A number of errors which typify the English speech or writing of Egyptian students of EFL (English as a foreign language) were identified. A series of matched sentences -- some containing a deviant feature, others not -- were recorded by a native speaker of English and by a native speaker of Arabic. Groups of intermediate and of advanced EFL students listened to tape recordings and rated each sentence in terms of prescriptive grammaticality and social acceptability. Listeners were then...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Arabic, Determiners (Languages), English (Second Language), Error Analysis...
In response to the growing awareness of the impact of sexist language in society, many writers and educators have begun to use either noncontrived "inclusive" pronouns ("he or she,""s/he," or "he/she") or contrived inclusive pronouns ("tey") in place of the traditional "exclusive" pronouns (male referents only). A study was undertaken to discover the effects of inclusive/exclusive language on college students' reading comprehension,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Higher Education, Language Attitudes, Language Research, Language Usage, Pronouns,...
This article reports on a study that explored the relationship between reflective teaching and teachers' self-efficacy beliefs. Two questionnaires, the English Language Teaching Reflection Inventory (Akbari, Behzadpoor, & Dadvand, 2010) and Teachers' Efficacy Beliefs System-Self (TEBS-Self) (Dellinger, Bobbett, Olivier, & Ellett, 2008), were distributed among 225 Iranian EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers. Pearson product-moment correlation analysis showed a significant...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Reflective Teaching, Teacher Attitudes, Self Efficacy, Beliefs, Language Attitudes,...
This article aims at contributing to the ongoing discussion about how bilingualism is understood in the current National Bilingualism Plan (PNB for its initials in Spanish). Based on previous research and discussions held at academic events, it is evident that the promoters of the PNB use the term "bilingualism" in a rather indiscriminate way, without adopting a clear approach or definition. This ambiguity in conceptualization has serious consequences in the way the PNB is implemented...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Bilingualism, Folk Culture, National Programs, Spanish, English (Second Language),...
Coincidental changes in the perceived nature of Australian society and in the linguistic sciences are creating urgent needs for the re-education of Australian language teachers. Recognition of the pluralism of Australian society has highlighted the inappropriateness of the languages, objectives, and methods of traditional language teaching. Similarly, rapid changes in insights into the nature of language and of language learning are leaving the approaches common in the schools outdated and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Community Involvement, Cultural Education, Cultural Pluralism, Inservice Teacher...
Disciplines interested in communication have failed to describe adequately the comprehension or production of taboo or dirty words with the result that little is known about the phenomenon. A review of research leads to the assumption that taboo word comprehension and production are the result of some or all of the following elements of the communication context: (1) social and physical setting; (2) speaker-listener relation; (3) topic of discussion; (4) intended meaning of the message; and (5)...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Cultural Context, English, Expressive Language, Idioms, Interpersonal Relationship,...
This article evaluates the efficacy of explicit genre-based instruction by sensitizing the ESL learners to the concept of genre. The main questions addressed are: How does sensitizing ESL learners to the rhetorical move structure of a genre, the communicative purposes of these moves, and linguistic features that realize these moves help them to become confident writers? What impact does this sensitization have on the learners? To answer these questions, an experiment was carried out by...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Job Application, Language Attitudes, Writing Instruction, English (Second Language),...
This paper explores the construction of identity in an academic learning environment in Central Mexico, and shows how identity may be linked to non-language factors such as emotions or family. These issues are associated with elements of hybrid identity. To analyze this we draw on language choice as a tool used for the construction of identity and for showcasing and defending identity through exploratory interviews with the bilingual students and teachers. The results draw our attention towards...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Self Concept, Academic Discourse, Writing (Composition), Foreign Countries,...
This study explores the affective responses and beliefs school-aged heritage-language learners (HLLs) hold regarding learning their two languages. Sixty-three HLLs in grades 3 and 4 were presented with pictorial scenarios involving activities across five language and literacy domains in their HL and second language (English). Children were asked to indicate the affect they associated with the scenario and were queried about their chosen affect. They associated positive affect with listening and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Elementary School Students, Language Attitudes, Student Attitudes,...
A study looks at the economic, social, cultural, and political factors at work in conflicts between Quebec language communities in recent years. The historical and current demographic, economic, cultural, and political relationships between the French and English speaking communities are presented and discussed in terms of political issues and influences. The forms and levels of influence of language community leaders in the legal and public policy arena are also examined. Extensive demographic...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Culture Conflict, English, Foreign Countries, French, Geographic Distribution,...
