Seven articles on linguistics and language teaching, two book reviews, and four conference summaries are included in this volume. The articles include: "Laying Down the Law? Reflecting on Course Design in Progress" (Desmond Allison, Robin Corcos, Agnes Lam); "Beyond (F)utilitarianism: English as an Academic Purpose" (Alastair Pennycook); "On the…

The process of organizing content for a course in academic English as a Second Language is discussed, specifically as it applied to construction of a course for first-year law students at the University of Hong Kong. Discussion focuses on issues that emerged while trying to reconcile the university English center's curriculum policy with student…

A discussion of the teaching of English for academic purposes (EAP) focuses on criticism that the content of such courses is thin and that they are offered as a service to other disciplines. It is proposed that the emphasis of EAP instruction be shifted to the role English plays as a medium for conveying meaning to the ways in which English is…

A study investigated the importance of sentence topic in written discourse. Training second language writers to identify sentence topics in drafts of their written work has been proposed as a central means of helping writers achieve greater coherence. The study explored the notion that "topic" is a psychological rather than linguistic concept, and…

Phonemic phonology became important because it provided a descriptive account of dialects and languages that had never been transcribed before, and it derives its greatest strength from its practical orientation, which has proved beneficial to language teaching and learning. Noam Chomsky's criticisms of it are largely unjust because he has not…

A student project for learners of English for academic purposes (EAP) at a Hong Kong university is described and discussed. The project involved independent production by students of a documentary on the uses of English in the community. Topic, method of delivery, and organizational aspects were negotiated within the group of 15 students. Project…

The development of a language ability scale for English as a Second Language in Hong Kong secondary schools is described. The project used a local computer network designed as a database of teacher-designed English language tests. From test items in the database, a series of seven tests was prepared, one for each grade level. Tests for the lowest…

A study analyzed patterns of usage of political vocabulary in Hong Kong English as found in newspaper reports of a leading Hong Kong English-medium newspaper and two other English-medium newspapers. Data were drawn from a computerized corpus and a clippings file. The report begins with an overview of the theoretical basis of the study of ideology…

This serial presents articles, reports, and conference reports on various topics concerned with language-related areas, including general linguistics, teaching methodology, curriculum development, testing, evaluation, educational technology, language planning, and bilingual education. Articles in this volume are: (1) "Task Difficulty From the…

This paper explored task difficulty from the perspective of the learner. It investigated the relationship between student perception of task difficulty and actual difficulty as measured by successful completion of a task. The study also collected information on those factors identified by students themselves as implicated in task difficulty.…

A recent study proposed a rational for investigating the effects of mediating tasks upon a summary writing activity for tertiary-level students using English as an educational medium. The tasks in this study involved a group discussion or a reading comprehension exercise, with a third condition providing for immediate access to the text and…

This paper presents the results of a review of 26 research articles, discussing the importance, frequency, and realization of hedges in science research article. It also considers why students find hedging so difficult to master and raises implications thereof. The need to present scientific claims with precision and caution means that hedges are…

This paper investigates metaphor in the language of economics, in particular, the way the vicissitudes of the Hong Kong financial markets are reported in the press. It analyzes the content from an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) perspective, probing for the significance in the negotiation of meaning in the subject area. Text samples were…

This article investigates certain modal choices made by law students when writing in an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) adjunct class, illustrating areas of concern and instances of successful development of ideas in extracts from first-year undergraduate law students' essays on a problem in tort law. The study compares judgements of teachers…

This paper explores the value, in English-as-a-Second-Language medium tertiary education, of extending the notion of student autonomy beyond the context of language learning to the whole curriculum, arguing that autonomy needs to be seen in a broader, more socio-political perspective and that for students to enjoy autonomy requires a…