Cummins J The Cross-Lingual Dimensions of Language

VOLUMES MENU
TESOL QUARTERLY
Volume 14 June 1980 Number 2
Table of Contents To print, select PDF page
nos. in parentheses
Its Too Damn TightMedia in ESOL Classrooms: Structural
Features in Technical/Subtechnical English. . . . . . . . . John F. Fanselow 141 (6-21)
The Optimal Distance Model of Second Language

Acquisition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . H. Douglas Brown 157 (22-29)
Requesting in Elementary School Classrooms. . . . . . . . . Robert L. Politzer 165 (30-39)
The Cross-Lingual Dimensions of Language Proficiency: Implications

for Bilingual Education and the Optimal Age Issue. . . . . Jim Cummins 175 (40-52)
Second Language Reading and Testing in Bilingual

Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barbara Murphy 189 (54-62)
Job-Related Aspects of the M.A. in TESOL Degree. . . . . . Robert Ochsner 199 (64-72)
A Practical Approach for Teaching ESL Pronunciation
Based on Distinctive Feature Analysis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert M. Leahy 209 (74-84)
Functional Language Objectives in a Competency Based ESL

Curriculum, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Charles A. Findley and Lynn A. Nathan 221 (86-96)
Reviews
Paroo Nihalani, R. K. Tongue, and Priya Hosali: Indian and British
English: A Handbook of Usage and Pronunciation (V. D. Singh) . . . 233
Fraida Dubin and Myrna Margol: Its Time to Talk (T. Bofman) . . . . . 238
H. Douglas Brown: Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (S.
McKay) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Peter Strevens: New Orientations in the Teaching of English (B. B.
Kachru) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Martin L. Albert and Loraine K. Obler: The Bilingual Brain:
Neuropsychological and Neurolinguistic Aspects of
Bilingualism (L. Galloway) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
Peter MacCarthy: The Teaching of Pronunciation (A. R. James). . . . . 246
Research Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Forum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Announcements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Publications Received . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Publications Available from TESOL Central Office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Call for Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
137
TESOL QUARTERLY
A Journal for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
TESOL OFFICERS EXECUTIVE SECRETARY
1980-81 lames E. Alatis
Georgetown University
President Washington D.C.
H. Douglas Brown QUARTERLY EDITOR
University of Illinois
Urbana, Illinois Jacquelyn Schachter
University of Southern California
First Vice President Los Angeles, California
John Fanselow REVIEW EDITOR
Teachers College Columbia University
New York, New York Brad Arthur
University of Michigan
Second Vice President Ann Arbor, Michigan
Mary Hines EDITORIAL ADVISORY
Teachers College Columbia University
New York, New York BOARD
Marina Burt
Bloomsbury West
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Charles A. Findley
Northeastern University
The Officers and Sidney Greenbaum
University of Wisconsin
Jean Bodman John Haskell
New York University Northeastern Illinois University
New York, New York Braj Kachru
Eugene Brire University of Illinois
University of Southern California Ted Plaister
Los Angeles, California University of Hawaii
Pat Rigg
Thomas Buckingham Southern Illinois University
University of Houston Betty Wallace Robinett
Houston, Texas University of Minnesota
William Rutherford
Janet Fisher University of Southern California
Los Angeles Unified School District Muriel Saville-Troike
Los Angeles, California Georgetown University
Tom Scovel
Donna Ilyin University of Pittsburgh
Alemany Community College Center Earl Stevick
San Francisco, California Foreign Service Institute
Joan Morley Barry Taylor
University of Michigan University of Pennsylvania
Ann Arbor, Michigan Richard Tucker
Center for Applied Linguistics
Bernard Spolsky Rebecca Valette
University of New Mexico Boston College
Albuquerque, New Mexico Margaret van Naerssen
Barry Taylor
University of Pennsylvania ASSISTANT TO EDITOR
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Harry Baldwin
Editorial Policy
The TESOL Quarterly encourages submission of previously unpublished
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139
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140
TESOL QUARTERLY
Vol. 14, No. 2
June 1980
Its Too Damn TightMedia in ESOL

Classrooms: Structural Features in Technical/
Subtechnical English*
John F. Fanselow
On a job, repairing cars, preparing meals, or ordering materials, a great

many mediums besides speech are present: squeaking wheels or ringing
telephones, diagrams of wiring systems or organizational charts, the smells
of exhaust and oil, pans and knives, and T-squares, to name a few. How-
ever, in most classrooms, only speech and writing are present rather than
this wide range of mediums. Even when objects and other mediums are
present in a classroom, the way we use them is usually different from the
way we use them outside of the classroom, especially in the workplace. This
presentation describes specific ways we can make a better match between
the types and uses of mediums outside the language classroom (on jobs in
particular) and inside classrooms.
First, I want to highlight some differences between the way we talk about
objects and actions in language classes, in skill classes and on jobs. Then, I want
to suggest what you as a language teacher can do to make the talk in your
language classes for vocational students more similar to the talk they will need
in skill classes or on their jobs. The suggestions can be applied to the teaching
of English for any specific purposes; they are not limited to vocational training.
1. Characteristics of Communications in Language Classes and Other Settings

Since it is often easier to see differences if some of the examples are close
to home, I would like you to write down on a separate piece of paper what you
would ask your students to say and what you would say to them about at least
two of these objects: a pair of asbestos gloves, a screwdriver, a pair of pliers
and a hammer. It would be easier to write about the objects if they were actually
in hand, but you can of course just imagine the types of communications you
and your students would make. Feel free to do this exercise with a fellow
teacheryou need not do this exercise or read this presentation alone!
Here are some communications other languages teachers wrote down.
* This article grew out of a presentation I made for TESOL at Lackland Air Force Base
in 1979. I would like to thank James Alatis for inviting me to make that presentation, and
J. Ronayne Cowan of the University of Illinois, Urbana, for suggesting its submission.
Mr. Fanselow is Associate Professor at the Department of Languages, Literature, and
Communication, at Teachers College, Columbia University. His articles have appeared in
several books and journals.
141
142 TESOL Quarterly
1.1 Communications about Objects in Language Classrooms

About Gloves
Alice: Id say they protect you from blisters. Id have students tell me what they
use them for. Id say what they were made of and how much they cost. Also,
the color and texture. You could teach an idiom such as They go together
like a hand in a glove too.
About a Screw-Driver
Allen: Id ask what they can do with it. What is the shape? What jobs can it do?
Id show them how to use it. Id ask how they could use a screw driver in
different situations. This is used to remove a screw and I am turning it
would be good patterns.
About a Pair of Pliers
Mary: They are made of metal. They can be used to tighten and loosen nuts or pull
nails out. They have teeth on them to help grip better. The handles have
plastic covers on them.
About a Hammer
Dick: You could teach If I had a hammer. The handle is wood and the head is
metal. You could teach smooth too and grain in the wood and shiny and
claw. You could teach balanced toothe tool is balanced.
If you are like most language teachers, your comments about gloves, tools
and a yo-yo are similar to the communications just presented. These teachers
and you, if you are a typical language teacher, have used the objects to il-
lustrate vocabulary items or grammatical patterns and to teach description. YOU
have done what you have usually been trained and paid to doteach language
itself as an object of instruction for its own sake.
But in fact, what types of things would you say outside of a language
classroom if you were using gloves, a screw-driver, pliers or a hammer? Forget
for a moment about being a language teacher! Pretend to be a reporter or a
spy trying to record conversations that others are making as they are actually
using gloves and tools. Listen, record and then write down what was said as
the objects were used for the functions for which they were designed.
1.2. Communications about Objects Outside of Language Classrooms
Here are some communications others have collected.
About Gloves
Bob: Where re my gloves? Who the hell took um. I need um right away.
About a Screwdriver
Sam: Loosen it for Christs sake. You cant let it down till its looser.
Joe: I cant. Its too damn tight.
About a Pair of Pliers
Rick: Twist the wires tighter. Nonot so fucking fast. Youll break them!
Joel: Damn! (after the wires break)
Rick: Why the hell dont you listen? I told you to slow down, Too fucking fast!
About a Hammer
John: Ow! Damn, damn, damn. (after hitting his finger with the hammer) Quick,
gimme my gloves!
Compare your own transcriptions with these. These communications, as
well as the ones you collected, are not descriptive as the ones in the language
ESOL Classroom Media 143
classrooms were. We are given few details about the objects themselves in
these incidents for the simple reason that the objects are present and therefore
do not need to be described. In fact, the objects are rarely even named but re-
ferred to by words like it, them, one. When the names of the objects are used
it is mainly when they are not there and someone needs them: Wherere my
gloves? Quick, gimme my gloves! You also have noticed that commands are
frequent, blending occurstook um and expletives are used, both in addressing
objects and people. Few of the words have meaning without the objects and
actions that accompany them.
2. Making Communications in Language Classes Closer to those Outside

One of the first steps to take to try to make the language of the language
classroom more congruent with the language students will use in their subse-
quent specific skill classes or on their jobs has already been suggested: samples
of communications have to be obtained. Video recordings of the communica-
tions would provide somewhat more data since you could see the objects and
actions that accompanied the language. But because of what you as a language
teacher know about language use, you can fill in many of the objects and ac-
tions from a transcript of an audio recording, as the following exercise shows.
Fill in the actions and objects you can infer from this transcribed audio-
recording taken from a lesson on driving a car.
Front Seat of a Car*
1. Driver Trainer: Put your indicator on and turn right.
2.
3.
4. Driver:
5.
6. Driver Trainer: That was good.
7. Driver:
8. I go left here?
9.
10. Driver Trainer: Yeah.
11. Driver:
12.
13. Driver Trainer: Good.
Now, compare the actions and objects you filled in with those I put in.
Front Seat of a Car
1. Driver Trainer: Put your indicator on and turn right.
2. (indicator is on the steering column)
3. (car is in the right hand lane)
4. Driver: (puts the indicator on)
5. (turns the steering wheel)
6. Driver Trainer: That was good.
7. Driver: (an intersection referred to by here)
* Transcribed by Joy Noren.
144 TESOL Quarterly
8. I go left here?
9. (starts to move into left lane)
10. Driver Trainer: Yeah.
11. Driver: ( turns on left hand turn signal)
12. ( turns the steering wheel)
13. Driver Trainer: Good.
In fact, you might have filled in a great many more actions or objects than I
did. In line 9 you might have indicated that the Driver checked the traffic be-
hind him by looking in the rear view or side view mirror for example. In line
13, you might have written that the Driver Trainer pointed to the indicator as
he said Good indicating that it was the fact that the driver had put it on that
led him to say the word Good rather than the turn itself. Whether a video or
audio recording is used, the same problem remainshow many of the objects
and actions should be transcribed? The advantage of the audio-recording over
a video-recording is that it forces us to attend very carefully to what the lang-
guage refers to. And audio recordings remind us how meaningless most lan-
guage is if we separate it from the objects, actions and experiences it is in-
tegrated with.
3. Pitfalls to Avoid in Collecting Authentic Material
When gathering authentic communications students will need, it is dif-
ficult to avoid looking at the data as a teacher trained to develop materials on
the basis of word lists. I talked with some teachers who had carefully transcribed
a series of exchanges involving the use of a great many tools by mechanics.
After they finished transcribing, they extracted the names of all the tools, ar-
ranged them in alphabetical order and glued sketches of each tool next to the
name of the tool. They converted authentic data into communications found
only in language classes in which language was taught solely as a means of
naming objects. Widdowson (1976) has discussed other issues involved in de-
termining the authenticity of language materials.
I will describe the case of another group of teachers I visited since it il-
lustrates some of the pitfalls of trying to make the language we teach more
congruent with the language our students need. They had recorded the com-
munications and used the authentic results for their language lessons, but the
communications the y recorded were not those needed by their students.
A grant was awarded to this group of teachers to help prepare a group
of Chinese to be chefs in Chinese restaurants. A master chef was hired to teach
cooking, but he did not know English. One of the language teachers was bilin-
gual and recorded, transcribed and translated the language used by the master
chef during the cooking lessons. The language teachers taught the patterns.
After a while many of the students could repeat many of the sentences that had
been taken from the cooking lessons. The sequence in which the students said
different sentences in the language classes were different from the way they
heard them in cooking classes though since the language teachers did not know
much about Chinese cooking. And the students were not always sure whether
they were ordering someone else to chop an onion or dice an onion or

fry or boil rice since the meanings in the language classroom were sepa-
rated from the food and cooking in the cooking classroom. But many of the stu-
dents could utter many directions to each other about how to cook Chinese
food and these utterances were made in comprehensible English. By now you
must have begun to wonder why Chinese chefs have to be able to say what
they do in English since they were not being trained to be teachers of Chinese
cooking but rather to be Chinese chefs. Julia Child may need to know the
English of teaching cooking but even the master chef who was training the
group of Chinese chefs did not know how to teach Chinese cooking in English,
and this lack did not prevent him from teaching Chinese cooking to Chinese
speaking trainees.
If Chinese chefs do not need to know the English of cooking to cook Chinese
food in Chinese restaurants with Chinese waiters, what do they need? What
Chinese chefs probably need to know is the English for ordering food on the
telephone, for complaining about late deliveries or poor produce or old meat
and high prices. Thus, it is clear that it is not enough simply to gather the lan-
guage your students will be exposed to in their subsequent classes. You have
to look at what they do outside of class or their job that relates to the tasks
they are paid to perform.
The teachers of the Chinese cooks failed to look beyond the cooking class
to assess their students needs. Many of your students might have to read tech-
nical manuals off the job to prepare for the job or to keep up in what they do.
Sometimes, new directives come out in print from manufacturers that require
maintenance changes for example. These materials may be very brief but are
often vital to successful maintenance. Likewise, some may have the need to
spend time socially with native speaking Americans. A few formulas that would
enable them to engage in small talk and kibitzing off the job and outside of
class might be crucial to successful relations with the Americans in subsequent
classes and on the job. In investigating the needs of your students, it is there-
fore vital to record not only what communications take place inside of their
training classes but also what language skills they need that are job related or
social. In basing materials on their out-of-class needs the main pitfall to be
avoided is: the use of vocabulary lists and structure paradigms, and of lan-
guage for its own sake and to describe what we can readily seein short the
pattern of discourse found only in language classrooms.
4. Determining what to Emphasize

With the authentic material in hand you must now decide on the propor-
tion of time you will spend on different items. I would not determine the pro-
portion of time to spend on different items only on the basis of frequency. Ex-
pletives for example might turn up in almost every other communication. But
in class I would not do much more than help the students see that these words
do little more than express anger or frustration. I would even substitute non-
146 TESOL Quarterly
sense words for them accompanied by scowling, pounding a fist on a wall,

strong falling intonation and primary stress. The literal meaning of such words,
their origin, their exact spelling and pronunciation are not critical, given a
limited amount of time.
Just as a high frequency of expletives should not lead you into spending
a large proportion of time on them, a low frequency of yes-no or either-or ques-
tions should not lead you to spend a low proportion of time on them. If you
believe that much of learning is the reduction of ambiguity (Smith 1978), that
elimination of alternatives through binary choices is vital to discovery of mean-
ing, then you would spend a large proportion of time teaching students how to
ask yes-no and either-or questions even though you found only a few actually
asked in the vocational classes you recorded.
As you know, if you do not know which way to turn a screw you turn it
one way and when you find it does not move you turn it the other way. When
you push a door and it does not open you pull it. If it still does not open you go
to the opposite edge and push and pull there. These actions are really yes-no
questions. If you are told to pick up a coping saw and you see a series of tools
on a bench, you pick up one at a time and hold it towards the person who
asked for the tool. When he nods you take the coping saw over and you have
learned which tool is called a coping saw by a series of yes-no answers repre-
sented by a series of trials with errors.
You know how the game Twenty Questions enables you to discover a
great deal about another persons thought very quickly. Each question elimi-
nates great numbers of possibilities by taking out of consideration whole cate-
gories of itemsalive or dead, large or small, human or not, male or female,
vegetable or mineral, seen or heard, and on and on. Notice that a no answer is
just as helpful in eliminating a category as a yes, even more so; so in a way
there are no wrong answers to yes-no and either-or questions of this type.
Doctors, dentists, lawyers and private investigators try to zero in on what
they are seeking with yes-no and either-or questions and most computers are
built on the premise that a series of binary choices can be used to help us in
most any investigation. It would be useful to see whether in fact the top few
students in skills classes or in jobs used a greater number of yes-no and either-or
communications than those students who did worse in such situations. Since
many of the alternatives may be tried without the use of speechturning a
screw one way and then anotherlive observation will probably yield more
information than audio recordings on this issue.
5. Advantages of Collecting Authentic Material

Recording and transcribing authentic communications not only has pitfalls
but also has advantages. In addition to helping you see the relationship between
speech and other mediums such as objects and actions and in providing you
with material that is more congruent with the students needs, the transcribing
will teach you something of the meaning of the language you are preparing to
teach. Perhaps in an ideal world, you might be able to learn the intricacies of
jet engine maintenance, six different kinds of electronics, navigation and a score
of other specialized areas. But this is not an ideal world. Your time is limited
and basically you are a language teacher. Though transcription will not teach
you mastery of the skills being taught it will help you to better understand them
than if you were never exposed to the area or if you only had to listen to skill
classes in a cursory fashion. Transcription forces careful attention; it is hard to
transcribe what is utterly meaningless to you. Through transcription you can
begin to gain at least a laypersons understanding of what is being communi-
cated, just as reporters often report on sophisticated material that they only
understand as observers, not as practitioners.
6. Using Genuine Communications as Exercises
When you finish some of your transcriptions, draw lines through words or
phrases you do not understand and then re-read the passage as if it were a cloze
test and the crossed out words simply represented blanks that you had to fill in.
Fill in as many blanks as possible by using a word (or sketch or diagram) that
seems to fit. Look up the original words or phrases in a technical dictionary or
a picture dictionary such as The English Duden (1960) or a technical manual
on the topic. Compare the pictures and words with those you filled in by ed-
ucated guessing. This exercise of course is one you should try with your stu-
dents too. Too frequently, we instruct our students to underline words they do
not know and then we try to explain the meanings. What they must learn to
do is guess meanings and then check to see whether the predictions they made
are right. Prediction of meanings and verification of meanings by the use of
dictionaries are probably more crucial skills to develop than the skill of listening
to explanations of words since it teaches students how they can be self-sufficient.1
7. Words in Transcriptions Tell only Part of the Message

If you tried to draw a sketch to illustrate the meaning of items you crossed
out in the transcriptions you made and if you filled in noises, objects and actions
in your transcriptions, you were reminded of the fact that there are a great num-
ber of mediums other than language that we use to communicate meaning.
Usually, in our language classrooms, we ask students to clarify language by
using more language. Even though we as teachers often draw sketches on the
blackboard or mime to illustrate meaning, it is rare to see a student illustrating
meaning with a sketch or miming, either at the blackboard, at his seat or in his
exercise book. In skill classrooms, the performance of the skill shows under-
1 Let me say that I am always astonished at the few instances I have seen in which the
use of dictionaries is taught in second language classes. Thousands of hours are spent pre-
paring dictionaries. Oxfords Advanced Learners Dictionary and Longmans Dictionary of
Contemporary English are complete grammar books as well as sources of word meanings.
Yet rather than teaching dictionary use or even encouraging it, teachers sometimes discourage
it. Differences between hi-lingual, mono-lingual, technical and pictorial dictionaries, if they
are taught, can help students move with ease from one type of dictionary to another. The
prefaces to dictionaries are so infrequently read, let alone studied, that they make very good
places for hiding secret messages!
148 TESOL Quarterly
standing, not a spoken description of what was just done. If we are told to
change a bulb or a part, our changing the part shows we understood the mean-
ing of the command. We need not say anything at all. In the transcript of the
driving lesson that you filled in the actions of, the driver never said I put on
the indicator; I turned right; I am driving. Even when a mechanic goes through
some type of checklist on a job to check his work and the steps that were
followed, the printed descriptions of the steps are checked off; the mechanic
does not usually verbally describe what he has done.
Categorizing Mediums
No secret is revealed here. You know that communications are made not
only by our speech or writing, especially in classes where skills are performed
and objects used. But as language teachers we see speech and print as primary
and other mediums as secondary.
Rather than having students give a spoken description of a coil to see
if they know the meaning of coil, have them draw one or hold one up. Have
them try to loosen a screw thats too damn tight so that the action of not
being able to turn the screw shows the meaning of too damn tight rather
than a string of spoken descriptions or definitions. The meaning of speech and
print can in many cases be learned only in relation to the objects and actions
that accompany them.
In a way, all of speech and print is an attempt to translate the meanings
of other mediums into language. If you say you are hungry you are simply
translating a non-linguistic mediumyour stomach and how it feelsinto words.
A novel with a fast plot is a good translation of a lot of action into print. You
do not talk about what you have never done or experienced unless you imagine
it, and the imagination is based on a reconstruction and reinterpretation of some
experiences you have had. The experiences are performed with objects and
actions. When we hear a siren we ask Wheres the fire? The question is speech
but the referentfireis a type of action. In classrooms where language itself
is not the only object of study, we are trying to widen peoples experiences, and
though we use languagelinguistic mediumsin these classrooms, we use it
together with the experiences the students are having.
The maps that I have seen in classrooms around the world can be used
without a common language. Different map readers can draw lines and point
to cities and form symbols so that they know what they are communicating
because they share the same meanings for maps and aspects of geography.
Obviously, it is useful to use a common language to share meaning along with
the pictures and maps. But it should be equally obvious that it is useful to use
maps, pictures and actions along with speech and print in classes set up to
develop a common language. And this latter case, though equally obvious, is
not equally frequent or even noticed by many language teachers.
Those who make ads for both television and newspapers and magazines
have noticed the value of pictures, print being dwarfed by pictures in most
ads. In television commercials too, pictures of people are remembered as long

as, if not longer than, the spoken words. When music is added to speech in song,
we tend to remember the material longer.
When language teachers gather, they frequently do discuss objects. But
they call them visual aids! And they complain how difficult appropriate ones
are to find, and how hard it is to store them, and how administrators do not
allow pictures to be tacked on the walls. Language teachers also discuss gestures,
pointing out the cultural meanings of an upturned middle finger in different
countries, for example. But these comments suggest that mediums other than
speech are ancillary. I am saying that it is impossible to communicate meaning
in skill classrooms with only the linguistic mediums of speech and print.2
8. An Observation Task to Highlight Mediums other than Language

