

Argues that Patrick Henry's "Liberty or Death" speech of 1775 lacks textual authenticity and discusses how and why a text was created to replace the oral tradition of "Liberty or Death" and why its influence has continued for two hundred years. (MH)

The organization of repair in a corpus of conversations in the Lue, Yuan (or Myang), and Siamese dialects of Tai is examined with regard to the preference for self-correction described previously for an English corpus. In both, repair is an identically organized sequential phenomenon involving repair segments during conversation. (CHK)

An "organization of repair" operates in conversation, addressed to recurrent problems in speaking, hearing, and understanding. Several features of that organization are introduced to explicate the mechanism producing a skewing in which self-repair predominates over other-repair, and to show the operation of a preference for self-repair.…

Discusses "new rhetoric" within the context of the modern English department. Presents a brief history of the development of the traditional English curriculum through the 18th and 19th century. (JD)

Describes a study that analyzes the naturalistic productions of "because" and "so" by 96 children, aged three-and-a-half to nine-and-a-half years of age, while narrating personal events. Analyzes results in terms of such factors as: correctness, types of causality, nature of actor/recipient, time of causality, producer, and linguistic issues. (SED)

Describes research on how female language characteristics affect the writing processes and written products of female basic writers. (SR)

Focuses on the increasing use of the so-called stative verbs found in the progressive aspect from the perspective of the nonnative speaker of English. The use of stative verbs in the progressive is a predictable consequence of the meaning of the present progressive and the particular discourse contexts in which progressive statives are found.…

Discusses the evolution of the language used in French-as-a-second-language teacher training and the parallel evolution of teacher training texts and pedagogical models. (JR)

Notes that "identification" and "commitment" appear frequently in organizational studies as ways of describing the individual's connection with the organization and argues that the concepts are distinct but interrelated. Sees identification as the substance of individual-organization relationships and commitment as the form.…

Claims that Malthus'"Essay on Population" is preeminently a rhetorical achievement because it (1) originated from controversy; (2) traced and dramatized the effects of a principle that, in Malthus's opinion, was long known but little understood by the public; and (3) drew its power from the evocation and conscious imitation of Newton's…

Indicates that subjects signalled play through such messages as overt invitations, nonverbal cues, abrupt topic changes, and outrageous or put-on utterances. Determines that the nature of these messages led to different types of episodes: play with, for, or at a partner. Finds that the signalling of play is often incomplete or taken for granted by…

Discusses how the development of critical thinking skills is inhibited in many students because they under-conceptualize the context in which controversy occurs. Suggests ways to raise students' awareness of being involved in a continuing debate, such as using written dialogue as a basis for extending a writing assignment that combines exposition,…

Examines public commentary about psychiatrists and their profession generated by the Hinkley proceedings. Claims that the impression of psychiatry communicated during and following the trial could have long-lasting results. Focuses on the language of print media describing and commenting on events involving the psychiatrists who took part in the…