Discusses the need for both a "rule of thumb" grammar and more thorough grammatical rules in second language teaching. (AM)

Presents a reworking of the rules of genitive singular inflection in German nouns, allowing the prediction of the distribution of "s" and "es" in a greater number of nouns than previously possible. (AM)

Presents a method of contrasting sociocultural patterns through a contrastive analysis of linguistic forms and their usage across cultures. Examples are provided for English and Tagalog. (AM)

The development of German proficiency by a three-year-old Australian boy living in Germany was monitored for a five-month period. His command of German negation is reported. The study is seen as bearing on issues in first and second language acquisition, such as competence and interference. (JB)

Demonstrates how Sector Analysis theory can serve as a model for the contrastive analysis of the grammars of any two languages. Examples are provided for English and Hausa. (AM)

This article reviews some of the research literature dealing with factors which contribute to success in acquiring second language speaking skills. Language attitudes, cognitive style variables (i.e., field dependence and independence; overgeneralization and negative transfer from the native language), personality variables (tolerance of…

The greatest fallacy of word counts, the author maintains, lies in the fact that advocates of frequency lists stress the high percentage without telling the whole truth. It has become common to pretend that a frequency list of 3,000 words covers 95 percent of the language, that it enables a person to speak and understand a foreign language by…

With the immediate aim of reinforcing the productive and receptive control of ordinary spoken language, experiments were undertaken using two methods of teaching French to university students with some knowledge of the written language. The first of the two groups involved in the experiment completed a 240-hour course consisting primarily of…

Language learning and language teaching are discussed in terms of H.E. Palmer's theory that language can be divided into primary matter (units learned by heart integrally) and secondary matter (units built up or derived by the pupil from primary matter). Excerpts from the "Nuffield German Teaching Materials" are used to illustrate how audiovisual…

To increase the efficacy of visual instruction, more must be known about the operational forces within the image, and the determining factors in picture quality as a means of communication. The theory of information applied to this analysis of pictorial content, the fundamental thesis being that the value of an image depends on its content of…

The first part of this paper is a general introduction which defines programmed instruction, traces the history of the concept, and explains its basic ideas and terminology. Progress and problems in research and in evaluating programmed materials are also briefly considered, and a short selective bibliography is included in this first section. The…

Papers from three conferences on applied linguistics include the following: "Evaluating Language Success in an Irish Context" (D. P. O Baoill); "Facilitation of Language Development in the Deaf Child" (M. Nicholas Griffey, Sr.); "Observations on Thematic Interference Between Irish and English" (M. Filppula); "A Global View of the English Language…