To highlight the central role of objects and actions outside of language
classes, observe a series of short segments of a language class, a skill class and
people on the job, with ear-plugs on. If you only have a video tape, observe it
with the sound off. Check off in the columns below the frequency of different
mediums used to communicate meanings in segments of the lessons.
Observation Guide Frequency of Different Mediums in Language Classes,
Skill Classes and on the Job
If the excerpts presented earlier from outside of language classes are com-
mon, you will have a great many more check marks in lines 2 and 3 than in line
1 in the Observation Guide. This observation task shows that objects must not
only be held and looked at to be described, as we do in language classes, but
they must also be manipulated and acted on as well. Even if skills teachers spend
some time in the role of a language teacher naming and describing tools before
they demonstrate their use, they do not limit themselves to this role. They move
from naming to using words to accompany the skills they are teaching. You
2 The Appendix contains a classification of mediums I have developed. Using it as a
type of checklist, you can count the number of tasks we ask students to perform that allow
them to communicate with mediums other than speech or print or together with speech and
print in their responses.
150 TESOL Quarterly
cannot just speak and sit in a chair with your arms folded if you are learning
the language of a skill. You must act and speak together. A comment such as
The line is too longit is in the wrong direction makes sense only when it
is said after one has actually drawn a line. And to know that, one must know
something of what the line signifies insofar as the meaning of the sketch or plan
goes outside of the realm of language itself. The meaning of the sketch in the
world of architectural plans, mechanical plans or electrical circuits, must be
partially understood as well as the grammatical meaning of too versus very.
Gauges must be read as well as books, and circuits must be drawn as well as
letters written if a language class is to be congruent with the skill classes and
jobs it is preparing students for.
Obviously, you cannot bring jet engines, machines or a great variety of real
tools into your classroom. Nor are you hired to teach actual maintenance or
repair procedures. But you can have your students perform actions on models,
pictures or sketches of the real things in response to oral commands or written
directions. These semi-real communications will be more congruent with sub-
sequent student tasks than descriptions and word definitions alone. And though
you will of course have to know the meaning of words such as twist or tighten
or loosen or adjust, and screw, bolt, and nut, you will not have to know why
the screws need to be adjusted or exactly how much or how frequently nor the
tolerances allowed. These are technical matters which some of your students
may understand conceptually better than you if they have had previous ex-
perience with the skills themselves, or are taking skill classes at the same time
they are taking language classes. But tighten or loosen or adjust or check must
be almost totally lacking in meaning even to fully skilled technicians if the
words are simply taught to illustrate a grammatical pattern, or defined in rela-
tion to items such as shoe laces or belts. A pattern such as I am tightening my
belt, it seems to me, cannot be as useful to a student preparing for a skill class
or a job as a command such as tighten the damn screw if in fact he is going
to encounter commands of this type in subsequent training and on the job.
I want to emphasize that I am not just advocating that students perform
actions in the classroom rather than just sit in order to illustrate meaning. Years
ago, Hornby (1966) developed a series of classroom actions to illustrate an
entire structural syllabus, and more recently Asher (1977) has developed a book
that teaches language through total physical response. I am saying that students
must be allowed to communicate meaning through all mediums, not simply that
objects and actions be used to show the meaning of speech and print. In this
age of integrated circuits it is crucial to realize that all mediums are part of a
communication system and they work together.
9. Characteristics of SolicitsCommands, Requests, Questions

in Different Settings
We are now many pages from the examples of communications made about
objects outside of the language classroom that I presented at the beginning,
but you no doubt remember that in addition to the frequency of expletives and
the frequency of meaning being communicated through many mediums, the few
excerpts contained many solicits in the form of direct commands. Though some
direct commands are used in language classes and skill classesrepeat, listen,
look up, sit up, shut up, pay attention, watch outthe range of meaning they
convey is narrow. And, in some language classes and skill classes, polite requests
such as Would you like to. . . ? and indirect, commands such as Lets open
our books now are used in place of direct commands or together with them.3
The degree to which learning direct commands that request a limited range of
tasks and indirect or polite comments helps one follow a wide range of com-
mands on the job is probably minimal.
The contrast in the ways language teachers, skill teachers and job supervi-
sors set tasks in their solicits is not limited to the degree of politeness or direct-
ness and range of meaning alone, The referents for the solicits in language
classes tend to be linguistic mediums-spoken or written words: Please define
over; lets look at this word here help; repeat over; look at the sentence, The
referents for the solicits in skill classes tend to be non-linguistic and para-
Linguisticactions, objects, drawings and noises: Where're my gloves? Listen
to it (tapping sound); Its (the screw itself) too damn tight; twist them (the
wires) together. The degree to which experiencing solicits with words as re-
ferents helps one learn to respond to solicits with objects and actions as referents
needs to be investigated. When objects and actions have to be seen to under-
stand the solicit, you need experience in looking around as you listen. In a class,
the words are usually on the blackboard or in the book and you dont have to
look very far. And the oral referents you can respond to even with your eyes
closed.
10. A Test for the Reader

The first thing I asked you to do, quite a while ago, was to write down what
you would say and have your students say about gloves and some tools. I would
like to pose this same question again, asking you to take into account character-
istics of communications outside of language classes that I just presented. Since
I have dwelt on communications related to tools, there is no point in eliciting
more comments about them. So please write down communications about a
yo-yo, instead.
Here are some things I have seen and heard about a yo-yo in a range of
settings outside of language classes: I can spin it faster than you. Come on . . .
Jonathan, give it to me! (tries to grab it) Wowthats fast! (as yo-yo is spinning
up and down) Shit, too fast. (as yo-yo spins out of control and stops) Now give
it to mecome on (takes yo-yo, holds it, and winds up the string) Now youll
see an expert. (as he begins to spin the yo-yo) Damn! (as yo-yo fails to come
up after first spin) If youre an expert, Im an elephant. I never was good with a
3 For a detailed treatment of politeness in solicits see Esther N, Goody (Ed.) 1978. Ques-
tions and politenessStrategies in social interaction. Cambridge: The University Press.
152 TESOL Quarterly
yo-yo when I was a kid. Look at how much fun some of the kids have with a
yo-yo. (said with a smile) Here, as in most settings outside of a language
classroom, meaning is communicated in most cases through many mediums. If
you were watching the interaction and did not know a word of English, you
could infer that the speed or the skill of spinning a yo-yo was involved in the
linguistic communications that accompanied the spinning. The non-linguistic
objects and the para-linguistic actions and facial expressions help us figure out
the meaning and give meaning to the words themselves. The literal meaning
of the word elephant or even a picture of an elephant would not be very useful
in the line If youre an expert, Im an elephant since the meaning of elephant
here is simply something the speaker is obviously not. The bulk of the meaning
we get from the yo-yo communications comes not from individual words or
patterns and not from linguistic mediums alone, but from non-linguistic objects
and the people playing with the toy and from the para-linguistic facial expres-
sions, tone of voice and distance between the actors.
If you wrote down the color, the material and cost and that you are playing
with the yo-yo, you are still thinking of the discourse of language classes, what
Halliday (1973) calls the representational function of language and Wilkins
(1976) considers synthetic language. I am not implying that we should elim-
inate this function; even if I were, we could not! Both adults and children use
this type of language with those they think dont know the words for objects
or actions. We have all heard even very young children say to others This is
a yo-yo; its red as they handed a yo-yo to a new playmate. But the degree
to which this type of statement contributes to the playmates understanding of
the new word rather than the other statements that contain the word yo-yo
which have different functions needs to be investigated. I just want to point
out the obvious fact that we can teach and learn words in patterns other than
This is a . I think we should try to find out the degree to which
Malinowskis contention is valid: The real knowledge of a word comes through
the practice of appropriately using it within a certain situation. (325) Teaching
language to be used for a skill class or a job provides us with the opportunity
to try to follow his contention.
11. Context is More than Other Words

The fact that words have meaning only in context has become a clich.
Unfortunately, the meaning of context in the clich sometimes refers only to
the sentence in which the word occurs. But context involves the relationships
between the speakers and objects and actions and noises that are communicated
along with the words themselves. Another advantage of using objects and
actions and noises not as aids but as means of communication is that meaning
can be more easily guessed. A normal solicit in a language classroom about a
picture of a man standing next to a car holding up the hood might be the ques-
tion What is he doing? And when a student answers Hes standing the
teacher is likely to say, Who knows the right answer? meaning of course the
answer the teacher is thinking of. Nothing in the picture or the language class-
room gives patterns for their own sake.
12. Conclusion
I realize that there are constraints that sometimes make new ideas we want
to try difficultlack of administrative support, no planning time provided, con-
stant transfers from class to class and level to level, student and supervisor ex-
pectations, mandated tests, available texts and traditions, to name a few. To
prevent these various constraints from leading you to intense frustration or
indifference, I would urge you to avoid judging entire lessons on any absolute
scale but simply to investigate the consequences of conscious alternatives that
you try in small segments of your lessons. In this way, the question Were the
communications in my language class the right ones? is replaced by questions
such as To what extent did the students follow the ten commands I gave in
reduced form at the end of the lesson? or When I had them draw the symbols
for electrical parts did they get the meaning right more frequently than when
I had them verbally describe the parts? or When I had a picture of an engine
in the room on the wall did they answer more questions about the parts than
when I did not have the picture in the room?
Small changes in parts of lessons can over time build up and lead to large
changes in the overall pattern of discourse in the language classroom. So what
I urge is that you try small changes one by one and carefully look at the con-
sequences. Though by definition we can never reach the ideal, we can move
towards it. The question Have I done it the ideal way? can only lead to
frustration or indifference. The question What are the consequences of the
conscious alternatives I am trying? can only lead to growth or intense involve-
ment.
Frustration at not being able to overcome constraints placed upon your
teaching can also be decreased if you remember that the issue of trying to make
what we do in a class more congruent with student needs has long been a
subject of debate in the broad field of education. Our attempts to make the
language we teach more similar to the language our students will need are part
of a central issue in teaching. In Education and Experience (1938), Dewey high-
lighted the problem in these words: One trouble is that [much of what we
learn] was learned in isolation . . . so disconnected from the rest of experience
that it is not available under the actual conditions of life. (48) Too frequently,
in all types of classes, each period is seen simply as a preparation for another
rather than as an end in itself, as something that can be useful at the time as
well as an aid for some future need. Too frequently, in all types of classes
teachers fail to relate the previous experiences and immediate needs and sub-
sequent needs of the students to the material being taught.
It is not only in language classes that students are taught material unrelated
to their experiences and needs. Nor is it only in language classes where sketches,
objects, actions and sounds or noises are considered less vital than spoken and
154 TESOL Quarterly
written language. In many skill classes teachers talk about how tools should be
used rather than having students use them. Verbal definitions are still required
by some skill teachers to show understanding rather than sketches or actions.
Arnheim laments the concentration on language as the key means of commu-
nication in schools. He shows how students can be fluent in expressing concepts
in non-linguistic and para-linguistic mediums in his classic, Visual Thinking
(1969). And Olson (1976) argues that our concentration in schools on language
alone, and a limited style of language at that, grossly underestimates the
power of other mediums. Bruner has suggested the reason for the dependence
on language: Formal schooling causes people to be separated from the real
activities of life; to bring the world into the classroom we have come to depend
on symbolic means, that is, spoken and written language. (1966:62)
13. Further Explorations

Obviously, if you are a curriculum specialist or a teacher with free time you
will want to collect more samples of communications in which objects and ac-
tions are a central part of the discourse, and you will want to make generaliza-
tions about the material you collect. Candlin (1976) has taped sessions between
doctors and patients and shown how to use such material in classes. Munby
(1978) has presented scores of detailed checklists to study specific student
needs in detail. The same checklists can be used to compare the needs of the
students with the materials you prepare.
I would urge you to look at the strategies of most successful and least suc-
cessful students in your language classes and in their skill classes and on their
jobs in addition to looking at the types of communications made in these differ-
ent settings. Do the best studentsnative speakers and non-native speakers of
Englishtake more risks, ask more yes-no questions? Do they tend to be more
patient or less patient? Do they judge their work in less absolute terms? Do
they seem to feel more comfortable handling materials and performing actions?
Teacher behavior in skill classes and supervisor behavior on the job need
to be observed as well. Do skill teachers and job supervisors get annoyed with
a lot of student questions or with certain types of questions? Does bad pronun-
ciation, poor spelling, lack of subject-verb agreement get their goat? Do they
resent students who speak in over-precise sentences and who use polite requests?
When students dont blend or use expletives do they notice?
Finally, the consequences of the types of exercises I have suggested need
to be investigated. If students learn names of objects or processes as they are
handling materials, is less time needed for the instruction? Do students remem-
ber better when they learn a word in a pattern such as Hurry up, give me the
inch wrench rather than in the pattern This is a inch wrench? Holden
(1977) has presented scores of other exercises that could be used in English
classes that prepare students for skill classes. The consequences of all of these
suggestions need to be investigated as well.
REFERENCES
Arnheim, Rudolf. 1969. Visual thinking. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Asher, James J. 1977. Learning another language through actions: The complete
teachers guidebook. Los Gates, California: Sky Oaks Productions.
Bruner, J, S. 1966. On cognitive growth. In J. S. Bruner et al. (Eds.) Studies in
cognitive growth. New York: Wiley.
Candlin, Christopher N. et al. 1976. Doctors in causality: Applying communicative
competence to components of specialist course design. International Review of
Applied Linguistics XIV, August.
Dewey, John. 1963. Experience and education. New York: Collier-Macmillan,
(Originally published in 1938).
The English Duden: A pictorial dictionary. 1960. London: George G. Harrap & Co.
Ltd.
Goody, Esther N. (Ed.) 1978. Questions and politenessstrategies in social inter-
action. Cambridge: The University Press.
Halliday, M. A. K. 1973. Explorations in the functions of language. London: Edward
Arnold.
Holden, Susan. (Ed.) 1977. English for specific purposes. London: Modern English
Publications Ltd.
Hornby, A. S. 1974. The advanced learners dictionary of current English. London:
Oxford University Press.
Hornby, A. S. 1966. The teaching of structural words and sentence patterns. London:
Oxford University Press.
Longman dictionary of contemporary English. 1978. London: Longman.
Malinowski, Bronislaw. (n.d.) The problem of meaning in primitive languages. In
C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards The meaning of meaning. Harcourt, Brace and
Co.
Munby, John. 1978. Communicative syllabus design. Cambridge: The University
Press.
Olson, David R. 1976. Towards a theory of instructional means. Educational Psy-
chologist. 12, 1: 14-35.
Smith, Frank. 1978. Understanding reading. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Widdowson, Henry G. 1976. The authenticity of language data. In On TESOL 76.
John F. Fanselow and Ruth H. Crymes (Eds.). Washington: TESOL.
Wilkins, D. A. 1976. Notional syllabuses. London: Oxford University Press.
TESOL QUARTERLY
Vol. 14, No. 2
June 1980
The Optimal Distance Model of Second Language

Acquisition*
H. Douglas Brown
The critical period hypothesis has been viewed in recent second lan-
guage research as a biological or developmental phenomenon which explains
the inability of learners to acquire certain aspects of a second language
beyond a certain age. It is hypothesized here that such explanations are
limited, and that sociocultural factors more successfully define a critical
period. Research in four related areasstages of acculturation, anomie, social
distance, and perceived social distancehelps to define a socioculturally
determined critical period for successful second language acquisition. This
understanding of the critical period hypothesis is termed the optimal dis-
tance model of second language acquisition. Implications for teaching and
further research are discussed.
The critical period hypothesis has become a well accepted construct in

research in both first and second language acquisition. The notion that there
exists an optimal stage during which a person successfully acquires fluent con-
trol of a language was initially proposed for first language acquisition. Lenne-
berg (1967) supported such a contention by citing evidence of changes in the
lateralization of functions in the brain. Krashen (1973) and others have disputed
such physiological claims; nevertheless critical period hypotheses are supported
by cognitive (Rosansky 1975, Krashen 1976) and affective (Schumann 1975)
arguments.
The extension of the critical period hypothesis to second language acquisi-
tion has captured the interest of both researchers and teachers in the past few
years. We commonly observe the apparent ease with which children learn second
languages, and of course we have become accustomed to assuming that adults
are relatively inefficient and unsuccessful at the second language task. Argu-
ments for a second language critical period have been presented (Krashen 1973,
1976; Oyama 1976; Rosansky 1975; Schumann 1976) which appealedas did
first language argumentsto physiological, cognitive, and affective factors for
support. And once again physiological, brain-related arguments proved to be
less convincing than cognitive and affective arguments.
* This is a revised version of an oral presentation made at the TESOL Convention, Bos-
ton, 1979.
Mr. Brown is Associate Professor of ESL and Director of the Division of ESL at the
University of Illinois, Urbana. He has published numerous articles on second language learn-
ing and teaching and his most recent publication is Principles of Language Learning and
Teaching.
157
158 TESOL Quarterly
Despite the variety of intuitive, observational, and empirical support, the

critical period hypothesis has remained a chronologically based argument in
both first and second language acquisition. The ease or difficulty of learning a
language is seen as an age-related phenomenon, even within cognitive and
affective arguments. The movement from concrete to formal operational thought,
cited by Rosansky (1975) as critical in determining second language success, is
age-related. Affective factors like inhibition and empathy also correlate with
age. Cognitive and affective arguments thus have less than adequate explana-
tory power for differentiating success among adults.
Why is it that adults vary in their degree of success in mastering a second
language? Is there a critical period hypothesis that is independent of age but
dependent upon other factors? My hypothesis here is that for one type of second
language acquisitionthe case of second (not foreign) language acquisition
within the second culturethe critical period hypothesis can achieve explana-
tory adequacy by including the sociocultural factors at play. Such factors are
independent of age, for they describe the process that persons, regardless of
age, universally go through in acculturation. Second language learning within
the second culture is inextricably intertwined with culture learning. The inter-
action of language and culture produces a syndrome which gives rise to a certain
stage during which language learning achieves an optimal level. At that critical
stage, adults, and children, have an optimal chance to become fluent in the
second language. Since cultural distance is a distinguishing feature of this
optimal stage of learning, the proposed hypothesis is termed the optimal dis-
tance model of second language acquisition.
This model can be explicated by putting four pieces of a puzzle together
four related aspects of research combined to form the basis of the optimal
distance model.
1. Stages of Acculturation
Sociological research on acculturation has generally identified four stages
of acculturation which persons go through in adapting or assimilating themselves
in a new culture. (For a more detailed description see Brown 1980). The first
stage is the period of excitement and euphoria over the newness of the surround-
ings. The second stageculture shockemerges as the individual feels the in-
trusion of more and more cultural differences into the image of self and security.
In this stage the individual relies on and seeks out the support of fellow country-
men in the second culture, taking solace in complaining about local customs
and conditions, seeking escape from ones predicament. Culture shock for learn-
ers produces feelings of estrangement, hostility, indecision, frustration, sadness,
loneliness, homesickness, even physical illness. Adler described culture shock as:
a form of anxiety that results from the loss of commonly perceived and understood
signs and symbols of social intercourse. . . With the familiar props, cues, and clues
of cultural understanding removed, the individual becomes disoriented, afraid of,
and alienated from the things that he knows and understands ( 1972:8)
Optimal Distance 159
The third stage of acculturation is one of gradual and, at first tentative