This paper examines the influence of Chinese (and specifically Taiwanese) culture on the conduct of English as a Second Language (ESL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction in Taiwan. Rapid economic development since the Second World War has led to a conflict of cultures, between traditional Chinese values and norms and Western values and norms. This conflict is especially felt in the ESL/EFL classroom, where instructional methods and the target language culture often conflict...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Chinese Culture, Cross Cultural Studies, Cultural Awareness, Cultural Differences,...
Learning another language is very much affected by positive or negative connotations attached to the new language by the language learner. Entering Malaysian public universities there are many students with a low proficiency in English, despite spending eleven years studying English in schools. Could it be that the lack of progress among these students could be attributed to a negative view of what it means to be a speaker of English? This study investigated the perceptions of students at a...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Undergraduate Students, Correlation, Language Proficiency, Second...
Within the communicative approach to English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching, the aims of instruction are primarily to enable learners to communicate; hence, functional and communicative intelligibility has become the goal of pronunciation training. On the other hand, contemporary approaches to EFL teaching leave sufficient room for accommodating the individual learner and contextual factors which largely influence the choice of the target pronunciation models. Moreover, in a globalized...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Second Language Learning, English (Second Language), Undergraduate...
This paper examines the nature of dictionaries and encyclopedias, focusing on some of the preparation that has gone into the construction of a dictionary of language testing at the University of Melbourne (Australia). It discusses the purpose of such dictionaries, the nature and size of dictionary/encyclopedia entries, and the readability of entries. It also reports on an experiment to determine the proper length and difficulty level of possible entries. Twenty-one M.A. students were asked to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Definitions, Dictionaries, Educational Media, Encyclopedias, Foreign Countries,...
This paper describes the experiences of an English teacher from Washington State University who taught English in Japan for a year. The teacher concluded after her year in Japan that the country is and has been involved in a less-than-conscious national effort to "stonewall" the effective teaching of English as a second language in all its forms. The position is taken that essential change for English education in Japan comes down to two possibilities: either English education must...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Communication Problems, Culture Contact, English (Second Language), Foreign...
This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 29 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) aspects of the organization of redundancy rules in the lexicon; (2) the adult role in early child language acquisition; (3) semantic categorization, intelligence, and language development; (4) lexical-generative grammar; (5) linguistic abilities of children with fetal alcohol syndrome; (6) deletion and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Annotated Bibliographies, Behavior Patterns, Child Language, Cognitive Style,...
A study investigated patterns and influences in Mexican-American children's Spanish language maintenance and shift toward English dominance or monolingualism. Subjects were 64 Mexican-descent children, ages 8-9, of varying immigration backgrounds (Mexican-born, U.S.-born of Mexican-born parents, U.S.-born of U.S.-born parents), and their families in one California community. Interviews and activities were conducted to investigate language proficiency, attitudes, and choices, and the children...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Bilingualism, Children, Code Switching (Language), English (Second Language), Family...
Since freedom of thought and expression is essential in a democracy, censorship of language is rightly regarded as a threat to all other freedoms. Still, it is inevitable that certain restrictions will occasionally be imposed on language in America and in other societies. Restrictions on language date back to the Ten Commandments, which condemned both the wrongful use of the Lord's name and the giving of false evidence, and since then penalties for different kinds of utterance have varied...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Freedom, Censorship, Civil Rights, Democracy, Elementary Secondary...
This article reviews the research on the simplification of reading materials for second language (SL) learners and reports on an experiment of the effects of text simplification and elaboration on the reading comprehension of SL learners. Elaboration can improve the comprehensibility of texts without removing new linguistic forms that students need to learn or diluting the semantic content of the original. A review of the research suggests that linguistic simplification of texts fails on both...
Topics: ERIC Archive, College Students, Educational Media, Educational Strategies, English (Second...
This paper examines some of the problems that are faced by teachers and students in the teaching and learning of English for special purposes (ESP) in multilingual nations such as Papua New Guinea. A survey of 125 students recently admitted to the University of Technology in Papua New Guinea found that although 98 percent knew that English was the sole language of instruction at the institution, only 49 percent expected to study English as a subject in any form as part of their curriculum. Many...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Curriculum Development, English for Special Purposes, Foreign Countries, Higher...
