摘要:

A significant problem for research in composition teaching has been objective evaluation of student prose. Measures such as T‐units provide information about surface or grammatical features, but there has been no satisfactory way to measure objectively the property of rhetorical connectedness. This is an important property to measure since it is directly related to teacher intuitions concerning the quality of expository writing. Holistic procedures, carried out by trained readers, can be used to show which passages have this characteristic and which do not, but show little about what rhetorical connectedness really is or where in the prose the quality resides. An analysis of writing samples produced for a pre‐med biology class by ESL and native‐speaking students suggests that when the writing assignment is a set, lead‐in sentence there is considerable demand placed on the writers to interrelate their biology information by means of rhetorical connections. It is argued here that a text grammar should show such connections not just as conjunctions but aspredicationsof a special type. The skilled writer, in meeting the demands of the assignment, integrates these rhetorical predications with predications of other semantic types. Such integration constitutes complexity of a kind that is characteristic of academic reading and

ISSN:0039-8322    

DOI:10.2307/3586750

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This study assessed the effects on second language learning of variations in homework written feedback that either suppressed student errors or made them salient. Eighty students from two college Spanish courses were randomly assigned to treatment groups for a six‐week period. Performance data were collected before and after treatment, as well as from homework during treatment. Analysis of variance blocking on pretest revealed significant achievement increases for treated students independent of course membership. Planned comparisons pooled across courses showed achievement was consistently superior under salient error conditions and in particular with constructively critical feedback. Results support the notion that the written performance of students learning a second language can benefit most by focusing on homework errors in a motivationally favorable manner. Relevance of the findings for instructional theory and second language teaching are discusse

ISSN:0039-8322    

DOI:10.2307/3586751

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This research article is based on the findings of a doctoral study conducted at Stanford University which compared the English composition skills of two groups of junior high school Spanish‐speaking students from two differing educational and cultural backgrounds: one group born and schooled in Mexico (K‐2, 3) in Spanish and the other group born and schooled in the United States (K‐7, 8) totally in English. By the time of the study, the students from Mexico had attended school in the U.S. and had been taught in English from grades three and four through grades seven and eight of junior high school. Findings from the study indicated that, except for their use of verb structure, no significant difference (p ≤ .05) existed in the composition skills of the two groups after the students from Mexico had received from three to four years of English language instruction in the United States. However the Mexican group surpassed the group totally educated in the U.S. on measures of achievement motivation and grades earned in

ISSN:0039-8322    

DOI:10.2307/3586752

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

In this article, Brown's (1980) optimal distance model of target language acquisition in its native milieu is criticized for having neglected the issue of the possibly harmful effects of sociocultural factors upon learners' psychological frame of mind and instead stressing the pedagogic aspects of the process of acculturation. Especially in those cases where the learners' original motivations are instrumental, it is suggested here that there will be a conflict between such orientations and an integrative approach to language teaching which attempts assimilation or adaptation, thereby increasing the negative effects of acculturation and hampering the language learning process itself. The pedagogic implications which follow attempt to serve the affective needs of the instrumentally oriented learners. It is hoped these implications will facilitate and improve the learners' language acquisition process in the target sociocultural setting.

ISSN:0039-8322    

DOI:10.2307/3586753

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

An attempt is made to clarify what is meant by the termcommunication strategy, as opposed to terms such aslearning strategyandproduction/perception strategy. It is proposed that communication strategies are descriptive of the learners' pattern of use of what they know as they try to communicate with speakers of the target language. Further, it is proposed that communication strategies have an interfactional function, as they are used for a joint negotiation of meaning between speaker and hearer. Specific criteria are proposed, to be used in defining the notion ofcommunication strategyand separating this fromlearningandproduction strategies. Suggestions for future research are presented.

ISSN:0039-8322    

DOI:10.2307/3586754

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Milingimbi is an isolated, traditionally oriented Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory of Australia. A bilingual program in English and Gupapuyngu was started at Milingimbi School in 1973. For four years, children from both English‐only and bilingual classes were tested for achievement in academic subjects. By Year 7, the children from bilingual classes were performing better in seven out of ten tests than the English‐only child

ISSN:0039-8322    

DOI:10.2307/3586755

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

An examination of recent public expressions and opinions about language reveals three commonly repeated themes: 1) English is leading the country astray; 2) Social decay is leading our language astray; and 3) The structure of English, the variations within English, and the intrusion of new languages in America are all weakening the fibre of our country. This article explores these public expressions from prominent journalists and linguistic laymen and attempts to show that this current wave of interest in language, however misguided, should be viewed by language professionals as an opportunity to clarify issues which have never before been so public. There are four strategies presented as a way for linguists to capitalize on this situation: 1) To present language variability as an asset, not as a liability; as a humanizing force, not a weakness; 2) TO clarify the widely held public misunderstanding of what linguistics is: that linguists are not rule breakers but are instead concerned with describing language rules in great detail and depth, including variation; 3) To focus on the sheer joys of language variation from spoken language to children's literature, to poetry; and 4) To stress the usefulness of language variation as an avenue through which to change social attitudes.

ISSN:0039-8322    

DOI:10.2307/3586756

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0039-8322    

DOI:10.2307/3586757

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0039-8322    

DOI:10.2307/3586758

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0039-8322    

DOI:10.2307/3586759

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1981

数据来源: WILEY