and vacillating, recovery. This stage is typified by what Larson and Smalley
(1972) call culture stress: some problems of acculturation are solved, while
other problems continue for some time. But general progress is made, slowly
but surely, as the person begins to accept differences in thinking and feeling,
slowly becoming more empathic with those in the second culture. The fourth
stage represents near or full recovery, either assimilation or adaptation, accep-
tance of the new culture, and self-confidence in the new person that has devel-
oped in this culture.
2. Anomie
In light of the description of stages of acculturation, consider Lamberts
(1967, Gardner and Lambert 1972) studies of attitudes and motivation in second
language learning. Lambert often referred to Durkheims (1897) concept of
anomiefeelings of social uncertainty or dissatisfactionas a significant aspect
of the relationship between language learning and attitude toward the foreign
culture. As an individual begins to lose some of the ties with the native culture
and to adapt to the second culture, s/he experiences feelings of chagrin or re-
gret, mixed with the fearful anticipation of entering a new group. Anomie might
be described as the first symptom of the third stage of acculturation, a feeling
of hopelessness, where one feels neither bound firmly to a native culture nor
fully adapted to a second culture. Lamberts research has supported the view
that the strongest dose of anomie is experienced when, linguistically, a person
begins to master the foreign language. In one of Lamberts (1967) studies, for
example, when English speaking Canadians became so skilled in French that
they began to think and even dream in French, feelings of anomie were markedly
high. For Lamberts subjects the interaction of anomie and increased skill in
the language sometimes led persons to revert or to regress back to English
to seek out situations where they could speak English. Such an urge corresponds
to the tentativeness of the third stage of acculturation: periodic reversion to the
escape mechanisms acquired in the stage of culture shock. Only until a person
is well into the third stage do feelings of anomie decrease as the learner is over
the hump in the transition from one culture to another.
3. Social Distance
The third piece in the puzzle which embodies the optimal distance model
is available in the concept of social distance. Social distance refers to the cogni-
tive and affective proximity of two cultures which come into contact within an
individual. Distance is obviously used in an abstract sense, to denote dissimilar-
ity between two cultures. Schumann (1976: 136) described social distance as
consisting of a number of parameters: dominance, integration pattern, cohesive-
ness, congruence, attitude, and length of residence. Schumann used these pa-
rameters to describe hypothetically good and bad language learning situa-
tions, and illustrated each situation with two actual cross-cultural contexts.
160 TESOL Quarterly
In Schumanns hypothesis, the greater the social distance between two

cultures, the greater the difficulty the learner will have in learning the second
language, and conversely, the smaller the social distance (the greater the social
solidarity between two cultures), the easier the language learning situation. In
a later paper, Schumann (1978) summed up his hypothesis by saying that the
degree to which a learner acculturates to the target language group will control
the degree to which he acquires the second language. (p. 11).
One of the difficulties in Schumanns hypothesis of social distance is the
measurement of actual social distance. How can one determine degrees of social
distance and how can relative distances be quantified? So far, the construct
has remained a rather subjectively defined phenomenon which, like empathy,
self-esteem, and so many other psychological constructs, defies precise definition,
even though one can intuitively grasp the meaning.
4. Perceived Social Distance

The fourth puzzle piece is provided by Actons (1979) solution to Schu-
manns dilemma. Instead of dealing with actual social distance, Acton grappled
with the notion of perceived social distance, contending that it is not particularly
relevant what the actual social distance is between cultures, since what the
learner perceives forms the learners reality. It is common knowledge that per-
sons perceive the cultural environment through the filters of their own world
view, and then act upon that perception, however biased it may be. According
to Acton, when learners encounter a new culture, their acculturation process
will be a factor of how they perceive their own culture in relation to the culture
of the target language, and vice-versa. For example, objectively, there may be
a relatively large distance between Americans and Saudi Arabians, but an Amer-
ican learning Arabic in Saudi Arabia might for a number of reasons perceive
little distance, and in turn act on that perception.
By asking learners to respond to three dimensions of distance, Acton devised
a measure of perceived social distance, the Professed Difference in Attitude
Questionnaire (PDAQ), which characterized the good or successful language
learner (as measured by standard proficiency tests) with remarkable accuracy.
Basically, the PDAQ asked learners to quantify what they perceive to be the
differences in attitudes toward concepts (the automobile, divorce, socialism,
policemen, for example ) on three dimensions: 1) distance (or difference) be-
tween themselves and their countrymen in general; 2) distance between them-
selves and members of the target culture in general; and 3) distance between
their countrymen and members of the target culture. By using a semantic dif-
ferential technique, three distance scores were computed for each dimension.
Acton, found that in the case of learners of English in the United States who
had been in the country for four months, there is an ideal level of perceived
social distance that typifies the good language learner. If learners perceived
themselves as either too close to, or too distant from either the target culture
or the native culture, they fell into the category of bad language learners as
measured by standard proficiency tests. The implication is that successful lan-

guage learners see themselves as maintaining some distance between themselves
and both cultures. Unfortunately, Actons PDAQ did not predict success in lan-
guage; however, the PDAQ did contribute a quantifiable, empirical description
of a relationship between social distance and second language acquisition.
5. A Sociocultural Critical Period?

The puzzle pieces begin to fall into place. Schumann asserts the crucial
role played by social distance in second language acquisition. Actons research
on perceived social distance supports Lamberts (1967) contention that mastery
of the foreign language takes place hand in hand with feelings of anomie.
Anomie appears to be a typical symptom of the beginning of the third stage
of acculturation, where the learner has moved away from the native culture but
is still not completely assimilated or adjusted to the target culture. Together,
the four aspects of research not only lead us closer to an understanding of cul-
ture shock and the relationship of acculturation to language learning, they also
imply a rather interesting hypothesis: mastery or skillful fluency in a second
language (within the second culture ) occurs somewhere at the beginning of the
third stage of acculturation. According to such a hypothesis, language mastery
might not effectively occur before the third stage, and even more likely, learners
might not be successful in their mastery of the language if they have proceeded
beyond early stage-three without accomplishing that linguistic mastery. Stage
three may provide not only the optimal distance, but the optimal cognitive and
affective tension to produce the necessary pressure to acquire the language
pressure that is neither too overwhelming (such as that which may be typical
of stage two or culture shock) nor too weak (stage four). Language mastery
at stage, three, in turn would appear to be an instrument for progressing psy-
chologically through stage three, and finally into stage four.
According to this line of reasoning, adults who fail to master a second
language in a second culture may for a host of reasons have failed to synchronize
linguistic and cultural development. Adults who have achieved non-linguistic
means of coping in the foreign culture will pass through stage three and into
stage four with an undue number of fossilized forms of language, never achiev-
ing mastery. They have no reason to achieve mastery since they have learned
to cope without sophisticated knowledge of the language; they may have ac-
quired a sufficient number of the functions of a second language without acquir-
ing correct forms. On the other hand, persons who have achieved linguistic
mastery too early (before stage three) may be less likely to achieve healthy
acculturation and be unable to cope psychologically, even though their linguistic
skills are excellent. What I have suggested here forms the basis of the optimal
distance modela socioculturally based critical period which is independent of
the age of the learner (cf. Brown 1980: 138-139). Young children, socioculturally
resilient, without adult years of a culture-bound world view and view of them-
selves, have fewer perceptive filters to readjust, and therefore move through
162 TESOL Quarterly
stages of acculturation more quickly and of course acquire the language more
quickly. They nevertheless may move through the same four stages that adults
do. Some cases of unsuccessful child second language learning might be attri-
butable to less than optimal synchronization of stages of acculturation and stages
of language mastery.
6. Implications
The suggestion of a model based on optimal sociocultural distance is clearly
in need of supportive empirical research. The proposal is intuitively appealing
in its potential for giving further explanatory power to earlier arguments for a
critical period. Anecdotal evidenceintrospective observations of learners of
a second language in a second cultureis supportive so far. Further support
needs to be sought from a) longitudinal studies of learners with careful mea-
surement of sociocultural changes and language success, and perhaps from b)
further use of Actons PDAQ on samples of populations other than those which
Acton studied.
The limitations of the model are also evident. The optimal distance model
is restricted to second language learning in the environment of the second cul-
ture. Foreign language learning, in its technical sense, is excluded from the
model since acculturation is not a factor. (Acculturation does become pertinent
after the fact, sometimes, as in the case of learning French in the United States,
and subsequently residing in France. Such a pattern might give rise to a situa-
tion, alluded to earlier, where a person achieves linguistic mastery too soon
and, consequently, suffers in acculturation.) The learning of second languages
for political or educational purposes (such as learning English in India or the
Philippines ) in the context of the native culture also falls beyond the description
of the model. English in India, for example, appears to be taking on an lndian-
ness (Kachru 1976) which removes much of the cultural loading.
Despite its limitations, the optimal distance model applies potentially to
most cases of natural, untutored second language acquisition. In addition, im-
plications are present for classroom learning of a second language in the cultural
milieu of the second language (English as a second language in the United
States, for example ). First, perhaps the most salient implication is that adults
can learn a second language and learn it well. Teachers often assume too readily
that adults are going to have difficulty with a language; they come to expect
such, and gear classroom material accordingly. Hatch has noted:
There appears to be enough evidence to make us doubt whether the [critical period]
hypothesis is one that we as teachers or as language learners want to promote as
real. . . . Language learning is obviously possible at all ages. (1977:54)
The optimal distance model suggests that some of the difficulty that adults
experience in second language learning may be a matter of inefficient syn-
chronization of acculturation and language development.
Second, the teacher ought to recognize the learners need to proceed, at
times slowly, through the stages of acculturation, especially through stage two.
Culture shock may be a necessary step through which all learners may proceed.
Bypassing the second stage could lead to psychological disturbance and con-
sequent linguistic difficulties. A number of years ago Nostrand (1966) recom-
mended administration of careful doses of culture shock in foreign language
classrooms; the learner, thus equipped with an understanding of the differences
between two cultures, presumably steps into the shoes of members of the
foreign culture. However, Nostrand's suggestion was simplistic and unrealistic
for second language contexts. Culture shock cannot be prevented with affective
vaccinations; but teachers can play a therapeutic role in helping learners to
move through stages of acculturation. If learners are aided in this process by
sensitive and perceptive teachers, they can perhaps pass more smoothly through
the second stage and into the third stage of culture learning, and thereby in-
crease their chances for succeeding in both second language learning and second
culture learning.
It is exceedingly important that teachers allow the learner to proceed into
and through that second stage of anomie, and not to force a quick bypass. We
should not expect the learner to deny the anger, the frustration, the helplessness
and hopelessness that is often felt. These real feelings need to be openly ex-
pressed. To smother them may delay and actually prevent eventual movement
into the third stage. A teacher can help learners understand the source of their
anger and frustration, to express those feelings, and thus gradually to emerge
from those depths into a very powerful and personal form of learning.
Finally, classroom materials for second language learning can reflect the
cultural developmental process at work. Early stages of a language course should
recognize learners continuing dependency upon the native culture and insecur-
ity in the new culture. Secondary stages of the course can focus on the learners
frustration in the new culture: at this time the linguistic expression of anger
and hostility might be encouraged. Once that stage has been traversedbut
only thenshould materials expect positive attitudes of assimilation or adapta-
tion in the new culture.
Adler (1972) suggested capitalizing on the positive aspects of accultura-
tion. He referred to a cross-cultural learning experience as
a set of situations or circumstances involving intercultural communication in which
the individual, as a result of the experiences, becomes aware of his own growth,
learning and change. As a result of the culture shock process, the individual has
gained a new perspective on himself, and has come to understand his own identity
in terms significant to himself. The cross-cultural learning experience, additionally,
takes place when the individual encounters a different culture and as a result (a)
examines the degree to which he is influenced by his own culture, and (b) under-
stands the culturally derived values, attitudes and outlooks of other people. (p. 14)
Teachers of foreign languages would do well to heed Adlers words. While

certainly not every learner will find a cross-cultural experience to be totally
positive, many do derive positive values from the experience. In cases where
learning a second culture might otherwise be a negative experience, teachers
164 TESOL Quarterly
can, with the optimal distance model as a reference point, help that experience
to become one of increased cultural and self awareness as well as a successful
language learning experience.
REFERENCES
Acton, William, 1979. Second language learning and perception of difference in
attitude. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Michigan.
Adler, Peter S. 1972. Culture shock and the cross-cultural learning experience. Read-
ings in Intercultural Education 2, Pittsburgh: Intercultural Communication Net-
work.
Brown, H. Douglas. 1980. Principles of language learning and teaching. Englewood
Cliffs, N, J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Durkheim, Emile. 1897. Le suicide. Paris: F. Alcan.
Gardner, Robert, and Wallace E. Lambert. 1972. Attitudes and motivation in second
language learning. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House Publishers.
Hatch, Evelyn. 1977. Optimal age or optimal learners? UCLA Workpapers in TESL
11: 45-56.
Kachru, Braj B. 1976. Models of English for the third world: White mans burden
or language pragmatics? TESOL Quarterly 10: 221-239.
Krashen, Stephen. 1973. Lateralization, language learning, and the critical period:
Some new evidence. Language Learning 23: 63-71.
Krashen, Stephen. 1976. Formal and informal linguistic environments in language
learning. TESOL Quarterly 10: 157-168.
Lambert, Wallace E. 1967. A social psychology of bilingualism. The Journal of Social
Issues 23: 91-109.
Larson, Donald N., and William A. Smalley. 1972. Becoming bilingual: A guide to
language learning. New Canaan, Conn.: Practical Anthropology.
Lenneberg, Eric H. 1967. The biological foundations of language. New York: John
Wiley & Sons.
Nostrand, Howard L. 1966. Describing and teaching the sociocultural context of a
foreign language and literature. In Albert Valdman (Ed.), Trends in language
teaching. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co.
Oyama, Susan. 1976. A sensitive period for the acquisition of a nonnative phonological
system. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 5: 261-283.
Rosansky, Ellen J. 1975. The critical period for the acquisition of language: Some
cognitive developmental considerations. Working Papers on Bilingualism 6:92-
102.
Schumann, John. 1975. Affective factors and the problem of age in second language
acquisition. Language Learning 25: 209-235.
Schumann, John. 1976. Social distance as a factor in second language acquisition.
Language Learning 26: 135-143.
Schumann, John. 1978. The acculturation modeI for second language acquisition.
Paper delivered at the Second Language Acquisition/Foreign Language Teach-
ing Conference, Silver Spring, Maryland, March 1978.
TESOL QUARTERLY
Vol. 14, No. 2
June 1980
Requesting in Elementary School Classrooms*

Robert L. Politzer
Classes were videotaped of nineteen third-made teachers teaching a

lesson in the use of standard English negation to children who are dominantly
speakers of vernacular Black English. Verbal interactions taking place in the
classes of five teachers whose pupils scored highest (Group A), and of five
teachers whose pupils scored lowest (Group B) on a posttest (adjusted
by a pretest score) were studied. Patterns of requests performed by pupils
and teachers were observed. The frequency of teacher requests overwhelm-
ingly outweighed those of the pupils. The most common forms taken by
teacher requests were direct imperative, subject matter information questions,
and questions soliciting actions. Group A teachers used a much higher
proportion of direct imperative requests than Group B teachers. The adjusted
frequency of instruction-related imperatives significantly differentiated Group
A from Group B teachers. The findings are interpreted as leading to an
hypothesis concerning the efficiency of directive teaching in elementary
school language arts and as demonstrating the usefulness of a motivational
type of discourse as an approach to the solution of pedagogical problems.
1. Classroom Discourse and Requests

The study of the structure of discourse in the classroom is by now a rather
well-established discipline. Within the recent USA context, it has its roots in
the work done by Bellack et al. over a decade ago (Bellack et al. 1966). Their
findings (e.g., that most or all speech acts performed by teachers could be
classified as moves for the purpose of soliciting, responding, structuring, and
reacting) are in the process of being refined by sociolinguistic methodology
(Cazden, John and Hymes 1972) and the various other functions of classroom
language are being studied. A panel of linguistic experts called together by the
National Institute of Education, in a report on Teaching as a Linguistic Process
in a Cultural Setting, called for intensive studies of discourse practices, se-
quences, and strategies seen as moves in classroom interactions (Gage 1974).
In Great Britain, the concern with linguistic analysis of classroom language and
the structure of teacher and pupil discourse is perhaps even more intense than
in the USA (Barnes, Britton and Rosen 1974, Stubbs 1976). Perhaps the most
important and influential of the British works dealing specifically with classroom
discourse is Sinclair and Coulthards work entitled, Towards an Analysis - of, Dis-
* The data presented in this article were gathered in a research study conducted in the
Center for Educational Research at Stanford, supported in part by funds from the National
Institute of Education, U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The opinions
expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the position, policy, or endorsement of the
National Institute of Education (Grant No. OB-NIE-G-0112).
Mr. Politzer is a professor of the School of Education, Stanford University. He has au-
thored Linguistics and Applied Linguistics: Methods and Aims.
165
166 TESOL Quarterly
course: The English Used by Teachers and Pupils (Sinclair and Coulthard
1975). Sinclair and Coulthards findings concerning the structure of classroom
discourse are in many ways reminiscent of those of Bellack et al.: They classify
discourse exchanges into categories such as eliciting, directing, and informing.
But unlike Bellack et al. they establish a discourse analysis hierarchy of cate-
gories which, moving from the largest to the smallest unit of analysis, consists
of lesson, transaction, exchange, move, and act.
The analytical systems of Bellack et al. and Sinclair and Coulthard are
categorical. They attempt to classify all the speech acts performed by teachers
(and/or pupils) through the use of an inclusive system. This article sets itself
a more modest goal. It deals with the analysis of how one particular speech
act is performed by teachers and pupils in third grade classrooms, namely, the
forms taken by requests. In interpreting utterances as requests, the rule of valid
requests as formulated and reformulated by Labov (Labov 1970, Labov and
Fanshel 1977: 80-82) has been taken for granted: 1) There must be a need
for an action which would not occur in the absence of the request; 2) The
person to whom the request is addressed must have the ability to perform the
action; and 3) has the obligation to perform it; 4) The person making the
request has a right to tell the person to whom the request is addressed to per-
form the requested action.
2. Text Used in the Study

The analysis presented in this article is based on videotapes (and tran-
scriptions of videotapes) made in the classrooms of third grade teachers who
were asked to teach a lesson concerning the use of negation in English.
The videotaped lessons were supposed to last approximately twenty min-
utes. However, for various reasons involving equipment as well as teachers
choices concerning the lengths of the lessons, the length of videotaped lesson
segments obtained from each class varied considerably. Most of the pupils in
these classes were speakers of vernacular Black English; thus, teaching the differ-
ences between vernacular and standard forms of negation was the main goal of
the lesson. Before and after the lesson taught by the teachers, pupils in these
classes were given a test dealing with their ability to recognize and use standard
negation forms. All in all, nineteen teachers took part in the experiment with
which this report is connected. However, due to time constraints, only ten class-
rooms were chosen for detailed discourse analysis: those of the teachers whose
pupils made the highest scores (Group A: Teachers I-V) and lowest scores
(Group B: Teachers VI-X) on the adjusted posttests.
3. Classification of Requests
Upon examination, requests performed by teachers and students could be
classified into a fairly limited set of distinct categories differentiated from each
other primarily by the linguistic structures used to express the request. Teacher
requests are classifiable into the following eight categories:
Requesting 167
Category 1: Direct Imperative. This is the most obvious linguistic form of

request:
Let me finish talking, T.VI. Liz, stand, T.VII. Read it. Say it
louder, T.II. Read it with your eyes, Jake! T.III.
Category 2: Subject Matter Information Questions. As will be shown be-

low, the most frequent request performed by teachers consists of soliciting an-
swers to questions asking for information pertaining to the subject matter to
be taught. Unlike questions asked outside the classroom, they are really com-
mands to provide information already available to the questioner:
Whats another way of saying cannot? T.VI

Where is our no word in this sentence? T.II
Category 3: Action Solicitation Questions. These questions call for actions

(related either to providing subject matter information or to other kinds of
classroom activities ):
Who can tell me what a verb is? T. IX.

