Reviews the results of a 1991 U.S. Department of Education report entitled "A Descriptive Study of Significant Features of Exemplary Special Alternative Instructional Programs." The features of nine exemplary special alternative instructional programs are described that appeared to contribute to positive outcomes for students from diverse…

Discusses the role of the English language in postcolonial African literature, focusing on the politics of language, "Africanized" English, and the social languages used in Chinua Achebe's novels and concludes that English today is as much an African language as a British or American one. (Contains 37 references.) (MDM)

Examines South African Indian English (SAIE), a subvariety of South African English influenced by Indian English, other languages of India, and life in southern Africa, with particular focus on the history, phonetics, syntax, and vocabulary of SAIE. (Contains two references.) (MDM)

Examines the background and nature of general English usage in Singapore, focusing on the speaking patterns of students whose native language is Chinese. Focuses on the influence of Chinese on the syntax and pronunciation of "Singlish." (MDM)

Considers how changes in language usage come about and whether such changes can be identified and examined as they occur in a language, focusing on changes in the English language in past centuries and the present day. (MDM)

Surveyed 107 academics from the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, in 1991 concerning their writing strategies and tools. Results found that 77% used word processors and that 53% used the 3-stage approach to writing that emphasized planning, writing, and revising. (Contains 10 references.) (MDM)

Discusses language standards, standard language, and examinations in terms of the 1989 National Curriculum for state schools in England and the tensions caused by the curriculum. Also reviews the history of public education and examinations in England since 1944, focusing on English language instruction. (Contains 19 references.) (MDM)

Examines the birth and evolution of Hawai'i Creole English (HCE), focusing on attempts to use HCE as a written language, particularly in the emerging genre of local literature and reviews the use of HCE in literary works from the 1930s to the present. (Contains 12 references.) (MDM)

Argues against the concept of a distinctive "Ghanaian English" and in favor of the view that various postcolonial nations share the same nonstandard usages. The article maintains that British Standard English is still the norm for educated Ghanaians. (Contains 16 references.) (MDM)

Examines the rhymes and linguistic tricks used by children, focusing on the rhyme, syllable structure, word boundaries, rhythm, meaning, and social uses of school children's poetry and rhymes. Examples are provided of various past and current poems and rhymes. (Contains 10 references.) (MDM)

Examines the distinctive dialect of the British royal family, as well as the "advanced" Received Pronunciation (RP) of the British upper class. Particular focus is on usages, such as the royal "we" and "one," as well as intergenerational differences among RP speakers. (Contains 21 references.) (MDM)

Examines recent lexical innovations in Nigerian English, focusing on loanshifts, ellipses, conversions, translation equivalents, analogical creations, and coinages. Various examples of each phenomenon are presented. (Contains three references.) (MDM)

Describes the International Corpus of English Corpus Utility Program (ICECUP), a computer-based text retrieval program designed to search a tagged corpus for words, word elements, and their grammatical roles. Explains the search, display options, concordance, and subcorpus selection features of the ICECUP program. (MDM)

Describes the International Corpus of Learner English (ICLE), a project at the University of Louvain in Belgium that collects written work from, and analyzes the usage of, advanced adult English as a Foreign Language learners. Recurring combinations and concordances in ICLE are examined. (Contains five references.) (MDM)

Addresses issues of verbal communication around the world, explores the power of various linguistic means of expressing politeness, and defines negative and positive politeness. Beneath the surface differences, cultures around the world display amazing similarities in the linguistic means of expressing politeness. (27 references) (Author/CK)