In the late 20th century, Australia's diverse population and international commitments require its constituents to use plain English. Unfortunately, its language is eroding as fast as its soil. On the one hand, much academic jargon excludes even well-educated readers; on the other, many teachers do not believe in teaching grammar or standard English. Consequently, Australia's economy loses $13 million a year and employers complain that graduates have poor communication skills. The recent...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Academic Discourse, Communication Problems, Elementary Secondary Education, English...
This document reports on the results of five surveys conducted during the 1980s by the Field Institute and Los Angeles Times that included questions of particular interest to the Latino community. Between 1982 and 1989, 6,668 California residents participated in the 5 surveys. Surveys included questions addressing the impact of Latino immigration on California; amount of contact among members of different racial and ethnic groups; use of English as the official language; availability of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Acculturation, Attitude Measures, Citizenship, Demography, Educational Attitudes,...
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 78 percent. Language preference was defined in terms of the language of the questionnaire the respondents chose to answer. The study demonstrated...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Acculturation, Age Differences, Ethnicity, Foreign Countries, Immigrants, Language...
Papers included in this volume from a conference on language teaching include the following: "The Symposium on the Evaluation of Foreign Language Proficiency: Challenges to the Profession" (Albert Valdman); "Conversion to a Proficiency Oriented Curriculum at the University Level" (Carmen Villegas Rogers, William H. Heflin, John Romeiser); "Dispelling Students' Fears and Misconceptions about Foreign Language Study: The Foreign Language Anxiety Workshop at the Defense...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Business Communication, Classroom Techniques, Communication Apprehension, Competency...
A survey of 184 regular classroom teachers at a summer workshop at a state university in the Rocky Mountain Region investigated teacher knowledge and attitudes about linguistic diversity in the classroom. Data was gathered on the teachers' background, kind and amount of assistance provided to teachers with limited-English-proficient (LEP) students in their classes, perceptions about teaching LEP students, and attitudes toward having LEP students in their classrooms. Results indicate that: (1)...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Resources, Elementary Secondary Education, Language Attitudes, Language...
This paper discusses the origin and philosophy of the whole language movement, focusing on the learning theory, language attitudes, language acquisition, and reading processes employed by the approach. The roles of teachers, learners, parents, and student evaluation in the whole language approach are then examined. The paper then addresses how these philosophical and theoretical principles are practiced in the classroom through descriptions of whole language practice at Sunnyslope Elementary...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Annotated Bibliographies, Case Studies, Classroom Techniques, Educational Philosophy,...
Developed and written so that Alaska school district personnel with a minimal amount of experience could conduct an equity inservice presentation, this module provides trainer instruction sheets, handouts, and activity sheets suitable for a 3-hour inservice presentation on language bias. The module begins with a chart outlining the objectives, methods, techniques, time, and resources needed for the training session. The purpose of the module is to: (1) have participants examine ways in which...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Elementary Secondary Education, Equal Education, Inservice Teacher Education,...
National language planning involves four interdependent processes that ideally constitute a cycle: fact-finding, policy formation, implementation, and evaluation. Each of these processes is more difficult in the relatively young but highly pluralistic nations of Africa. A community-based model of language planning offers ways to alleviate or rectify some of those problems by the use of a decentralized and more participatory approach to the language planning process. Whereas African governments...
Topics: ERIC Archive, African Languages, Centralization, Community Role, Comparative Analysis, Cultural...
Literacy is a social concept more reflective of culture and context than of formal instruction and can be used for cultural transmission within a society or for cultural imperialism when imposed from outside. The Algonquian-speaking Micmac Indians used pictographs, petroglyphs, notched sticks, and wampum as written communication to serve early social, political, cultural, and spiritual needs. Roman Catholic missionaries adapted the aboriginal symbols and developed hieroglyphs to teach prayers....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Acculturation, American Indian History, American Indian Languages, American Indians,...
Children from different backgrounds come to school speaking a wide variety of dialects. Questions concerning the use of dialects in schools have become increasingly complex and controversial in recent years. A central issue is the requirement of a standard dialect in school. Some find it discriminatory, others find it necessary to broaden student opportunity. Dialect differences can affect the quality of education received. Dialect may interfere with the child's acquisition of information and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Classroom Communication, Cultural Differences, Elementary Secondary Education,...