Will you tell me what I said on here, children? T.IV.
Anyone else want to talk about it? T.IX.
Who wants to read this sentence out loud? T.II.
Can anyone change that so it has a negative in it? T.I.
Why dont you girls move your chairs? T.VI.
The above examples show that sometimes the action solicited by this kind of
question is a reply to a subject matter information request: Who can tell me
(action solicitation) what a verb is (subject matter information)? Since the
request for supplying the information is couched in terms of who can tell me,
this type of double question was considered only an example of Category 3
and not counted in Category 2 (which includes only questions directly related
to subject matter and in which the request for supplying the information is im-
plied only in the subject matter related question itself).
Category 4: Direct Expression of Request Performative. At times, in addi-
tion to the fact that an action is to be performed, the desire of the person mak-
ing the request and/ or the obligation of the addressee to perform the request
are overtly expressed:
Now I want you to tell me which one has a negative in it, T.VI.
l wancha to come up and just stand here. . . , T.VII.
I want you to pay attention, T. VIII,
You hafta read all the answers, T.I.
Category 5: Statement Obviously Calling for Action. This category consists

of statements of factexistential assertions which have presuppositions that
imply a request for action:
168 TESOL Quarterly
None of the sentences are right; they are all wrong . . ., T.X.
I cant hear you (said to a student nonspeaking loud enough), T.VII.
Category 6: Incomplete Statement Which Teachers Expect Student to Com-

plete. At times, teachers make incomplete statements (e.g., examples of sen-
tences to be practiced); and students know from classroom ritual that they are
expected to supply a completion:
Instead of saying, should not, we say. . . . (student supply shouldnt),

T. II.
Category 7: Lets. Requests to perform actions are frequently expressed
by the formula Lets:
Lets get somebody from the Green Group (the Green Group is a
subgroup of the class, and the sentence is a request that somebody
from that group supply the answer), T.VIII.
Okay. Lets go to No. 6, T.X.
Lets fix that right now, T.IV.
Category 8: Your turn. Your turn is a way of telling a student to per-

form the action just performed by another:
I said we can repeat words as long as you dont repeat what the
person before you said. Stephen, your turn, T. IX.
Nominations carried out by simply calling the students name were not
considered as requests and were counted as instances of the request form which
preceded the nomination. Thus:
Someones got to break the tie, Diedra (T.IX) was analyzed as an
example of Category 5. Read the next one, Joey (T. IV) is an ex-
ample of Category 1.
As can be seen in Table 1, student requests occur relatively rarely; and

practically all of them fall into Categories 1, 2, or 5, mentioned above. Examples
follow :
Category 1: Direct Imperative.

Student to other student doing an exercise, Go put the window in!
Class T. IV.
Category 2: Question.
Student (calling for a turn), Can I do the next one, Miss . . . ? Class
T. IV.
Student (responding to teachers question), What did you say? Class
T.IX.
Requesting 169
Category 5: Statement Calling for Action.
Student (Class of T.IV), I cant see. (Teachers reply, Why dont

you girls move your chairs.)
Only in one instance did a pupil attempt to request a leader to perform

an action by simply calling a teachers name (S: Miss, . . . !). The reply of
the teacher was a direct imperative (request or admonition); namely, Raise
your hand, please! (T.IV). In other words, she reminded the pupil that the
expected way of initiating a request on the part of the pupil is raising ones
hand and waiting for ones turn. In this connection, it should be pointed out
that this study was concerned with verbal discourse patterns only. Thus, raising
of the hand in silence was not included among the types of pupil requests. It
did occur, of course, with some frequency but almost invariably in response to
a teachers requests of the Category 2 or 3 type.
4. Distribution of Frequencies of Request Categories

The absolute frequencies with which the different request types occurred
are shown in Table 1. The table thus indicates that pupil requests are extremely
rare. The ratio of teacher requests to pupil requests is 368/13 for Group A and
283/ 17 for Group B. Pupil requests do not occur frequently enough to allow
the drawing of any conclusion concerning the patterning or relative frequency
of request types. In the case of teacher requests, an overall patterning emerges.
In both teacher groups, request Categories 1, 2, and 3 (Imperative, Informa-
tion Questions, and Action Solicitation Questions) are clearly the most fre-
quent. Combining both groups, the information requests (Category 2) ac-
count for 240 or approximately 37% of the 651 requests recorded. Category 1
(Direct Imperative) accounts for 191 or about 29% of the total. And Category
3 (Action Solicitation Questions) number 113 or approximately 17%. In other
words Categories 1, 2, and 3 alone account for approximately 83% of all the re-
quests made by teachers.
The distribution of request types also shows a very striking difference be-
tween Group A (the five teachers whose pupils achieved the highest posttest
scores) and Group B (the five teachers whose pupils posttest scores were the -
lowest). The difference consists in the use of Category 1 requests, Direct Im-
perative. The Group A teachers used more of them than did Group B teachers
( 150 in Group A as oposed to 41 in Group B). This absolute difference (which
may possibly be influenced by irregular distribution of observed instructional
time ) is also expressed in terms of Category 1 as percentage of total requests
(Table 2): 41% of the Group A teacher requests are imperatives; only 15% of
the Group B teacher requests take the imperative form. If we rank order the
teachers observed in this study according to the percentage of Category 1 (Di-
rect Imperative) requests of total requests, we obtain the following ordering:
1. IV, 2. V, 3, I, 4. III, 5. II, 6. IX, 7. X, 8. VII, 9. VI, 10. VIII. In other words,
Requesting 171
all of the Group A teachers occupy ranks 1 through 5. All of the Group B teach-
ers are in the ranks from 6 to 10.
5. Teaching Efficiency and Direct Imperatives

The relative frequency of a particular request form, Direct Imperative,
has an evident relation to the criterion measure of teaching efficiency used in
the study from which the data examined in this article were taken. A closer
look at this relation and its possible causes seems in order.
Table 3 summarizes the most relevant data concerning the criterion meas-
ure used: namely, an adjusted posttest concerning the use of negation in Eng-
lish. The posttest consisted mainly of multiple choice items in which pupils
were either asked to recognize standard as opposed to non-standard forms, or
were required to choose the standard English completion of a partial sentence.
Individual posttest scores were adjusted by scores achieved on a pretest similar
to the posttest. Adjustment of the posttest by the pretest was based on the re-
lation between the tests shown by the regression equation in Table 3.B. Table
3.C. gives an indication of the magnitude of the difference in adjusted posttest
mean scores between A and B group teachers. The lowest mean score for an
A group teacher was 18.60 (Teacher III); the highest mean score for a B group
teacher was 15.16 (Teacher X).
TABLE 3
Criterion Measures of Teaching Efficiency
A. Pretest and Posttests Data

Pretest Posttest
172 TESOL Quarterly
Accounting for the relationship between the measure of teaching efficiency

and the use of direct imperative requests necessitates a closer look at the func-
tions served by the direct imperative. A reexamination of the transcriptions of
classroom interactions showed that the different request forms studied are only
partially paradigmatically related, i.e., substitutable for each other. As has been
pointed out by sociolinguists dealing with the quantification of sociolinguistic
data (Shuy 1977), the kind of quantification of alternatives undertaken in this
article is usually in need of an analysis which puts the data in a wider context.
Typically, the pedagogical functions of the request forms studied in this
article overlap only to some degree. To look only at the three most frequent
types: Category 2 is, of course, defined in such a way that it can be put only
to one use. However, Categories 1 and 2 partly overlap in function. Sometimes
Category 2 is used to elicit information and becomes functionally equivalent
to Category 1 (Who can tell me what a verb is? T.IX). Sometimes it is used
to direct the student to perform an activity (other than providing informa-
tion): Who wants to read this sentence out loud? T. II. In the latter function,
Category 3 overlaps often with Category I, Direct Imperative. The latter is
the category usually employed for requesting the student to perform a specific
activity. Imperatives do not provide information nor do they usually ask for
information. They direct the student to perform (or not perform) specific ac-
tions: Read it. Say it louder, T. II; Let me finish talking, T.VI.
The actions which students are requested to perform by the use of the
direct imperative can be divided into two broad subcategories: Some direct
imperatives deal with classroom management or discipline problems and are
clearly unrelated to the pedagogical goals of the lessons: Wait til I call you,
T. IV; Raise your hand, please, T. II. Others are clearly related to the instruc-
tional activities and goals of the lesson. Some request physical actions which
are related to learning activities; e.g., a teacher asks one student to smile and
another not to smile in order to illustrate negation: Tracy, smile for us; Mar-
ten, dont smile, T.VII. Most of the pedagogically relevant imperatives deal
with such activities as underlining, circling words, reading out loud, writing,
filling in blanks, etc.: Read the whole sentence, T. IV; Tonight go and ask
your parents what a negative is, T. V.; Underline the negative words first, the
no words, T. II.
Table 4 shows the absolute frequency of classroom management and in-
structional activity-related direct imperatives found in the ten lessons. It also
indicates that the overwhelming majority of direct imperatives are related to
instructional activities. The difference in the use of direct imperatives between
A and B groups of teachers is evidently not related to the imperative as a
classroom managerial device but due to its use for purposes of instruction. Since
the actual time of videotaped and transcribed classroom observations varied
from teacher to teacher, the absolute frequencies of observed instructional ac-
tivity-related imperatives were adjusted to a twenty-minute time interval:
Requesting 173
20
adjusted frequency= actual frequency x
N. of minutes of observation
TABLE 4
Frequencies of Classroom Managerial (CM) and Instructional
Activity (IA) Related Direct Imperative Requests
The adjusted as well as the actual frequencies of instructional activity related

imperatives confirm clearly the difference between A and B group teachers. A
rank ordering of teachers according to adjusted frequency of instructional ac-
tivity-related imperatives shows four of the five A group teachers in ranks 1 to
5. The lowest rank of an A group teacher is 6. The higest rank of a B group
teacher is 5. A Kruskal-Wallis X-square approximation test of significance of
rank orders (Roscoe 1969: 304-306) indicates that the probability of such a dif-
ference occuring due to chance is approximately p. = 0.02.
The above finding must, of course, be interpreted as a strong suggestion
of an hypothesis, rather than a proof. It is due to a post-hoc examination of
data, not an analysis that set out to prove an hypothesis directly related to
efficient teaching behaviors. The finding does indicate, however, that the use
of the direct instructional imperative is a rather sensitive indicator of a teach-
ing activity that is highly structured, directive, and student activity centered.
That this kind of teaching may be particularly effective in teaching language
artsperhaps especially to minority studentshas indeed been suggested by
other studies (Becker 1977). Among the group of teachers observed in this
study, the frequency of the use of direct imperative was, indeed, an indicator
of the fast-paced activities of the drill-type which according to a well-known
174 TESOL Quarterly
authority in research in teaching is among the teacher-shoulds that can be

deduced from the results of current pedagogical research (Gage 1978).
6. Discourse Analyses and Teaching

We hope that this study has demonstrated the usefulness of discourse analy-
sis categories and procedures for the investigation of pedagogical problems. The
approach taken in this article suggests that the type of discourse analysis useful
for pedagogical purposes should perhaps be motivational, rather than struc-
tural (Humphrey 1978).
The type of discourse analysis employed by Sinclair and Coulthard (1975)
emphasizes the segmentation of discourse into hierarchically related patterns.
This segmentation process can be undertaken with a more objective than sub-
jective interpretation of the speakers motives. The pedagogical usefulness of
the findings, however, will require an approach that may, indeed, be more
speculative, but that also ties units of analysis more closely to the classroom.
The Sinclair-Coulthard model of describing classroom language may have to
be replaced by, or at least combined with, a sociolinguistics based on the social
interpretation of language and meaning (Halliday 1978).
REFERENCES
Barnes, D., J. Britton, H. Rosen. 1974. Language, the learner and the school (rev.
ed.). Middlesex, England: Penguin Education.
Becker, W. C. 1977. Teaching reading and language to the disadvantagedwhat we
have learned from field research, Harvard Educational Review 47: 518-543.
Bellack, A. A., T. M. Kliebard, R. T. Hyman, and F. L. Smith. 1966. The language
of the class-room. New York: Teachers College Press.
Cazden, C. V. J., V. P. John, D. Hymes. 1972. Function of language in the class-
room. New York: Teachers College Press.
Gage, N. L. (Ed.). 1974. NIE conference on studies in teaching, panel 5: Teaching
as a linguistic process in a cultural setting. Washington, D, C.: National Institute
of Education.
Gage, N. L. 1978. The scientific basis of the art of teaching. New York: Teachers
College Press.
Halliday, M. A. K. 1978. Language as a social semiotic: the social interpretation of
language and meaning. London: Edward Arnold Publishers, Ltd.
Humphrey, F. 1978. Structural versus motivational analyses of discourse, ERIC/CLL
News Bulletin.
Labov, W. 1970. The study of language in social context. Studium Generale 23: 30-87.
Labov, W., D. Fanshel. 1977. Therapeutic discourse: psychotherapy as conversation.
New York: Academic Press.
Roscoe, J. T. 1969. Fundamental research statistics for the behavioral sciences. New
York: HoIt, Rinehart and Winston.
Shuy, R. W. 1977. Quantitative language data: a case for and some warnings against.
Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 8: 73-82.
Sinclair, J. McH. and R. M. Coulthard. 1975. Towards an analysis of discourse: The
English used by teachers and pupils. London: Oxford University Press.
Stubbs, M. 1976. Language, schools and classroom. London: Methuen.
TESOL QUARTERLY
Vol. 14, No. 2
June 1980
The Cross-Lingual Dimensions of Language

Proficiency: Implications for Bilingual Education
and the Optimal Age Issue*
Jim Cummins
It is argued that a dimension of cognitive/academic language proficiency

(CALP) can be empirically distinguished from interpersonal communicative
skills such as accent and oral fluency in both L1 and L2, and that cognitive/
academic proficiencies in both L1 and L2 are manifestations of the same
underlying dimension. This analysis of language proficiency and its cross-
lingual dimensions is applied to the interpretation of data on the effects of
bilingual education programs and on the age issue in second language learn-
ing.
A clarification of the concept of language proficiency and its cross-lingual

dimensions can help resolve a variety of issues related to bilingualism and sec-
ond language learning. I argue that a dimension of cognitive/academic language
proficiency can be empirically distinguished from interpersonal communicative
skills such as accent, oral fluency and sociolinguistic competence in both first
and second languages (L1 and L2), and that cognitive/academic proficiencies
in both L1 and L2 are manifestations of the same underlying dimension. Then
the extent to which this concept of language proficiency can clarify the inter-
pretation of research on the issues of age and second language learning and
bilingual education is examined.
1. Language Proficiency
The issue of what exactly constitutes proficiency in a language and how
to measure it is currently a controversial one in the United States where mi-
nority language children are often assigned to bilingual or English-only class-
rooms on the basis of tests of language dominance whose validity is question-
able at best. In many respects the issues are analogous to those in the debate
regarding the psychometric nature of intellectual ability, where the Spearman-
Burt general factor model is opposed by the Guilford structure of intellect
model in which 120 specific factors or abilities can be theoretically distin-
guished (Jensen 1970).
* This paper was made possible by a grant from the Canadian Ethnic Studies Committee.
An earlier version was presented at the Fourth Boston University Conference on Language
Development, September, 1979. I would like to thank Maria Brisk, Bruce Fraser, Merrill Swain,
and Dr. E. N. Wright for their comments and suggestions.
Mr. Cummins, currently a Visiting Professor in the Modern Language Centre, The On-
tario Institute for Studies in Education, is engaged in research on trilingualism in minority
language children and on age and immigrant language learning.
175
176 TESOL Quarterly
The linguistic equivalent of Guilford's (1967) model is proposed by Her-

nandez-Chavez, Burt and Dulay (1978), who argue that language proficiency
involves multiple factors along three distinct parameters: 1) the linguistic com-
ponents, 2) modality, and 3) sociolinguistic performance. The linguistic com-
ponents include phonology, syntax, semantics and lexicon; modality involves
comprehension and production through the oral channel and reading and writ-
ing through the written channel; sociolinguistic performance involves the di-
mensions of style, function, variety and domain. Thus, the Hernandez-Chavez
et al. model gives rise to a three dimensional matrix representing 64 separate
proficiencies, each of which, hypothetically at least, is independently measur-
able.
The other extreme is represented by Ollers (1978, 1979; Oller & Perkins
1978) claim that there exists a global language proficiency factor which ac-
counts for the bulk of the reliable variance in a wide variety of language pro-
ficiency measures (1978: 413). This factor is strongly related to IQ and to other
aspects of academic achievement and is about equally well measured by listen-
ing, speaking, reading and writing tasks. Oller (1979) does allow for the possi-
bility that, in addition to the global proficiency factor which represents the
central core of language proficiency, there may be unique variances attributable
to specific components of language skills.
Ollers general position is supported by a large body of research showing
high correlations between literacy skills and general intellectual skills. Verbal
intellectual skills are more strongly related to reading than nonverbal ones. For
example, Strang (1945) reported correlations of .41-.46 between nonverbal abil-
ities and reading and of .80-.84 between verbal abilities and reading.
AS in the controversy regarding the nature of intelligence, the major issue
is not which conception of language proficiency is correct but rather which is
more useful for different purposes. In the context of the data on the age ques-
tion in second language learning and on bilingual education, it will be argued
that the general approach taken by Oller to the concept of language proficiency
is more useful than that proposed by Hernandez-Chavez et al. However, it is
possible to distinguish a convincing weak form and a less convincing strong
form of Ollers arguments. The weak form is that there exists a dimension of
language proficiency which can be assessed by a variety of reading, writing,
listening and speaking tests and which is strongly related both to general cog-
nitive skills (Spearmans g) and to academic achievement. The strong form
is that this dimension represents the central core (in an absolute sense) of all
that is meant by proficiency in a language. The difficulty with this strong posi-
tion is immediately obvious when one considers that, with the exception of
severely retarded and autistic children, everybody acquires basic interpersonal
communicative skills in a first language regardless of IQ or academic aptitude.
Also, the sociolinguistic aspects of communicative competence appear unlikely
Cross-Lingual Dimensions 177
to be reducible to a global proficiency dimension (see Canale & Swain 1979,

Tucker 1979).
For these reasons, I prefer to use the term cognitive/academic language
proficiency (CALP) in place of Ollers global language proficiency. CALP is
defined as those aspects of language proficiency which are closely related to
the development of literacy skills in L1 and L2. Basic interpersonal communica-
tive skills (BICS) in L1 such as accent, oral fluency, and sociolinguistic com-
petence may be independent of CALP for a variety of reasons and it is not
being suggested that these latter skills represent a unitary dimension. For ex-
ample, some of these linguistic skills are presumably universal across native
speakers (e.g. phonology, basic competence in a Chomskian sense), while in-
dividual differences in others appear to be unrelated to cognitive and academic
skills (e.g., oral fluency).
Several investigators have made distinctions similar to those between BICS
and CALP. Krashen (1978), for example, in discussing the Words in Sentences
subtest of the Modern Language Aptitude Test (Carroll & Sapon, 1959) notes
that this subtest involves a concious awareness of language and grammar,
quite different from the tacit knowledge or competence Chomsky (1965) claims
all native speakers have of their language (1978: 9). Similarly, it has been
reported by Wells (1979), on the basis of a large-scale longitudinal study of
preschool language development, that there is only a weak relationship between
measures of childrens performance on language tests administered under con-
trolled conditions and developmental measures derived from spontaneous
speech. Wells also reports that measures of oral language ability derived from
spontaneous speech on entry to school were only weakly related to attainment
in reading at age 7.
Hernandez-Chavez et al. have also distinguished between natural com-
munication tasks and linguistic manipulation tasks which, they report, give
quite different results in terms of the quality of the language produced (1978:
52). Although CALP is likely to be more readily assessed by linguistic manipula-
tion tasks (oral or written cloze, repetition etc.), it should not be assumed that
it cannot also be assessed by means of natural communication tasks. Studies
have shown that certain aspects of oral discourse are related to reading but
others are not (e.g. Fry 1967). If the purpose of language proficiency assess-
ment is to assign bilingual children to classes taught through the language in
which they are most capable of learning, it is essential that these measures
assess CALP. Thus, if natural communication tasks do not assess CALP, their
relevance to the educational performance of bilingual children under linguis-
tically different conditions can be questioned.
There exists a reliable dimension of proficiency in a first language which
is strongly related to cognitive skills and which can be empirically distinguished
from interpersonal communicative skills such as oral fluency, accent, and socio-
linguistic competence. The relationships between CALP, general language pro-
ficiency, cognitive skills, and educational progress are presented in Figure 1.
178 TESOL Quarterly
FIGURE 1
Relationship of CALP to Language Proficiency, Cognitive
and Memory Skill and Educational Progress
Language Cognitive and

