Discusses the use of PLATO in South Africa as a means of instructing non-English speakers in English so that they will be able to enroll in university courses. PLATO was not particularly effective since its materials were written for native English speakers. (EKN)

The issues of language assessment and placement raise several important questions: (1) What are the basic premises upon which current language assessment instruments have been developed? (2) What is the state of the art in language proficiency assessment? (3) What implications do current research findings have for language proficiency assessment?…

Describes a novel approach to teaching verbal communication principles to hearing-impaired students: students invent languages and attempt to use them in small groups. The assignment reveals important characteristics, functions, and limitations of language. (This approach was originally developed by Nels Juleus for nonhandicapped students. For his…

Reports the paucity of public knowledge and concern about the English language and suggests that English teachers might do something to remedy this situation. (JLZ)

Several pedagogical approaches are described that aid at in-depth understanding of the journalistic text by examining the way the journalist's discourse functions. By demystifying the discourse, the instructor makes the learner aware of the mechanisms of manipulation and orientation at the journalist's disposal. (Author/MSE)

Describes a study designed to test if, when children describe actions, they consider the role an entity plays in an action, independent of the animateness of the entity. Results indicate that young children have relational intentions which are independent of animateness. (EKN)

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…

A discussion of the cultural context and the reaction of Samoan high school boys to J. D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye" when it is taught in English class. (RL)

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)

Reports on the success of a writing center's phone service, which answers questions about English usage, grammar, punctuation, diction, and documentation. (RL)

Describes the attitudes of Black and White, male and female, middle- and lower-class adolescents and preadolescents in response to tape-recorded samples of standard English and Black English. (HOD)

Presents results of a study on how accurately instructors in composition identified various kinds of errors. (RL)

Suggests that nonfictive writing typically employs a vocabulary different from that used in works of fiction. Characterizes the vocabulary of essays, asserts that students are usually not given enough assistance in acquiring such vocabulary, and offers steps for giving students help in acquiring the vocabulary of essays. (RL)

An experiment was designed to find out whether there were any quantitative and qualitative differences in the spoken discourse of 'high' and 'low' ability 16-year-old pupils in discussions of problems arising from textual material. Cognitive, linguistic and quantitative analyses of the discourse were carried out. (Editor)

Describes the processes by which distinctive varieties of English develop in areas where English functions as a second language. The distinctions between rhetorical and communicative norms for speech events in these varieties are discussed. (Author/AM)