A metaphor and ongoing debate of the information age is that the mind is a computer or that, conversely, the computer has a mind. Since the debate is conducted using anthropomorphic metaphors such as "intelligent,""memory," and "friendly" (terms from humanity), the language itself pressures the discussion towards the conclusion that computers will surpass humans. In discussing the potentials of future computers, people are really just exploring the implications of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Processes, Computers, Futures (of Society), Higher...
The development of the University of Rhode Island's International Engineering Program, particularly the German language instruction component, is described. A committee addressed four questions: (1) whether there is tangible evidence that it is desirable for technologists to learn a second language; (2) why engineers avoid foreign language study; (3) how engineers might be encouraged to study languages, and (4) whether financial or other support was available for the creation of a program to...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Educational Needs, Engineering Education, German, Higher Education, Internship...
This article tackles the questions around the efficacy of the English language in educational contexts. The author argues that the answer to these questions has nothing to do with whether English is a more viable language of instruction or whether it promises non-English-speaking students full participation both in school and the society at large. This position, in the author's view, would point to an assumption that English is, in fact, a superior language and that we live in a classless,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, English Only Movement, Language of Instruction, Second Language Learning, English...
This study is an attempt to explore systematically language attitudes among the younger and more socially mobile Mexican Americans, to determine what linguistic and demographic variables are correlated with differential language attitudes, and to ascertain to what extent, if any, attitudinal commitment to Spanish correlates with behavioral commitment to Spanish maintenance. The sample population was composed of 164 students of Mexican descent enrolled at the University of Texas, Austin....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Bilingual Students, College Students, Language Attitudes, Language Maintenance,...
The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the attitudes of teachers of Spanish as a foreign language toward teaching Spanish to Hispanic American students--students who often possess oral fluency in Spanish but lack reading and writing skills in Spanish. The research was guided by four questions about the teachers' attitudes toward the use of Spanish, teaching of Spanish as a heritage language to Hispanic students, and the use of English at home and at school in the United States....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Cultural Background, Cultural Maintenance, Elementary Secondary Education, Ethnic...
This is a report on a study of the attitudes of French-speaking young people, aged 10 to 17 years, toward French as it is spoken in two sectors of Quebec City. One sector, Sainte-Foy, is mainly upper middle class; the other, Saint-Sauveur, is economically and socially disadvantaged. The research was carried out on the basis of work in French and American sociolinguistics, and all the young people were interviewed both formally and informally over a period of several months. The body of the...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adolescents, Children, French, Language Attitudes, Language Research, Language...
Before teachers begin to teach Standard American English (SAE), the schools must strive for a greater tolerance among the public and the school community toward Non-Standard American English (NSAE) dialects. Through the use of a number of motivational approaches, students retain the right to their own dialects and language while learning SAE as a new dialect. The use of positive strategies and attitudes precludes the eradication of the much needed cultural heritage of dialect variety. Such...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Bidialectalism, Community Colleges, Dialects, English Instruction, Evaluation...
The paper assesses the contribution of standardisation towards language death taking Clement Doke's resolutions on the various Shona dialects as a case study. It is a qualitative analysis of views gathered from speakers of the language situated in various provinces of Zimbabwe, the country in which the language is spoken by around 75% of the population. It is argued that, under normal circumstances, standardisation should not result in people having to cede more than half of their way of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Language Skill Attrition, African Languages, Dialects, Case Studies, Qualitative...
Globalization as an increasingly influencing force has led English language to become the lingua franca of the world. However, the global spread of English is considered as linguistic and cultural imperialism of English speaking countries to exert their dominance, power, culture, ideology and language over the periphery countries. The devastating consequence of this hegemony, according to Canagarajah (2005) can be putting learners in danger of losing their languages, cultures, and identities,...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, English Teachers, English (Second Language), Teacher Attitudes,...
Marked incongruity exists between the present language teaching system in Australia and the nation's social structure. Few of the languages spoken in the community by major ethnic groups are taught in the schools and little effect of the society's pluralism is evident in objectives and methods. Three causes of this situation are examined, and new roles for language teaching that will match social needs are discussed. One major goal emerges as the fostering of favorable cross-cultural attitudes....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Attitude Change, Communicative Competence (Languages), Community Involvement,...