Proficiency Memory Skills
Major Determinant of
Educational Progress
2. The Existence of a CALP Dimension in L2

Genesee (1979) tested anglophone students in grades 4, 7 and 11 in French
immersion and core French programs in Montreal on a battery of French lan-
guage tests. He reported that although IQ was strongly related to the develop-
ment of academic French language skills (reading, grammar, vocabulary, etc. )
it was, with one exception, unrelated to ratings of French oral productive skills
at any grade level. The exception was pronunciation at the grade 4 level which
was significantly related to IQ. Listening comprehension (measured by a stan-
dardized test) was significantly related to IQ only at the grade 7 level.
Ekstrand's (1977) data from an immigrant language learning situation show
a similar trend: IQ (as measured by the PMA R Factor) correlated .41-.46
with reading comprehension, dictation and free writing and .22-.27 with listen-
ing comprehension, free oral production, and pronunciation. The distinction
between CALP and interpersonal communicative skills is also consistent with
the findings of Skutnabb-Kangas and Toukomaa (1976) that, although parents,
teachers and the children themselves considered Finnish immigrant childrens
Swedish to be quite fluent, tests in Swedish which required cognitive opera-
tions to be carried out showed that this surface fluency was not reflected in the
cognitive/academic aspects of Swedish proficiency.
The extent to which any particular language measure is tapping CALP is
an empirical question which can be answered by correlational techniques. For
example, measures purporting to assess oral language skills may have very little
in common; oral cloze tests are much more likely to be good measures of CALP
than are fluency (words per minute) or subjective ratings of oral skills (Streiff
1978). Other factors which might influence the composition of a CALP dimen-
sion in an L2 context are related to the language learning situation. For ex-
ample, pronunciation ability or syntactic development may load on a CALP
factor when the L2 is taught as a subject in a formal classroom setting, but
not when L2 is being acquired through interaction with native speakers in the
environment. Thus, a CALP factor in an L2 context may encompass a different
variety of tasks than in an L1 context. At this stage, however, the exact compo-
sition of a CALP dimension in either L1 or L2 is an empirical question.
3. Interdependence of CALP Across Languages

Oller does not consider in detail the question of whether his global lan-
gauge proficiency factor underlies an individuals performance in different lan-
guages. However, other investigators have hypothesized that the cognitive/
academic aspects of L1 and L2 are interdependent and that the development
of proficiency in L2 is partially a function of the level of L1 proficiency at the
time when intensive exposure to L2 is begun (Cummins 1979a, Skutnabb-
Kangas & Toukomaa 1976). Because L1 and L2 CALP are manifestations of
the same underlying dimension, previous learning of literacy-related functions
of language (in L1) will predict future learning of these functions (in L2).
If the interdependence hypothesis is valid then L1 and L2 CALP should
relate strongly to each other and show a similar pattern of correlations with
other variables such as verbal and nonverbal ability. Evidence supporting this
prediction from nine recent studies is presented in Cummins (1979b). In these
studies the correlations between L1 and L2 ranged from .77 to .42, with the
majority in the range .6 to .7. In addition, L1 and L2 showed a very similar pat-
tern of correlations with language aptitude and IQ variables. For example, the
relationships between both L1 and L2 verbal IQ or language aptitude measures
were usually in the .6 to .7 range while those between L1 and L2 and non-
verbal IQ tended to be in the .4 to .5 range.
Ekstrand has also reviewed several studies which investigated the rela-
tionships between L1 and L2 and, although the correlations in these studies are
generally lower than in those reviewed in Cummins (1979b), probably due to
larger sample size, his conclusion is basically the same: The correlations . . .
between second language variables and intelligence are in the range .20 to .50.
This range is the same as for correlations between L1 and L2 variables (1978:
24-25).
These findings suggest that measures of the cognitive/academic aspects
of L1 and L2 are assessing the same underlying dimension to a similar degree.
However, these relationships do not exist in an affective or experiential vacuum
and there are several factors which might reduce the relationships between
L1 and L2 measures of CALP in comparison to those between intralanguage
(L1-L1, L2-L2) measures. For example, when motivation to learn L2 (or main-
tain L1) is low, CALP will not be applied to the task of learning L2 (or main-
taining L1). The interdependence hypothesis also presupposes adequate ex-
posure to both languages.
The conceptualization of the cognitive/academic aspects of language pro-
ficiency in terms of a unified dimension which underlies performance in both
L1 and L2 gives rise to two predictions regarding the issues of bilingual edu-
180 TESOL Quarterly
cation and age and L2 learning. In relation to bilingual education, it is pre-

dicted that to the extent that instruction in LX is effective in promoting cogni-
tive/academic proficiency in LX, transfer of this proficiency to Ly will occur
provided there is adequate exposure to Ly (either in school or environment)
and adequate motivation to learn Ly. In relation to age and L2 learning it is
predicted that older learners, whose CALP is better developed, will acquire
cognitive/academic L2 skills more rapidly than younger learners; however, this
will not necessarily be the case for those aspects of L2 proficiency unrelated to
CALP. The research data related to both of these issues will be reviewed in
order to assess the extent to which these predictions are supported.
4. Age and L2 Learning

An examination of the considerable number of studies relating age to L2
learning supports the prediction made above. These studies have consistently
shown a clear advantge for older learners in mastery of L2 syntax and mor-
phology as well as in the cognitive/academic types of L2 skills measured by
conventional standardized tests (Appel 1979, Burstall, Hargreaves, Cohen &
Jamieson 1974, Ekstrand 1977, Ervin-Tripp 1974, Fathman 1975, Genesee &
Morcos 1978, Skutnabb-Kangas & Toukomaa 1976, Snow & Hoefnagel-Hhle
1978).
The findings are less clear in aspects of L2 proficiency directly related to
communicative skills, such as oral fluency, phonology and listening comprehen-
sion (Asher & Price 1967, Asher & Garcia 1969, Ekstrand 1977, Fathman 1975,
Oyama 1976, 1978, Seliger, Krashen & Ladefoged 1975, Snow & Hoefnagel
Hhle 1978). For example, Oyama (1976, 1978) reported an advantage for
younger immigrant learners (6-10 years old on arrival) on both productive
phonology and listening comprehension tests, whereas Snow and Hoefnagel-
Hhle (1978) found that older learners performed better on measures of these
skills. Ekstrand (1977) reports that oral production was the only variable on
which older immigrant learners did not perform significantly better than
younger learners. In areas such as listening comprehension the findings may
well depend upon the measurement procedures used. A cautious generalization
from these findings is that oral fluency and accent are the areas where older
learners most often do not show an advantage over younger learners. The pre-
diction which follows from the present theoretical framework is that given suf-
ficient exposure to the L2 and motivation to learn L2, older learners will per-
form better than younger learners on any measure that loads on a CALP factor,
The only clear exception to the trend for older learners to perform better
on measures of cognitive/academic L2 skills is the Ramsey and Wright (1974,
also Wright and Ramsey, 1970) study of over 1200 immigrant students in the
Toronto school system who were learning English as a second language. Ramsey
and Wright reported that students who arrived in Canada at age 6 to 7 or
younger suffered no academic handicap on measures of English language skills
in relation to grade norms for the Toronto system, but for those who arrived at
older ages there was a clear negative relationship between age on arrival (AOA)
and performance. However, a reanalysis of these data (Cummins 1979c) sug-
gests that this negative relationship can be largely accounted for by length of
residence (LOR). This reanalysis will be briefly considered because it illus-
trates clearly the extent to which older learners acquire cognitive/academic L2
skills more rapidly than younger learners.
First, these findings do not necessarily contradict those of other studies,
since Ramsey and Wrights conclusions are based on standard scores whereas
most of the other studies have compared older and younger learners in terms
of absolute (raw) scores. Thus, older learners may learn more L2 in absolute
terms but still be further behind grade norms in comparison to younger learners.
Based on the data presented in Wright and Ramsey (1970) and Ramsey and
Wright (1972) it is possible to compare the progress of older and younger L2
learners in terms of both standard and absolute scores, with length of residence
controlled.
The language tests administered in the Toronto Board of Education survey
on which the Ramsey and Wright study is based consisted of a Picture Voca-
bulary Test (PVT) derived from the Ammons Picture vocabulary Test and a
six part test of English language skills developed by the Board for the survey.
Since the pattern of results for the six part language test is similar to those
for the PVT (Cummins 1979c) only the PVT results will be considered here.
Twenty-five percent of the grades 5, 7 and 9 classrooms were sampled in
the survey and the sub-sample of students born outside Canada who learned
English as a second language was broken down according to AOA. The charac-
teristics of these students are presented in Table 1.
TABLE 1
Age on Arrival and Length of Residence of
Non-English Speaking Immigrant Sample (N = 1210)
(Adapted from Wright and Ramsey, Note 9, Tables 2, 3, & 4)
AOA A. GRADE 9 B. GRADE 7 C. GRADE 5 MEAN
N LOR N LOR N LOR LOR
Wright and Ramsey do not present any information on LOR; however, given
the grade level of the student and the AOA, it is possible to approximate LOR.
For example, if we assume that the average age of grade 5 students is 11 years,
182 TESOL Quarterly
then those who arrived in Canada at AOA 0-1 have an LOR of approximately
11 years; those who arrived at AOA 2-3 have an LOR of 9 years, etc. It is pos-
sible to work out the average LOR for each AOA group by weighting the LOR
by the N across grade levels. It is clear that LOR decreases linearly as AOA
increases.
The data presented in Table 1 also show how LOR and AOA can be dis-
entangled. For example, groups in cells Cl, B2 and A3 have the same LOR
(11 years) but different AOA. Data presented by Wright and Ramsey (1970)
for the different AOA groups in grades 5, 7 and 9 on the PVT (Figure 1, p. 11)
allow the standard scores of the groups which have the same LOR but different
AOA to be compared (e.g., Cl, B2, A3; C2, B3, A4, etc.). This comparison is
presented in Figure 2.
FIGURE 2
Age on Arrival, Length of Residence, and PVT Standard Scores
Figure 2 shows that on only one of the six comparisons (LOR:5) is there
a linear decrease in PVT standard scores with increasing AOA when LOR is
controlled. However, it is clear that LOR has a large effect especially up to
LOR 5.
However, although the negative relationship between AOA and performance
after AOA 6 appears to be due primarily to LOR, AOA does appear to have
subtle effects on the rapidity with which the L2 learners approach grade norms.
For example, Figure 2 shows that those who arrived at age 6-7 made somewhat
more rapid progress towards grade norms than those who arrived at either age
4-5 or 8-9. For example, the 6-7 AOA group with an LOR of 5 were somewhat
closer to grade norms than the 4-5 AOA group with an LOR of 7. Also, there
is a sharp decline in scores at both LOR 5 and 7 between AOA 6-7 and 8-9.
Thus, the AOA 6-7 highlighted by Ramsey and Wright (1974) as a critical age
does appear to have some importance in terms of progression towards grade
norms.
The data presented in Figure 2 show that, with the exception of 8-9 AOA
group (in comparison to 6-7 AOA group), older learners make almost as rapid
progress towards grade norms as younger learners. One would expect, however,
that in order to do this the older learners would have learned more in absolute
terms than the younger learners (compare, for example, the L1 vocabulary of a
12 year old with that of a six year old). This expectation is confirmed in Figure 3
which presents the absolute PVT scores for the groups.
FIGURE 3
Age on Arrival, Length of Residence, and PVT Raw Scores
The absolute scores were derived from the means and standard deviations
(SD) for the grades 5, 7 and 9 total samples presented by Ramsey and Wright
(1974). If we take group C3 in Table 1 (LOR 7, AOA 4-5) as an example, its
standard score on the PVT is .30; the grade 5 PVT SD is 5.31 and the mean
is 27.85; therefore, the PVT score for this group is 26.3.
Two findings emerge very clearly from Figure 3. First, within each LOR
level there is a linear increase in absolute PVT score with AOA; second, within
each AOA level there is a linear increase in absolute PVT score with LOR.
It is also possible to compare the rates at which students of different ages
acquire vocabulary. For example, those who arrived at 14-15 acquire more
English vocabulary (as measured by the PVT) in one year than those who
184 TESOL Quarterly
arrive at 4-5 acquire in 7 years (27.1 vs 26.3). The AOA 14-15 group, however,
is 1.6 unit normal deviates below the grade mean compared to .30 for the AOA
4-5 group.
The reanalysis of the Ramsey and Wright data is consistent with the find-
ings of other studies and with the present theoretical framework in showing
that older L2 learners, whose L1 CALP is better developed, manifest L2 cogni-
tive/academic proficiency more rapidly than younger learners because it already
exists in the L1 and is therefore available for use in the new context. Recent
evaluations of bilingual education programs for both minority and majority
language students also support the hypothesis that L1 and L2 CALP are inter-
dependent.
4. Bilingual Education and CALP

The success of French immersion programs for majority language anglo-
phone children in Canada and elsewhere is well documented (see, for example,
Swain 1978) and need not be considered in detail. Briefly, evaluations have
consistently shown that children instructed mainly through French in the early
grades suffer no adverse academic or cognitive consequences and catch up with
regular program comparison groups in English language skills shortly after
formal English language arts are introduced (usually about grade 2 or 3). Many
investigators have remarked on the rapid transfer of reading skills from French
to English (e.g., Genesee 1979, Lambert & Tucker 1972). This transfer is clearly
what would be predicted on the basis of the interdependence hypothesis.
Evaluations of bilingual education programs for minority language chil-
dren demonstrate a very similar transfer of language skills across languages.
For example, several studies involving minority francophone students in Canada
show that instruction through French (L1) is just as effective in promoting
English proficiency as instruction through English. Carey and Cummins (1979)
reported that grade 5 children from French-speaking home backgrounds in the
Edmonton Catholic School System bilingual program (80% French, 20% English,
from K-12) performed at an equivalent level in English skills to anglophone
children of the same IQ in either the bilingual or regular English programs.
A similar finding is reported in a large-scale study carried out by Hbert et al.
(1976) among grades 3, 6 and 9 francophone students in Manitoba. At all
grade levels there was a significant positive relationship between percentage
of instruction in French (PIF) and French achievement, but no relationship
between PIF and English achievement. In other words, francophone students
receiving 80% instruction in French and 20% instruction in English did just as
well in English as students receiving 80% instruction in English and 20% in
French.
The findings of a longitudinal evaluation of the bilingual program for
Navajo students at Rock Point (Rosier & Farella 1976) in which all initial
literacy skills were taught in Navajo, showed that by grades 5 and 6, students
were performing at the National U.S. norm in English reading. Prior to the
institution of the bilingual program, students at Rock Point were two years
below the norm in English reading despite intensive ESL instruction in the
school. Troike (1978) has reviewed findings from other bilingual programs
which showed that minority students performed as well or better in English
skills compared to students in English-only programs.
In these programs for minority language children as well as in immersion
programs for majority children, instruction through the minority language has
been effective in promoting proficiency in both languages. These findings sup-
port the interdependence hypothesis; in both instances the instruction is effective
in promoting CALP which will manifest itself in both languages, given adequate
motivation and exposure to both languages either in school or wider environ-
ment. Because the majority language is the language of the streets and of T.V.
there is usually no lack of exposure or motivation to acquire it. However, the
converse of these instructional conditions (e.g., L2-only instruction for minority
children) will usually not result in full bilingual proficiency because of factors
such as low motivation to develop L1 (or L2 for majority children) or lack of
exposure to literate uses of L1.
Four points have thus been made: 1) CALP is a reliable dimension of
individual differences which is central to scholastic success and which can be
empirically distinguished from interpersonal communicative skills in both L1
and L2; 2) The same dimension underlies cognitive academic proficiency in
both L1 and L2, i.e., L1 and L2 CALP are interdependent; 3) Older learners
acquire L2 CALP more rapidly than younger learners because their L1 CALP
is better developed; and 4) To the extent that instruction through Lx is effective
in developing L x CALP, it will also develop LY CALP provided there is
adequate exposure LY and motivation to learn LY since the same dimension
underlies performance in both languages.
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TESOL Quarterly 10: 379-388.
Seliger, H. W., S. D. Krashen & P. Ladefoged. 1975. Maturational constraints in the
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Evidence from second language learning. Child Development 49: 1114-1128.
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TESOL QUARTERLY
Vol. 14, No. 2
June 1980
Second Language Reading and Testing in

Bilingual Education
Barbara Murphy
This article points out the fallacy of those bilingual programs which
assume that students can understand and verbally manipulate concepts in a
second language if they have been taught the concepts in their native tongue.
The author cities more realistic assumptions based on research in language
acquisition and the reading process to provide guidelines for teaching ESL
in bilingual elementary school settings. The guidelines stress the need for
experiences in the second language which allow students to think in that
language, and offer viable criteria for assessing progress without the use
of standardized tests for English speaking students.
An annotated list of Language Experience Approaches (LEA) is at-
tached to the bibliography for teachers interested in examining such programs.
The Lau v. Nichols Supreme Court Decision (1974) mandates that:

Where inability to speak and understand the English language excludes national
origin-minority group children from effective participation in the educational pro-
gram offered by a school district, the district must take affirmative steps to rectify
the language deficiency in order to open its instructional program to these students.
The Task Force Findings Specifying Remedies Available for Eliminating
Past Educational Practices Ruled Unlawful Under Lau v. Nichols, published
by the Office for Civil Rights cites bilingual education as one viable means
of meeting the legal mandate. However, there are no comprehensive precedents
for guiding minority language students to competency in the national language
of instruction, none, certainly, which can be applied without alteration to par-
ticular language groups.
No matter how bilingual education is defined in emerging programs, the
definition must encompass the notion that instruction takes place in two lan-
guages. Support for bilingual education assumes that minority language children
will learn basic academic concepts in their native tongue while they are learn-
ing English as a second language. In this way, so the assumption goes, the
concepts will not be lost to the students in their efforts to comprehend them in
an unfamiliar language. This does not alter the fact that it takes time to learn
a second language. Nor does it imply that the length of time is reduced in any
way by learning in two languages.
Ms. Murphy is assistant professor in the Education Department of Muhlenberg College,
Pennsylvania, and has worked with bilingual agencies in Detroit, Kenshasa, Zaire, and the
Navajo Reservation.
189
190 TESOL Quarterly
1. Unrealistic Expectations of ESL Programs in Bilingual Education

The danger of using bilingual education to provide meaningful schooling
while strengthening English language skills lies in timing and in evaluation
procedures. Too much, too soon, may be expected of bilingual programs. Many
bilingual programs propose to measure their adequacy by testing children with
national standardized achievement tests. When this is done too early in the
program, the research, which inspired the Task Force Findings to proffer
bilingual education as a means of providing meaningful instruction, is twisted
to serve the very evil such education purports to remedy. Knowledge gained in
one language can not be measured in another until the student is proficient in
the second. Certainly, proficiency does not occur in a single academic year
the duration of some bilingual programs.
Proposals for bilingual education which measure a programs worth by
such standardized tests may be based on inadequate information or unrealistic
goals. Whatever the case, they swell the Title VII Bilingual Education files and
they are funded. Some bilingual programs teach in the minority language for
a year or two and then place second grade students in an all English classroom
using all English second grade reading materials. These children will have re-
ceived only limited instruction in English. Their reading skills will have only
barely begun in their native language. Nonetheless, they will be tested in En-
glish with standardized instruments prepared for native speakers of English.
Some bilingual programs use standardized reading and math tests, such as the
California Achievement Tests, as evaluation measures at the end of the first
year of bilingual instruction.
Such programs can only encourage criticism from detractors of bilingual
education and, worse, can only engender failure of the goals to which they
aspire. Bilingual programs do not need to be evaluated by inappropriate instru-
ments. Enough reliable research exists on second language acquisition and on
reading to design bilingual programs based on realistic goals and to measure
them by appropriate standards.
2. Reading and Bilingual Education
School success depends upon an ability to read in the national language
of instruction. And success in reading is dependent upon oral language develop-
ment (Loban 1963). What is known about both of these processes can be
applied to all programmatic decisionsincluding testingin bilingual educa-
tion.
Interestingly enough, two principles are recorded in nearly all bilingual
program proposals: 1) no child should be taught reading in the second language
until s/he is ready, and 2) readiness to read in the second language must be
a primary component of bilingual instruction. Unfortunately, many of these
same proposals then go on to state that the particular minority language group
children addressed will, in fact, read in English by the end of the first grade.
Educators know that few native speakers of English actually achieve reading
Bilingual Reading and Testing 191
by the end of the first grade so it is preposterous to expect non-native speakers

to do so.
If reading readiness is truly a part of the ESL component in bilingual
education, children begin to read in the second language without formal intro-
duction to the process, and they do so at their own pace. For some second
language children, this may not take place until their third or fourth year of
school (Simpson-Tyson 1978). During those three or four years, the children are
gaining proficiency in using the syntax of English through their development of
concepts in that language. This is so whether instruction in the vernacular can
span those years or not. Many of the minority language groups, such as the
various Native American populations, simply do not have the teachers or the
materials to carry on instruction in the native language beyond a year or two.
3. Assumptions to guide oral language development

If from the beginning the ESL component of bilingual education is de-
voted to the oral development requisite for reading, it can continue to do so
after major instruction in the content areas has ceased or decreased in the
vernacular. There need be no loss to the students in their acquisition of con-
tent area skills. Materials and methods ahead y exist which can be utilized to
this end. Both are derived from assumptions in cognitive psychology and
developmental linguistics. The assumptions in brief: 1) Language is used to
conceptualize and is developed through conceptualizing with it (Piaget 1954,
Vygotsky 1962, Halliday 1975, Smith 1977). 2) Conceptualization is dependent
upon sensory-motor experiences and upon encounters with concrete objects and
situations (Piaget 1973, Vygotsky 1962). 3) Language use is developed, rather
than acquired wholesale. The developmental process appears to require hy-
pothesizing incorrect syntactical rules before arriving at correct ones (C. Chom-
sky 1969, Burt and Dulay 1975). 4) Adults guide the process of language devel-
opment by interacting with children and responding to their meaning (Vygotsky
1962, Bernstein 1971, Halliday 1973, Cook 1973). When these assumptions are
applied to the ESL component of bilingual education, certain programmatic
implications must follow, no matter what the instruction consists of in the native
language.
4. The assumptions applied to curriculum design

Second language students are introduced to the second language through
acquiring a basic, necessary vocabulary, such as teachers names, names of
objects used in the classroom, words and phrases to express needs. They are,
in short, equipped with the vocabulary one needs to move about on foreign
terrain (Saville-Troike 1976).
Ensuing vocabulary and syntax are learned through manipulating materials
and through planned experiences. No child knows that two and two equal
four from simply hearing that equation stated in any language. Some knowl-
edge of what one means by saying two or writing 2 must underlie the
192 TESOL Quarterly
language and symbols used. All children learn such meanings by touching
and moving objects, by seeing for themselves what the symbols mean.
Classification, sequencing, comparing, seeing relationships, making gen-
eralizations and judgments are cognitive skills which individuals express in
language only after they experience them on other levels. They are the skills
which govern any discipline (some would argue that they govern all thought),
and they are developed orally as children engage in them through experiential
investigations of various disciplines.
5. Integrating cognitive skills with language skills

The process of integrating cognitive skill development with language ac-
quisition is less difficult than it may appear. The cognitive operations expressed
in the language of math offer an excellent illustration of how the integration
is achieved. No math series exists today which does not list suggestions for
using manipulative materials specifically designed to teach children the language
of mathematics by physically involving them in the concepts of mathematics.
ESL and classroom teachers need only know about the skills to be gained and
practiced, set up the activities designed to explore them, use the language
necessary to the investigation, and encourage the children to use that language
as they work.
Manipulative materials and experiential activities are also well developed
in the area of science. Experiments suggested by Elementary Science Study
(ESS), for example, provide second language learners with the opportunity to
succeed in working through important concepts of heuristic investigation as they
learn the language which accompanies their knowing.
In using such materials, it is paramount that teachers recognize the fourth
assumption, cited earlier, that children learn through interaction with an adult,
who serves as model and who responds to the child's meaning. Teachers who
use such materials must focus on meaning in their exchanges with students.
The child who says, I put two blue square in here, is working through a
problem of logic and a linguistic pattern. If the teacher sees two blue squares
in the designated set, the response to the meaning of the childs statement while
modeling the correct pattern can be: Thats right. You did. You put the two
blue squares in the set of blue blocks.
If these kinds of experiential activities are in the native language com-
ponent as well, so much the better. Problem-solving skills can be strengthened
only by performing them in two languages. Children in bilingual programs
should greatly benefit from exploring concepts in varied situations in two lan-
guages (Willink 1973).
Basic subject matter skills are easily delineated in the primary curriculum.
Curriculum developers should learn what skills standardized tests in math in-
dicate children should know at certain grade levels, and test their acquisition
through instruments which do not require reading in the second language.
Neither native speakers nor second language learners can be expected to
learn the meaning of concepts as they read them. Children simply do not learn
concepts and reading simultaneously (Smith 1978: 188). Even when decoding
skills are perfected, even when syntax is mastered, no one can understand a text
whose concepts have no meaning for them.
The concepts of the disciplines are learned as a prerequisite to reading.
Their acquisition can and should be tested by behavioral objectives: if a child
consistently adds two digit numerals correctly in playing store or in seat work
designed to test that skill, then it can be recorded that the skill is acquired and
demonstrated. Language development can be charted in much the same way.
If a child represents an operation with words such as, I put the two blue
square here cause they both same, some reasonable diagnosis can be made
about that child's developing ability to conceptualize in the second language.
6. Reading in the Second Language

The comprehension of syntax and vocabulary which evolves from the kinds
of experiences discussed above is essential to the oral language proficiency
second language speakers must bring to reading. Children who engage in such
experiences acquire syntactic patterns and vocabulary which extend well beyond
academic language. This is especially so if math and science activities are
related to everyday life, as math and science themselves are. Happily, most
current curriculum guides offer teachers ways to integrate the basics into the
world of the child, and expand that world by doing so. Teachers and curriculum
developers should examine programs and series in terms of this potential.
7. Assumptions guiding programmatic provisions in reading

All educational experiences which correlate with the cognitive and develop-
mental aspects of language learning are preparatory for reading in the second
language. However, additional assumptions, culled from recent psycholinguistic
research, must be applied to explore the terrain of reading in a second language
for the bilingual child. They are: 1) that a certain amount of oral proficiency
is necessary before the act of reading can take place (Y. Goodman and Burke
1972); 2) that reading is a process which involves deriving meaning from a
printed text through simultaneous use of grapho-phonic, syntactic, and semantic
information (K. Goodman 1976; and 3) that readers must have experiences to
relate to the text or they can only decode nonsense (Smith and Lindberg 1977).
8. The assumptions applied to the reading curriculum

On the basis of these well-founded assumptions, it becomes axiomatic that
children can not be subjected to reading instruction, in the sense of decoding
words in order to arrive at meaning, until they have the linguistic proficiency
to do so. Curriculum provisions for the development of that proficiency must
include social/linguistic experiences which will enable children to relate the
meaning of a particular text to their own knowledge. Such provisions may en-
194 TESOL Quarterly
compass trips, movies, literature, role-playing, community speakers, and involve-

ment in the arts. They always include talk and discussion (Griese 1977).
Obviously, in any given classroom, children will develop in oral proficiency
at individual rates. The most efficient way to provide children with the oppor-
tunity to read when they are ready is to conduct the reading program so that
children can simply and spontaneously read when they are able (Pikulski 1978).
Teachers are responsible for providing reading readiness experiences; children,
in fact, decide when they are ready to read. For this reason, the Language
Experience Approach (LEA ) to reading is especially suited for bilingual pro-
grams.
The LEA embodies a philosophy of learning which professes that children
must be immersed in, and using language in order to read it. Though there are
several fine commercially produced LEA programs with books, games, and
guides, the essential features of each remain the same. In the LEA, children
have a great deal of guided languages experience, and they talk and write (dic-
tate) about what they do. They are read to often and regularly. Most impor-
tantly, their words are written down by the teacher. The children dictate plans,
rules, stories, and summarize events and feelings. Their words are always dis-
played on charts or in booklets.
Surrounded by their words, the children come to read them. They have no
difficulty with syntax they have not mastered because they are reading the
syntax they know. They are not confounded by content words they cannot grasp
in the second language because they are reading content words they themselves
have produced.
Teachers who work with the LEA know that children do, indeed, begin
reading their own words at different times. Because books and reading materials
are always available in the LEA classroom, those children who are ready, pro-
ceed to reading these as well. Children who are not yet able to read are not
penalized: they recognize their words; they read familiar picture books; they
tell stories in their own words. In short, they are so involved with the nature
and process of reading that they scarcely notice the moment when they too
integrate the various skills they are using by beginning to read in earnest.
Using language to explore, and writing childrens language down are essen-
tial to the LEA. Equally essential are the presence of books and the daily read-
ing of books by the teacher. For second language learners, especially those
whose culture does not contain a history of the written word, this aspect of the
LEA assumes great importance, for it is through this familiarization with the
purpose of books that the desire to read is fostered.
Through childrens literature, second language learners gain experience in
the uses of language, and increase their vocabulary and their depth in the de-
velopment of concepts. Their involvement with the syntax of English is in-
creased as they follow the meaning of the narration. They engage in natural
syntax drills when they hear favorite stories repeated, especially when those
stories contain the repetitious sentence patterns which so often give style and
form to childrens tales (Pickert 1978).
Teachers use stories as the basis for discussion, for encouraging children
to make comparisons, and for examining the stories characters and events in
terms of the childrens own growing knowledge and values. Childrens literature
is thus used to exercise and develop critical thinking skills (Rudman, 1976,
Griese, 1977). Story reading begins immediately in the ESL component of bi-
lingual education with picture books and simple accompanying texts, so that
children read pictures, sequence events, and learn to relate picture to text in
their earliest experiences with the second language.
9. The inadequacy of standardized tests for ESL readers
The LEA practices adhere to the characteristics of language learning and
to the assumptions cited earlier concerning the process of reading. But they can
not be evaluated by standardized tests whose norms are obtained with native
speakers of English syntax as well as an extensive reading vocabulary. Stan-
dardized tests in reading are concerned with sight words in isolation and with
phonic and word analysis skills. Second language learners are working to de-
velop other skills more pertinent to reading itself, and certainly more pertinent
to the process of reading in a second language. They are concerned with de-
veloping syntactical rules, with gaining vocabulary through meaningful context,
and with using their second language to signify meaning and to understand the
meaning of others.
10. Suggested evaluation measures
Teachers can provide empirical evidence that second language students
are developing such skills. A teacher may for example record that John dictated
a story about his horse and generalized, the horse goed fast, in contrast to his
earlier use of the past tense simply as he go. A teacher may record that John
read the story to several classmates and always used the same sequence of
wording and events, or that he recognized the word horse when he saw it in
another text.
This kind of charted data can be used to assess development in language,
cognitive skills, and concepts. Useful information can also be ascertained from
instruments such as the Bilingual Syntax Measure (Dulay, Burt, and Hernandez
1975), whose norms have been obtained from second language speakers of
English. With these kinds of data, teachers can plan subsequent steps and ex-
periences for individual students.
If standardized tests are deemed worthwhile, they should not be admin-
istered until second language students have sufficient control of the language
to work with them. And that takes time. One year is not enough, nor two or
even three, especially in those areas where English is spoken only in the school
environment. When standardized tests are administered, items, not scores, should
be examined in terms of the second language students access to vocabulary and
syntax (Thonis 1970: 240).
196 TESOL Quarterly
ESL practitioners and protagonists for bilingual education are not respon-
sible for the present use of standardized tests in the bilingual programs. The
fault lies in the general atmosphere of education which stresses scores as mea-
surement, Nonetheless, those in the field of ESL and bilingual education must
be adamant and sure in their protestations, or they are guilty of condoning the
misuse of every humane principle recent research and theory proclaim as neces-
sary to the education of bilingual children.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bernstein, Basil. 1971. Class, codes and control: Theoretical studies towards a soci-
ology of language. Vol. 1. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd.
Burt, Marina K. and Heidi Dulay. 1975. Creative construction in second language
learning and teaching. New directions in second language learning, teaching and
bilingual education. Washington, D.C.: TESOL: 21-33.
Burt, Marina K., Heidi Dulay, and Eduardo Hernandez Ch. 1975. Bilingual syntax
measure. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
Chomsky, Carol. 1969. The acquisition of syntax in children from 5 to 10. Cambridge,
Mass.: The MIT Press.
Cook, J. A. 1973. Language and socialization: A critical view, Class, codes and con-
trol. Vol. II. Basil Bernstein (Ed.) London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, Ltd.: 293-
331.
Goodman, Kenneth. 1976. What we know about reading. Findings in research in
miscue analysis: Classroom implications. Kenneth Goodman (Ed.) Urbana, Ill.:
NCTE: 57-70.
Goodman, Yetta M. and C. L. Burke. 1972. Reading miscue inventory: Procedures for
diagnosis and evaluation. New York: MacMillan Co.
Griese, Arnold A. 1977. Do you read me? Practical approaches to teaching reading
comprehension. Santa Monica: Goodyear Publishing Company, Inc.
Halliday, M. A. K. 1973. Explorations in the functions of language. London: Edward
Arnold, Ltd.
Lau v. Nichols supreme court decision. 1976. Syllabus printed in English as a second
language in bilingual education. Alatis, James E. and Kristie Twaddell (Eds.)
Washington, D. C.: TESOL: 319-324.
Loban, Walter. 1976. Language development. Urbana, Illinois: National Council of
Teachers of English.
Piaget, Jean. 1954. The construction of reality in the child. New York: Ballantine
Books.
Piaget, Jean. 1973. To understand is to invent. New York: Viking Press.
Pickert, Sarah M. 1978. Repetition sentence patterns in childrens books. Language
Arts 55: 16-18.
Pikulski, John. 1978. Readiness for reading: A practical approach. Langauge Arts
55: 192-197.
Rudman, Masha K. 1976. Childrens literature: An issues approach. Leighton, Mass.:
D. C. Heath and Company.
Saville-Troike, Muriel. 1976. Foundations for teaching English as a second language:
Theory and method for multicultural education. Englewood Cliffs, N,J.: Prentice-
Hall. Inc.
Simpson-Tyson, Audry. 1978. Are native American first graders ready to read, The
Reading Teacher 30, 7:798-801.
Smith, Frank. 1977. The uses of language. Language Arts 54: 638-644.
Smith, Frank. 1978. Understanding reading: A psycholinguistic analysis of reading
and learning to read. 2nd Ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Smith, Laura A. and Margaret Lindberg. 1977. Building instructional reading materials.
Miscue analysis: Applications to reading instruction. Kenneth Goodman (Ed.)
Urbana, Ill. NCTE: 77-90.
Task force findings specifying remedies available for eliminating past educational prac-
tices ruled unlawful under Lau v. Nichols. Office for civil rights guidelines, U.S.
Dept. of Health Education and Welfare. 1976. Reprinted in English as a second
language in bilingual education, James E. Alatis and Kristie Twaddle (Eds.)
Washington, D. C.: 325-332.
Thonis, Eleanor Wall. 1970. Teaching reading to non-English speakers. New York:
Collier MacMillan International.
Vygotsky, Lev Semenovich. 1962. Thought and language. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT
Press.
Willink, Elizabeth. 1973. Bilingual education for navajo children. Bilingualism in the
southwest. Paul E. Turner (Ed.) Tucson, Arizona: The University of Arizona
Press: 177-190.
Annotated List of Language Experience Approaches

Breakthrough to Literacy
Bowman
Glendale, California 91201
This LEA originated in England where it has been used successfully with non-native
as well as native speakers. This author found that the numerous short booklets in the
program were much loved by children whose reading skills were just developing. The
sentence maker and the make a story felt set are also extremely useful in ESL classes.
Interaction
Houghton Mifflin Company
Boston, Massachusetts
Interaction features a great many language games as well as numerous story booklets.
While this author found some of the games to be too detailed for second language
classrooms, the great majority of them are worthwhile and enjoyable.
Language Experience in Reading LEIR
Encyclopedia Britannica Educational Corporation
435 N. Michigan Avenue
Chicago, Ill. 60611
Like all the LEA listed here, LEIR offers an excellent resource guide. It also has daily
lesson plan guides which teachers can adapt to the needs of their classrooms. Roach
Van Allen is the senior author of this program and his work with bilingual students is
reflected in the approach.
* * * * * * * * * *
Elementary Science Studies (ESS)
Selective Educational Equipment (SEE)
Three Bridge Street
Newton, Massachusetts 02195
This is not an LEA but is noted here because the materials are carefully designed to
engage students in the process of discovery and provide easy access to the language
which accompanies the tasks.
TESOL QUARTERLY
Vol. 14, No. 2
June 1980
Job-Related Aspects of the M.A. in TESOL Degree