This study was conducted with 48 adult immigrant students studying Norwegian under basic education program of the Ski Municipality Adult Education Unit between 2009-2011. Using the framework of Genc and Bada (2005), we tried to replicate their study in a new setting--Norway. The study investigated migrant students' perceptions learning Norwegian culture and its effects on their learning of the Norwegian language. The participants responded to a set of questionnaire and one open-ended question...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Foreign Countries, Immigrants, Cultural Awareness, Second Language Learning,...
The English-only movement, which promotes a Constitutional Amendment that would make English the official language of the United States, represents a threat to the Constitutional rights of non-English speaking citizens. This nation's founders--faced with a linguistically and culturally diverse population--did not see a need to mention language choice at all either in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. From the colonization period to World War I, bilingual schooling was common....
Topics: ERIC Archive, Acculturation, Bilingual Education, Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Cultural...
A study analyzed the use of Basque and Spanish by 36 bilingual teenagers enrolled in a Basque school in Spain, based on results of a survey. The history and present situation of the Basque language are outlined, and the importance of the revival of the Basque language by those who learn it in school is highlighted. Complete technical data from the survey, which was given in English as part of the regular English class, is included. Analysis of the survey results encompasses the students'...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Adolescents, Basque, Bilingualism, Foreign Countries, High Schools, Language...
This paper describes the communicative situation of 17 Mexican immigrant women in San Diego County (California), focusing on a set of narratives of personal language experiences in everyday life. Data collection included intensive fieldwork in an adult computer literacy project serving predominantly Mexican immigrants and interviews with seven project coordinators, seven participants, and four nonparticipants. Subjects' English language proficiency ranged from none to full bilingualism. To...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Discourse Analysis, English (Second Language), Ethnic Discrimination, Females,...
English is an international language used all over the world. Mathematics is the language of sciences but it is also a language used in everyday life. Although both are perceived as languages, mathematics and English are considered as two completely distinct disciplines. In this paper we first discuss English and mathematics as languages. Then we present interviews conducted with five mathematics and English teachers in order to explore their views regarding issues of language features, ways of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Mathematics, English, Language Role, Global Approach, Language Usage, Teacher...
Despite growing interest in children's policy and in research regarding childhood bilingualism and language acquisition, the early care and education of linguistically and culturally diverse preschoolers remains a matter of much concern. Relative inattention at the level of policy to the needs and interests of such children is due to several causes, including widely and tenaciously held personal beliefs, political ideologies, misperceptions regarding the lack of a demographic imperative, and...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Bilingual Students, Cultural Differences, Educational Development, Educational...
A study was undertaken to gather attitudes of Spanish-speakers toward specific types of Chicano Spanish dialect lexical items. Reactions were randomly taken from 11 Latin American students who attended Southern Illinois University at Carbondale during the 1975 spring semester; 20 Mexican residents of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, who attended English as a second language classes at El Paso Community College during the 1977 spring semester; and 20 Chicanos of El Paso who attended El Paso Community...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Dialect Studies, Language Attitudes, Language Variation, Regional Dialects,...
This article proposes two general instructional strategies that a course designer or materials writer may use to create a second language course that makes new demands on learners, yet contains feasible learning tasks. First, course designers can manipulate task components believed to determine task difficulty, components such as input text, the complexity of operations to be carried out on the input, and the nature of the output required. The second instructional strategy takes advantage of...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Curriculum Design, Difficulty Level, Foreign Countries, Language Attitudes, Language...
Approximately 600 linguists, secondary School English department chairpersons, and their staff members participated in a study of whether active members of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) who were in leadership positions in their schools possessed language attitudes that were linguistically informed. The subjects responded to a questionnaire that was designed to measure the extent to which teacher attitudes revealed an acceptance of K.M. Hess's nine linguistic principles:...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Administrator Attitudes, Attitude Measures, Educational Research, Language Attitudes,...
Several research studies have looked at Japanese-American interaction with other ethnic groups in Hawaii. A study by McCandless and Hoyt, "Sex, Ethnicity, and Play Preferences of Preschool Children," reveals that children in Hawaii base their choice of friends on racial distinctions. This is due, however, not to racial hostility or discrimination but to a tendency to engage in more communication with those with whom one has most in common. Vinacke, in his study, "Stereotyping...
Topics: ERIC Archive, Attitude Change, Bias, Childhood Attitudes, Communication (Thought Transfer), Cross...