Robert Ochsner
This study represents an initial effort to gauge the adequacy for job
preparation and job satisfaction of M.A. in TESOL graduates. Results are
based on a questionnaire survey of former M.A. in TESOL graduates (1976,
1977, and 1978). The findings may contribute to a better definition of the
M.A. in the TESOL degree.
This study describes the job preparation and job satisfaction of M.A. in
TESOL graduates, with particular reference to their M.A. training. The re-
spondents are recent M.A. in TESOL graduates (1976, 1977, 1978) who com-
pleted a survey questionnaire during the last months of 1978 (9/78 to 12/78).
Their responses are discussed as they relate to the following job-related research
questions: 1) What kinds of jobs do M.A. in TESOL graduates find? 2) How
satisfied are they with their jobs? 3) How useful was the M.A. in TESOL pro-
gram in preparing them for their first job after graduation, and/or their current
job?
1. Population Surveyed
Forty M.A. in TESOL programs were contacted (as listed in Blatchford
1976) from schools located within the United States. Twenty schools (50%) re-
sponded, but for various reasonsespecially the fact that many schools do not
maintain a list of their former students addressessix of the twenty schools
could not participate in the study. So the field surveyed in this study includes
14 schools (35%).
For reasons of confidentiality I cannot cite the individual schools that par-
ticipated. However, many of the well known large, medium, and small-sized
M.A. in TESOL programs were surveyed. In terms of individual responses, 43%
(n= 150/350) of the M.A. graduates who were surveyed returned the ques-
tionnaire, and 51% (n = 46/91) of the faculty members returned their form.
2. Characteristics of the M.A. graduates
Most respondents were single (53%), female (61%), Caucasian (79%), and
American Citizens (85%). They ranged in age from 23 to 60 years old. The
mean age was 31 years, the mode 25 years, and the median 28 years of age.
They received their degrees from one of four departments: ESL (39%), linguis-
tics (33%), English (18%), and education (9%). Nearly all respondents had had
some teaching experience: in the U.S. only (30%), overseas only (25%), and
both here and abroad (39%).
Mr. Ochsner is in the Program in Applied Linguistics at UCLA and has published in
Language Learning and the Journal of the Linguistic Association of the Southwest.
199
200 TESOL Quarterly
Nearly four out of five M.A. graduates began their studies because they
were Very Much Motivated by their interest in the subject-matter of TESOL,
and 67% saw their M.A. degree as leverage for obtaining a TESOL job.
TABLE 1
Motivation for Beginning M.A. in TESOL Studies
Very Much Somewhat Not at all
Motivated Motivated Motivated
Interested in TESOL subject matter 79% 19% 2%
Seeking TESOL job by obtaining M.A. 67% 20% 13%
Improve yourself as ESOL teacher 65% 13% 22%
No clear reason for pursuing M.A. 37% 12% 51%
Improve your earning potential 34% 44% 22%
Experience in Peace Corps, VISTA,
or other volunteer teaching 24% 16% 60%
Need TESOL accreditation for job 13% 11% 76%
However, as Table 1 shows, only 34% hoped to increase their salary by obtain-
ing an M.A., and very few respondents (13%) needed this M.A. accreditation
for a job. It is also worth noting that over one-third of the respondents (37%)
did not have a well-defined reason for pursuing their M.A. studies.
Table 2 shows that a schools geographical location was by far the most
prominent reason former students gave for choosing their M.A. program.
TABLE 2
Motivation for Choosing M.A. Program
Motivated Motivated Motivated
Geographical location 72% 13% 15%
Reputation of TESOL department 42% 30% 28%
Received TAship or financial support 42% 30% 28%
First choice among schools with
TESOL departments (or programs) 39% 17% 44%
Good job placement for graduates 11% 24% 65%
n = 146
Among the 72% who were Very Much Motivated by this factor, it is not pos-
sible to determine how many M.A. students were attracted to an appealing
location, versus how many attended a school because it was conveniently nearby.
However, in checking the locations of the students jobs before they began their
studies, I did find that most respondents attended a school in the same area
as their last job. In any case, the ability or reputation of a school in finding
jobs for its graduates was the least important factor cited; moreover, a very
large proportion (44%) of the respondents did not choose their program based
on any kind of ranking of schools. In other words, a schools prestige and/or a
degrees financial benefits were not especially important considerations of stu-
dents when they chose an M.A. program.
TESOL Degree 201
3. Results
3.1. What kind of jobs do M.A. in TESOL graduates find? As one might ex-
pect, nearly all the M.A. graduates have jobs as ESOL teachers and/or program
directors. In this regard, 75% of the respondents indicated that their current job
is directly related to the M.A. in TESOL degree. However, one out of every
four M.A. graduates described their present job as being not related directly
or at all to their M.A. degree/training. That is, 15% have a job as a teacher or
administrator in a field other than TESOL, and 10% have jobs they identify as
unrelated to their M.A. training (e.g., oceanographic research, waitressing, in-
surance sales and other non-teaching, non-administrative jobs). Twenty persons
(13%) did not answer this question, either because they are now continuing
their studies for a Ph.D. degree or because they have been unable to find a job.
Among the remaining 130 respondents who do have jobs, most of them
in terms of their primary-job responsibilitiesare teachers. If the sample had
included M.A. graduates prior to 1976, I might have found a wider range of
job responsibilities and thus a more interesting list of jobs. In any case, 86% of
the respondents in this survey were teachers, and among this group, there was
an average of one years teaching experience after receiving the M.A.
Apart from teaching, there are several other jobs that the respondents hold:
administrative work (11%), research (13%), translation (3%), and publications
(17%). Many of these jobs are performed in conjunction with teaching responsi-
bilities.
After receiving their M.A. degree, the average time that a respondent had
been employed was about one year. Employment status, however, differed
widely. For example, 53% of the respondents were permanently employed, full-
time; 18% had either permanent, part-time or temporary, full-time positions
(also 18%), and 28% of the respondents had only temporary, part-time jobs. As
a general summary, about one/half or the respondents had permanent, full-time
jobs and about one/fifth had two (or more) jobs.
3.2. How satisfied are former students with their overall job status? Perhaps be-
cause so many of the graduates were relatively new employees, their salaries
were not very high; that is, considering only the 1976 graduatesthose who
have had the most opportunity to increase their annual incomethe highest
average income for TESOL-related jobs was about $10,000. However, my figures
do not include fringe benefits or other intangible assets that make a job attractive.
Despite this rather low income, almost three/fourths of the respondents
(73%) were satisfied with their overall employment status since receiving their
M.A. degree. Moreover, persons with jobs unrelated to their M.A. training were
also satisfied with their overall employment status. In fact, respondents who
were not teachers earned one/third more moneyabout $15,000 a yearthan
full-time ESOL teachers who graduated in 1976.
There appears to be little trouble for M.A. graduates who want to work.
For example, six to eleven months was the longest period that any respondent
202 TESOL Quarterly
was involuntarily unemployed. But almost half the jobs they ultimately find are
temporary or part-time ESOL positions. Furthermore, the salaries of nearly all
the M.A. graduates fall below $15,000 annually, and 60% of the respondents
earn $10,000 annually, or less.
3.3. Is the M.A. in TESOL training appropriate for the jobs graduates hold? I n
order to present accurately the results that apply to this question, I have con-
sidered separately various sub-groups of the M.A. graduates. These sub-groups
are listed below and, as you will note, they form obvious pairs: a) experienced
(n= 55) versus inexperienced (n= 34) teachers; b) foreign (n= 22) versus
U.S. (n= 138) citizens; c) advanced graduate studentsPh.D., Ed.D. (n=
30) versus graduates who received the M.A. only (n= 130); and d) overseas
(n= 96) versus domestic (n= 44) teachers.
In analyzing the data, I compared the responses of M.A. students who had
taught overseasmost of whom had also taught in the U.S.with those M.A.
graduates who had taught only in the U.S. (pair d above). However, among the
overseas teachers I considered only those who had more teaching experience
abroad than in the U.S. Pair c involves those students who continued their
graduate studies for a Ph.D. or some other degree beyond the M.A. The other
group includes those graduates who received an M.A. only. In pair b I con-
sidered those persons with dual citizenship (U.S. and some other country) to
be U.S. citizens only. However, nearly all the respondents could be easily clas-
sified according to their citizenship. As a final comparison, I noted the responses
of graduates with more than three years teaching experience since receiving
their M.A. as opposed to graduates with less than one years experience (pair
a). Teaching experience prior to their M.A. studies was almost identical between
groups in pair a; in fact, few respondents had more than a total of three years
teaching experience.
In addition, I asked the respondents to rate how well their M.A. program
TABLE 3
M.A. Program Rating By Graduates
(How well did the courses you took in your M.A. program prepare you for):
All M.A. Graduates:

Prepared Prepared Prepared
Critical thinking 63% 33% 4%
Evaluation skills (e.g., testing,
observing classes, judging tests) 60% 34% 6%
Teaching 58% 38% 4%
First job after receiving M.A. 57% 34% 9%
Current job 58% 32% 10%
Research 52% 37% 11%
Ph.D. work 57% 27% 16%
Materials Preparation 47% 47% 6%
Publications 28% 49% 23%
Administrative work 14% 37% 49%
TESOL Degree 203
TABLE 3(Continued)
Ph.D. students & other M.A. grads
Prepared Prepared Prepared
Ph.D./M.A. Ph.D./M.A. Ph.D./M.A.
Ph.D. work 59%/56% 31%/25% 10%/19%
Research 39%/56% 31%/38% 31%/ 5%
Critical thinking 45%/68% 38%/30% 17%/ 2%
All M.A. graduates n = 150
Ph.D. students n =30
Other M.A. graduates n = 120
*Chi square and z-test of proportional difference show a statistically significant difference
prepared them for ten separate areas of expertise. These items are listed in
Table 3.
Over half the students felt Very Much Prepared by their M.A. program
for all but two areas, publishing and doing administrative work. By comparing
the Ph.D. students with all other M.A. graduates, the former group was shown
to differ markedly from the latter on two additional items: research and critical
thinking. If we add publications to this list, then the M.A. programs would seem
to inadequately prepare graduates for Ph.D. studies. However, Ph.D. students
and, to a slightly lesser extent, all other M.A. graduates rate themselves as gen-
erally well-prepared for Ph.D. work. The only explanation that I can offer for
this rating is that admission to a doctoral program ipso facto implies adequate
M.A. training. But I consider this, at best, a very weak explanation.
Table 4 presents a more specific measure of how students rated the ade-
quacy of their M.A. training.
For this measure I have divided the items into two groups: those topics that
respondents Knew Well or Fairly Well versus those topics they Knew Little
or Nothing about. Three out of five M.A. graduates Knew Little or Nothing
about these topics: finding a job in the U. S., English for special purposes, and
statistically-based research. Four out of five students Knew Little or Nothing
about administrative work. These items are listed under Low Ratings in Table
4.
The topics listed under High Ratingsthat is, what the M.A. graduates
Knew Well or Fairly Wellwere also considered by former students to be
among the most important parts of their M.A. programs. These results are more
fully discussed in a separate paper (Ochsner forthcoming).
Depending on where they had taught, for example either overseas or only
in the U. S., respondents differed significantly on some of the high ratings. That
is, nearly all the overseas teachers gave themselves a high rating for their knowl-
edge of second-language acquisition, and considerably more overseas teachers
felt they Knew Well or Fairly Well the topic of statistics and research design.
I have combined this latter category into a single item because it rarely differed.
204 TESOL Quarterly
TABLE 4
M.A. Graduates Knowledge of Subject Areas and Job-Related Items
(Partial list of their self ratings): n = 150
Knew Well Knew Little
Low ratings: or Fairly Well or Nothing
training for administrative work 19% 81%
statistics and research design 36% 64%
finding a job in the U.S. 39% 61%
English for special purposes 40% 60%
Ratings of overseas teachers versus domestic teachers: n = 96/44

Knew Well Knew Little
or Fairly Well or Nothing
over- domes- over- domes-
seas tic seas tic
**second-language acquisition 92% 77% 8% 23%
*bilingual education/bilingualism 43% 62% 57% 38%
*statistics and research design 41% 26% 59% 74%
contrastive/error analysis 19% 9% 81% 91%
On the topic of bilingual education/bilingualism the opposite trend is evident,

with the domestic teachers giving themselves a high rating.
All M.A. students rated themselves as especially well prepared to discuss
these topics: developing lesson plans (84%), teaching the four basic skills (89%),
the audio-lingual (83%) and the cognitive-code (79%) methods of teaching,
structural (85%) and transformational (78%) grammar, distinctive features (83%),
articulatory phonetics/phonology (84%), and second-language acquisition (87%).
To correctly interpret these percentages it is necessary to look at a partic-
ularly large sub-group of studentsthose who had some teaching experience
overseas. For example, 92% of these students felt prepared to discuss any facet
of second-language acquisition, compared to 77% of the domestic teachers who
considered themselves prepared to discuss this topic.
These groups also differ on several other items. For example, 74% of the
domestic teachers rated themselves as unprepared to discuss statistics and re-
search design, 59% of the overseas teachers gave this rating. The domestic teach-
TESOL Degree 205
ers also were less prepared to talk about contrastive analysis and error analysis
(9% versus 19%). Also, 57% of the overseas teachers gave themselves a low rat-
ing for their knowledge of bilingualism/bilingual education. This proportion
compares with 38% of the domestic teachers.
Table 5 lists the subjects that M.A. graduates thought should have been
added to their program.
TABLE 5
Subject Areas That M.A. Graduates Wanted Added to M.A. Program
English for special purposes 29%
developing TESOL programs 26%
training for administrative work 25%
statistic and research design 19%
teaching different age levels 18%
finding a job in the U.S. 17%
using the language lab 17%
developing TESOL textbooks 16%
using visual aids and other media 15%
tests and measures 15%
evaluation of TESOL programs
(not students) 15%
n = 150
In comparing different groups of students, it is interesting to note that Ph.D.

students cite English for special purposes (ESP) far more frequently than other
M.A. graduates (53% versus 22%). This difference may be explained in two
ways. Either ESP is a largely theoretical notion, at least in this country, or be-
cause it is a relatively new area of interest it is possible that Ph.D. students are
more aware of newer trends. I realize that neither explanation is entirely ade-
quate, especially since the overseas teachersthose persons who presumably
have had the most exposure to ESP materialsdo not rate this subject in a
way that differs notably from domestic teachers.
The remaining items on Table 5 that distinguish Ph.D. students from other
M.A. graduates present less of a problem. Statistics and research design as well
as tests and measurements are items that consistently characterize the Ph.D.
students responses in contrast to all other M.A. students. Both these topics re-
quire a high degree of specialization, often involving several years of study.
206 TESOL Quarterly
Moreover, classroom teachers may not find these topics directly relevant to their
daily routines.
I have also included bilingual education/bilingualism in Table 5 even
though it is not among the most frequently cited items of all the M.A. gradu-
ates. Nevertheless, it is among the top five choices of the Ph.D. students; per-
haps this choice reflects a greater sensitivity to political and social issues.
In summarizing this section I should emphasize that all the graduates were
generally inclined to rate favorably their M.A. training. There are, however, two
exceptions to this general remark. First, the Ph.D. students described their M.A.
training less favorably than other graduates, especially when they considered
their research skills. Second, both M.A. and Ph.D. students agreed that their
training was inadequate for two items: publications (23% were unprepared) and
administrative work (49% were unprepared).
4, Conclusion
Job-related factors were not especially important in terms of the M.A. in
TESOL degree. For example, job-placement services of a particular school or
the job value of a schools degree did not motivate many students to choose an
M.A. program. Neither was the accreditation of the M.A. degree important for
former-students jobs. Perhaps most important, the rather low salaries of M.A.
graduates did not affect their over-all satisfaction with their current jobs.
The M.A. programs have prepared students well in most subject-areas and
skills, except for publication and administration. One in four M.A. graduates
becomes, less than three years after graduation, an ESOL administrator, so
training in administrative skills may represent an important omission in the
training of M.A. in TESOL candidates.
At least three types of studentsoverseas, domestic, and Ph.D. candidates
view their training, in some cases, differently. Ph.D. students, in contrast to
other M.A. graduates, do not feel as prepared for doing research or critical
thinking. They also see a greater need than other M.A. graduates for course-
work on research design and statistics, ESP, tests and measurements, and bilin-
gual education/bilingualism. Graduates with teaching experience overseas view
their training more favorably than domestic (i.e., U.S.) teachers in terms of these
topics: second-language acquisition, research design and statistics, and bilingual
education/bilingualism.
These survey results suggest two basic points. First, M.A. graduates appear
to be satisfied with their jobs, Factors such as job availability, the marketplace
value of an M.A. degree, salary, and so forth, do not diminish their overall job
satisfaction. Second, M.A. graduates consider themselves to be adequately
trained for most of their job responsibilities. However, certain groups of former
students have special job needs that can be better met in their M.A. training.
TESOL Degree 207
REFERENCES
Blatchford, Charles H. (Ed.) 1975. TESOL training programs directory: 1974-1976.
Washington, D. C.: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
Campbell, Russell N. 1977. Presentation made at the round table discussion: ESL
degree programs around the country. 11th Annual TESOL Convention, Miami
Beach, Apri1 26-May 1, 1977.
Cooper, Stephen. 1978. The thesis and dissertation in graduate ESL programs, TESOL
Quarterly 12, 2:131-138.
Ochsner, Robert. (forthcoming). A model M.A. in TESOL curriculum.
TESOL QUARTERLY
Vol. 14, No. 2
June 1980
A Practical Approach for Teaching ESL

Pronunciation Base on Distinctive Feature Analysis*
Robert M. Leahy
This paper reports the results of a distinctive feature analysis of English

consonant phoneme production in four language groups: Arabic, Farsi
(Persian), Japanese and Spanish. The analysis is based on the Blache (1978)
distinctive feature model, which incorporates psychometrics, and the Jakob-
sonian model to produce a three point system for the features of place, manner
and voicing. Specific implications for the teaching of pronunciation in a multi-
lingual ESL classroom are discussed.
Much current material in distinctive feature theory is associated with

Fundamentals of Language (Jakobson, Fant and Halle 1956) and the sub-
sequent translation of Child Language, Aphasia, and Phonological Universals
(Jakobson 1968). These feature systems have focused on the distinctive sound
properties of a language within the framework of Stumpfs triangle (1926). AS
pointed out by Blache (1978), however, these feature systems have proven very
poor predictors of language acquisition.
Using the Jakobsonian framework as a base, an expansion of the existing
distinctive feature model has been developed for American English by Blache
(1978), adding a secondary foundation based upon the American psychometric
matrix developed by, Miller and Nicely (1955). This expanded model follows
the outlines of natural classes as observed in the phonological acquisition of
American English speaking children. To be sure, a model such as this must be
recognized as representative of the ideal rather than the real (Jakobson 1968:
16). Thus, what has been outlined in the psychometrically revised feature system
can best be described as a model of majority behavior, based on a continuum
of gross to fine (Waterson 1971) in phonemic development. For language re-
search, this model offers a point of comparison when evaluating individual pro-
duction because it has been substantially drawn from native speaker develop-
mental. 1
* I would like to thank Stephen E. Blache of the Southern Illinois University Department
of Speech Pathology and Audiology for his help with this project and for his permission to
use the Developmental Profiles (copyright Blache 1978). In addition, I would like to thank
Kyle Perkins and Raymond Silverstein for their thoughtful comments and criticisms.
Mr. Leahy is Visiting Instructor at the Center for English as a Second Language/
Malaysian Studies Project, Southern Illinois University.
1 The phonemic system of the eight year child has been outlined by Blache (1978) as
being essentially complete from an adult speaker production standpoint. Thus, the series of
developments seen in the first eight years marks the developmental series referred to, while
the eight year old model serves as a point of reference for the developmental profiles to be
found in this paper.
209
210 TESOL Quarterly
For all the investigative interest in the area of distinctive feature theory,
however, little application has been made in the field of second language
acquisition or learning. A comparison of a second language learners control
over the American English phonemic system of an eight year old American
English speaking child raises some intriguing possibilities for a researcher in
this field. Ideally, such a comparison should lead to an outline of feature sub-
stitutions for speakers of a given language (based on the ideal). The data
derived from a comparison of productive inventories of second language learners
with the developmental model outlined by Blache (1978) should produce
usable sequences of distinctive feature minimal pairs that can be used to help
train language learners to fill in existing gaps in their productive control of the
target phonemic system.
Systematicity in defining phonological gaps in pronunciation and sub-
sequent work in filling in those gaps appears to have great utility in a language
center where students come from a variety of language backgrounds. The re-
search outlined below was undertaken for just such a utilitarian purpose: to
set up a practical method for the teaching of missing phonemes of American
English in a second language learners productive inventory ( see Appendix 1
for a figure and explanation of the Blache (1978) model).
1. Methodology
1.1. Study Sample. There were 124 students from the Center for English as a
Second Language (CESL) located at Southern Illinois University. An analysis
of the data derived from student interviews was divided by native language
group, resulting in four groups and the following populations: 62 Spanish
speakers, 36 Farsi (Persian) speakers, 14 Arabic speakers, and 12 Japanese
speakers. A range from 0 to 8 years of study in English was recorded across
the study sample, (I am referring to the fact that students received some kind
of instruction in English, usually grammar, from 1 to 15 hours per week during
the course of a year.)
1.2. Procedure. Oral interviews were administered to each of the students dur-
ing one of their lab hours, using the Sound Properties Production Test (Blache
in press). The test consists of eighty-nine words, each chosen to elicit a specific
target sound in word initial, medial or final environment. The interview lasted
anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes, depending on such factors as a students
overall proficiency in oral English and the number of errors made in working
with the word list.
Each student was shown a packet of cards. Each card had one of the
words from the list typed plainly at the bottom; most cards also had pictures
of the word. The students were asked to read the word on the card. If an error
in pronunciation were made, the correct pronunciation would be given and the
student would be asked to repeat the word. If the student corrected the pro-
nunciation, then no mark would be made on the interview work sheet. If, how-
ever, the student still had difficulty with the word, the substitution made on
ESL Pronunciation 211
the second attempt would be recorded on the work sheet. The correct pronuncia-
tion was given again, but this time the student was asked to go on to the next
card.
2. Results
The two principle types of feature errors were in the dimensions of voicing
and continuance. (Aspiration in the initial position was not found to be a
problem across the subject pool.) These errors accounted in total (on the one
feature level) or in part (on the two feature level) for the vast majority of
feature substitutions. The specific phonemic substitutions are not discussed
here since the concern was in the generalizations of features being substituted.
The Arabic group exhibited problems with the voiced consonant stops, as well
as with the continuant class. Upon closer examination of the Arabic problems
in the continuance system, one would want to further restrict errors to the
fricative class, with the exception of /f/ (see Table 1.).
The Farsi (Persian) group exhibits problems in the same two areas as the
Arabic speakers. In addition, the Farsi speakers have problems in the semi-
vowel class with the initial /w/ in both voiced and voiceless forms (see Table 2).
The Japanese speakers have the same stop problems and continuance prob-
lems found in the pronunciation of the Arabic and Farsi speakers. They, too,
have a problem in the semi-vowel system, but theirs differs from that of the
Farsi speakers. Here the problem is with the dialect variants /1/ and /r/. The
Japanese are also the first group to show pronunciation difficulty with the
sibilant system (see Table 3).
The Spanish group, overall, had the greatest number of problems. They
pattern nearly the same as the other three groups with respect to the voiced
stops and the fricatives, but they have specific problems in the continuance
class, as well as having different patterns in the semi-vowel and sibilant systems
from those of either the Japanese or the Farsi speakers (see Table 4).
The greater number of problems exhibited by the Spanish speakers may
be a direct result of the greater number of cognates between English and
Spanish than between English and any of the other three languages. Thus, the
Spanish speaker, to a greater extent than any of the other language speakers
studied, can rely on orthographic pronunciation equivalents of the native lan-
guage in producing a passable approximation of an English word.
3. Implications
3.1. Voicing. The problem takes two forms: in the stop system, the problem
seems to occur only in the final position and is directly related to vowel
length; in the continuant system, however, voicing errors occur in all positions.
It seems, therefore, that the situations involved ought to be analyzed separately.
On the one hand, there is a need to develop a systematic approach to vowel
length as it reflects voicing in the final stop position. This particular problem
seems to point to the need to work on the syntagmatic relationship found be-
212 TESOL Quarterly
TABLE 1
Arabic Developmental Profile
I Back Nine System
Note: Center column represents percentages

Profile shows the per cent comparison of sound profile of Arabic speakers with that of the
developmentally complete American English speaking child. Diagram based on Blache (copy-
right 1978). Used with permission.
n=14
ESL Pronunciation
TABLE 2
Farsi Developmental Profile
I Back Nine System

Profile shows per cent comparison of sound profile of Farsi speakers with that of the develop-
mentally complete American English speaking child. Diagram based on Blache (copyright
1978). Used with permission.
n=36
214 TESOL Quarterly
TABLE 3
Japanese Developmental Profile
Back Nine System

Profile shows per cent comparison of sound profile of Japanese speakers with that of the
right 1978 ). Used with permission.
n=12
TABLE 4
Spanish Developmental Profile
m Back Nine System Semi-Vowel System 1
I
Profile shows per cent comparison of sound profile of Spanish speakers with that of the
right 1978). Used with permission.
n=62
216 TESOL Quarterly
tween the voiced final stop and the preceding vowel. In other words, there is
a need to work on the recognition and production of a vowel of longer duration
before voiced final stop consonants and a vowel of shorter duration before voice-
less stops in word final position.2
3.2. Continuance. The problems fall on different planes. On the one hand, there
is backward (regressive) substitution of a stop for a fricative, while on the
other hand there is forward (progressive) substitution of a sibilant for a frica-
tive. The use of a sibilant, however, is restricted to mid and back place con-
tinuants (see Figure One). In addition, only /f/ seems well-developed across
the languages studied. The continuance problems are compounded by an overly-
ing voicing problem which plays a role in the choice of sound substitution as
well.
The fact that both forward (sibilant) and backward (stop) substitutions
are made within a given language group seems to indicate that the extremes
of the continuance system are fairly well-developed and cognitively salient while
the affricate/fricative aspects of continuance, the mid-point manner of articula-
tion, is not as well-developed. There seems to be a need to emphasize the three-
way distinction found in manner of articulation, giving rise to a comparison of
a voiceless stop, a voiceless affricate or fricative, and a voiceless sibilant having
the same place of articulation: tiethighsigh, for example. This ought to help
the learner conceptualize the existing mid-point.
Naturally, these two features do not account for all the sounds that will be
found in error in the pronunciation of any one individual. It must be remem-
bered, however, that being able to work on all problems at one time would not
be feasible. In the end, the teachers methods must be predicated on what can
be accomplished for the betterment of the greatest number in the classroom,
With that in mind, while recalling that students feel a need to work on their
own pronunciation,3 teachers should concentrate on those aspects of pronuncia-
tion which can most profitably be handled in a multi-lingual classroom. This
narrows the kinds of activities which can be worked on but opens up a more
profitable use of class time devoted to pronunciation because that work now
involves the problems with which all members of the class need work.
4. Applications
Voicing was the first problem to be noted. The question of what to do
about voicing errors must be analyzed from two perspectives: the position and
the type of sound involved. As has been pointed out, the problem that many
students of these four native languages have is in the production of the voiced
stop in word final position. Work must be carried out that will help the student
learn to make the proper distinctions between a minimal pair such as right and
2 Some work with regard to this phenomenon has already been developed by Morley
(1972). The work has not been completed, however, with respect to the generalization of this
phenomenon,
3 A questionnaire used at CESL shortIy after this project was begun showed that 83%
(n = 139) of the students felt the need for more work on their pronunciation.
ride. The key to this distinction, however, does not lie purely in the phonetic
realization of the consonant, but in the interplay between the final stop con-
sonant and the preceding vowel. The concentration of effort, therefore, would
best be placed in developing student recognition of vowel length before both
the voiced and voiceless stop, rather than on the final consonant itself (see
Appendix Two for suggested word pairs for this task).
It is important to work on the voicing in the word final position before
moving on to other problems so that there is a point of reference that can be
used when working on the problems of continuance (voiced and voiceless),
especially in the affricate/fricative class. After working on and learning to
produce the difference between right and ride the student can then take that
basic distinction and learn to apply a part of that developed distinction in the
differentiation of a pair such as mitt and myth. Due to the low frequency of
voicedvoiceless interdental fricative pairs, it is going to be essential to develop
the voicing plane in order to develop the interdental fricative sounds. The
learning of the stop system, in toto, allows for a comparison of voiced and
voiceless when the continuance plane is developed.
As the teacher begins to work with the students on continuance, it may be
more profitable to work on a three-way distinction. It is essential that the stu-
dents recognize a mid-point between the stop and the sibilant. (The reader
again is referred to Appendix Two for word pairs.)
5. Conclusions
It would seem that the goal of this research has been fulfilled: it has re-
sulted in the production of an outline of distinctive feature minimal pairs which
can be used to help fill in gaps which exist in a second language learners pro-
ductive phonemic inventory of American English sounds. The use of distinctive
features has been used not only to discover the sounds in error, but also to
design a workable system from which the problems in pronunciation can be
approached. Also, the study has shown the specific aspects of the consonantal
system of American English which cause the greatest problems across language
groups. There is a pattern to the kinds of errors that students make when trying
to produce the consonants of this foreign language and that pattern is definable
in terms of distinctive features. Once the pattern has been discerned, then the
work that needs to be done to increase productive control of missing phonemes
can be approached in a systematic way.
The pronunciation barrier should not be treated too lightly. We who come
in contact with foreign students every day tend to forget that there is a great
deal of prejudice among less language-wise members of our society who tend
to concentrate more on the way something is said than on the actual content
of the message. If teachers are truly concerned with the well-being of their
students, pronunciation should be one of their prime concerns.
This is not to say that pronunciation drilling should demand large blocks
of time every day, but rather that time should be devoted to working on general
218 TESOL Quarterly
problems for short periods of time several days a week. Too much drilling can
have an adverse effect: the process of drilling will become little more than a
game with no meaning. The teacher must take care not to allow students to
get bored with the development of their pronunciation skills. At the same time,
the teacher cannot ignore the real need that exists for work in the area of
pronunciation.
REFERENCES
Blache, S. E. 1980. Sound properties production test. In press.
. 1978. The acquisition of distinctive features. Baltimore: University Park
Press.
Jakobson, R., G. Fant, and M. Halle. 1956. Fundamentals of language. The Hague:
Mouton.
Jakobson, R. 1968. Child language, aphasia, and phonological universals (A. Keiler,
translator). The Hague: Mouton.
Miller, G., and P. Nicely. 1955. Analysis of perceptual confusion among some English
consonants. Journal of the Acoustic Society of America 27: 338-353.
Morley, J. 1972. Improving aural comprehension. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
Stumpf, C. 1926. Die sprachlaute. Berlin.
Waterson, N. 1971. Child phonology: a prosodic view. Journal of Child Language
7: 179-211.
APPENDIX ONE
The Blache (City Block) Distinctive Feature Model
Blache (1978:264) has developed a revolutionary model of distinctive features to outline
the American English phonemic system. He has discarded the binary opposition hypothesis
first developed by the Prague School in the late 1920s, and subsequently used in most feature
systems,
FIGURE 1
Blache (city block) Distinctive Feature Model (1978:264)
In place of the binary features, Blache uses a series of ternary axes which more closely
approximates the perceptions of sounds found in the Miller and Nicely ( 1955) psychometric
research. The true consonants are placed on the axes of voicing, place and continuance.
Figure 1 illustrates these axes. The vertical axis represents voicing in ternary opposition
(voiceless sounds the lower-most point, voicing the medial point, and nasals the upper-most
point). The horizontal axis represents place in ternary opposition (front at left, mid, then,
back at right). The final axis, diagonal, represents aspects of continuance in ternary op-
position ( the back point for stops, the mid-point for affricates and fricatives)* and the front
point for sibilants.
* For a thorough discussion of the rationale for this merger of two sound types, see Blache
1978:260.
APPENDIX TWO
Distinctive Feature Minimal Pairs
VOICING p/b cap/cab tap/tab
t/d lit/lid kit/kid
k/g rack/rag stack/stag
CONTINUATION p/f pin/fin pan/fan
lap/laugh cap/calf
tree/three bat/bath
bat/vat boat/vote
doze/those ladder/lather
free/three fin/thin
van/than vat/that
fat/vat fan/van
fife/five safe/save
teeth/teethe
keys/cheese kick/chick
hack/hatch back/batch
gale/jail goose/juice
egg/edge bag/badge
thief/chief thick/chick
bath/batch
/
cello/jello cherry/Jerry
batch/badge match/Madge
think/sink thick/sick
chip/ship chin/shin
match/mash
teethe/tease
/
sip/ship seat/sheet
mess/mesh
Ceasare/seizure
sip/zip sue/zoo
ice/eyes race/raise
/
Adapted from Blache (1978:327-331). Used with permission.
TESOL QUARTERLY
Vol. 14, No. 2
June 1980
Functional Language Objectives in a Competency

Based ESL Curriculum*
Charles A. Findley and Lynn A. Nathan
Two co-lateral movements are now having direct influence on ESL

instruction at all levels: 1 ) mandated accountability achieved through mea-
surable performance objectives, and 2 ) stress on functional language use
rather than purely structural or grammatical instruction. Exploring both of
these influences on instruction, the authors review the six basic language
functions identified by the Council of Europe for threshold level performance
and then explain how the language functions can be transformed into mea-
surable performance objectives for use in a criterion-referenced, competency
based curiculum. Needs assessment, identification of objectives, training pro-
cedures, and evaluation proceduresfour stages in the development of com-
petency based education in ESLreceive major attention. Sample objectives,
evaluation procedures, and classroom strategies are integrated throughout the
discussion of the four stages.
What began first as a startling idea in Oregon, California, Florida and a

few other states in 1975 and 1976, according to Pipho (1978), has now arrived
in every state in one form or another. At present 36 states have taken some
type of action which mandates the setting of minimal competency standards
for elementary and secondary students; those remaining either have legislation
pending or are conducting legislative or state board studies. These minimal
competencies have been formulated under different labels, the most general of
which are survival skills, coping skills, and adult literacy. (Carvelti 1977)
All three terms imply that the competencies are basic to the task of full par-
ticipation in society.
Not only do state and local governments mandate the establishment of
testing systems to ensure that necessary numbers of students have acquired
certain skills, but international companies and foreign governments often re-
quire language training institutions to demonstrate what students have learned.
Institutions engaged in language training are required as part of their contract
to specify how and when student competencies will be assessed. Failure to
demonstrate agreed upon levels of performance can result in renegotiation or
cancellation of a contract.
At all levels of instruction, language educators search for systematic de-
* Revision of a paper presented at the TESOL Convention, Boston, 1979.
Dr. Charles A. Findley teaches communication skills to international students at North-
eastern University and serves as Project Director for the Bilingual Vocational Training Grant
at Newbury Junior College, Boston.
Ms. Lynn A. Nathan is Director of the Bilingual/ESL Programs at Newbury Junior
College, Boston.
221
222 TESOL Quarterly
signs to most efficiently facilitate acquisition. Realization of the need to provide

students with at least minimal ability to functionally communicate in the lan-
guage is not enough. Educators must also be willing and able to specify in
measurable terms what is being accomplished and correspondingly assume
responsibility for the results of their teaching behaviors. Simply put, teachers
and program planners must be able to provide training and demonstrate that
learning has taken place.
In this paper we present Competency Based Education (CBE) systems
as one successful model for the delivery of educational services that allows for
responsible and accountable teaching. We review background information re-
lated to CBE and minimal competencies, and then apply these to second lan-
guage instruction utilizing the Threshold Level of the Council of Europe as
a common core from which statements of minimal competencies for functional
communication may be developed and applied in a CBE learning system. There
are four major steps which we discuss: 1) needs assessment, 2) identification
of objectives, 3) training procedures, and 4) evaluation procedures.
It is important first to stress that CBE and minimal competencies are not
synonomous labels for the same educational movement, although in application
they may be related. Competency based education is a philosophical system
or model for the delivery of educational services (competency being the spe-
cification of a capability in designated areas of knowledge, assessed through
student performance). Minimal competencies are a subset of competencies,
those that are required of individuals to function in a society. Minimal com-
petency tests assess only minimums and do not specify a theory of learning,
school organization, or a process for competency development.
1. Needs Assessment
It is first important to look at need in general rather than allow the ease
of measurement to determine the objectives that are assessed or specified for
any training program. All too often, the need of the student to functionally
communicate in the language has been overlooked. Teachers have taught to
the test and the tests that were available were not tests of communicative
competence. (As examples, consider the TOEFL, CELT and the Michigan.)
Consequently, when pretesting and assessing the students progress, teachers
did not look at what or how much they could communicate but whether or not
the student possessed knowledge of a certain number of grammatical forms.
Ease of measurement and availability of structure tests have determined the
instructional goals in systems where teachers have been required to measure
for accountability purposes.
Needs assessment is person-centered rather than language centered. Trim
(1977) stresses that in policy planning accurate information concerning the
needs of society as well as the individual are required. Needs analysis starts
with questions regarding what the learner needs to be able to do, i.e., what
functions s/he needs to perform in the target language. It then looks at what
Competency Based Curriculum 223
aspects of language are required to fulfill those functions. The underlying

assumption according to Wilkins (1973) is that what a person wants to do
through language is more important than mastery of the language as an un-
applied system. Language needs, then, are simply the requirements which arise
from the use of the language in the multitude of social and work situations
in the lives of individuals and groups of people.
Procedures for needs assessment are now reaching a state of useful refine-
ment. There are well developed, workable taxonomies for looking at parameters
of communicative competence in terms of situations, roles, topics, notions and
grammatical structures. Ideally, teachers and curriculum designers will apply
these procedures to establish an inventory of competencies for each new pro-
gram. A workable compromise, however, is utilization of the Council of Europes
threshold level (van Ek 1976) inventory of functions and general and specific
notions as a common core of minimal competencies or needs.
Aspects of six basic functions were agreed upon by the Council of Europe
for use with the threshold level: 1) imparting and seeking factual information;
2) expressing and finding out intellectual attitudes; 3) expressing and finding
out emotional attitudes; 4 ) expressing and finding out moral attitudes; 5 ) getting
things done (suasion), and 6) socializing (van Ek 1976:25). These six functions
are . . . what people do by means of language. (van Ek 1976:5) In perform-
ing these functions, people have to refer to certain notions. Drawing upon the
work of Wilkins (1976), the Council of Europe has specified an index of gen-
eral notions which are listed under the following categories: existential, spatial,
temporal, quantitative, qualitative, mental, relational, and deixis (van Ek 1976:
39). For example, a student may wish to express a particular moral attitude
such as apology with regards to the general notion of temporality. S/he would
then say, Im sorry for being late. To relate that statement to a particular
topic, the student may add for the party. The specific topic areas which bring
a student to the threshold level were also delineated. They are: personal iden-
tification, house and home, life at home, education and future career, free time
and entertainment, travel, relations with other people, health and welfare,
shopping, food and drink, services, places, foreign language, and weather (van
Ek 1976:25). A list of functions and the general notions underlying them serve
as broad goals or statements of learner needs or required competencies that
the student must demonstrate. In a sense, they become the basis for competen-
cies of performance, i.e., what the speaker should be able to do when s/he uses
the language to communicate. As Figure 1 shows, the common core is distin-
guished from the strictly topic-related specific notions.
Existing inventories such as the threshold level are based upon the follow-
ing factors: a general characterization of the type of language contacts which,
as a member of a certain target-group, the learner will engage in; the language-
activities engaged in; the settings in which the foreign language will be used;
the roles (social and psychological) played; the topics dealt with; what the
learner will be expected to do with regard to each topic. (van Ek 1976:7)
224 TESOL Quarterly
FIGURE 1
COMMON CORE
SPECIFIC
NOTIONS
LANGUAGE GENERAL
FUNCTIONS NOTIONS
(Adapted from van Ek 1976)
Even though an inventory such as the one outlined by the Council of

Europe is extensive, specific and well-founded, program planners need not re-
gard this minimal core as rigid and unchangeable. Needs analysis . . . is not
to be carried out once and for all as a preliminary to course planning but [is]
an ongoing process to be integrated into courses by appropriate feedback
mechanisms. (Trim 1977)
Empirical assessment of language required by different groups of learners
is becoming a specialized field of endeavor. While the threshold level w i t h
continual refinement is an accepted common core, training agencies in the USA
and in Europe are conducting needs analyses to specify the communicative
needs of different groups of learners.1 For example, what general and specific
notions constitute the language needs of computer programmers as opposed
to clerk-typists?
Proceeding from general group needs assessment to assessment of needs
for individual learners is a four stage process. First, there is the specification
of a taxonomy to be examined (i.e., behaviors or language functions available
in the language). From the total, a common core is selectedthe minimum
general level that must be acquired by any group of learners in order to be
minimally proficient in the language. The third step is selecting the specific
10ne such procedure for detailed needs analysis is the processing system designed by
Munby (1978) which may eventually result in an item-bank from which teachers can draw,
rather than reconducting needs assessment directly for specialized training programs.
notions important for individuals or specialized groups of individuals. And

finally, once the instructional needs are identified for the individual, it becomes
necessary to assess the learners present state in relation to the identified needs
so that the instructional program may be prepared. Figure 2 illustrates this
process.
2. Identification of Objectives
Needs assessment is just the first step in curriculum design. The design
of an instructional program involves utilizing the results of needs analysis to
actually formulate objectives. Modern educational designers have used the term
behavioral objective to label the resulting specification of expected outcomes
MINIMUM GENERAL COMPETENCY

LEVEL FOR INTERACTION
SPECIALIZED NEEDS FOR

INDIVIDUALS IN DIFFERENT
ACADEMIC/PROFESSIONAL GROUPS
in precise form. It is useful to add van Eks (1976:5) disclaimer regarding

behavioral before proceeding:
To preclude misunderstanding, it should perhaps be pointed out right at the begin-
ning of our presentation that a behavioral specification of an objective by no means
implies the need for a behavioristic teaching method. The way in which the objective
has been defined does not impose any particular methodologybehavioristic or other-
wise-on the teacher.
To meet the criterion of an acceptable operational definition of behavior,
226 TESOL Quarterly
the behavioral objective needs to include the following aspects: 1) the student
as the subject, 2) an action verb that defines behavior or performance to be
learned, 3) conditions under which the student will demonstrate what is learned,
and 4) minimum level of performance required after instruction, as specified by
a criterion-referenced measurement strategy.
As an example of the process so far described, let us look at some of the
objectives within the common core for the ESL student:
Example 1. Given an oral request [condition], the learner [student as subject] will
say [action verb that defines behavior] his/her name, address and telephone number
to a native speaker of English and spell his/her name, street and city so that an
interviewer may write down the data with 100% accuracy [level of performance].
(FindIey and Nathan et al, 1978a: 298)
Example 2. Given oral directions for a 4-step physical action, the learner will follow
the directions with 100% accuracy. (Findley and Nathan et al. 1978a: 446)
Both of these serve to illustrate the general nature of an objective at the
threshold level.
The specific nature of the objectives which make up a course in English
for Specific Purposes builds upon the minimal competencies in the common
core. Look at these objectives in an ESP course for clerical workers:
Example 3. Given a letter with 10 proofreading marks for changes, the learner will
rewrite the letter with 90% accuracy in 10 minutes. (Findley and Nathan et al.
1978a: 269)
Example 4. Given the first and last names of 10 persons, 5 with Spanish surnames
and 5 with English surnames from a local telephone directory, the learner will locate
the names and write down the telephone numbers in 15 minutes with 90% accuracy.
(Findley and Nathan et al. 1978a: 225)
In order to complete a certain objective, subobjectives may need to be
identified and completed first. In the design of the instructional program, the
teacher may have determined that a clerk-typist needs to accurately rewrite
edited letters. To reach a level of proficiency, the learner must first be able to
associate proofreading marks with their meanings. Similarly, an office worker,
in order to demonstrate proficiency for Example 4, would need to be able to
determine correct alphabetical order.
For Example 3 above, the subobjective would be:
Example 5. Given a list of 10 proofreaders symbols, the learner will match the
symbols with the meaning with 90% accuracy in 10 minutes. (Findley and Nathan
1978a: 269).
For Example 4 above, the subobjective would be:
Example 6. Given 5 sets of words, each beginning with the same letter, the learner
will number the words in alphabetical order with 90% accuracy in 5 minutes. (Find-
ley and Nathan 1978a: 223)
Each of these objectives illustrates application of the criterion for acceptable
operational definitions of behaviors which was presented at the beginning of

this section. Each one has the learner as the subject; each one uses an action
verb (spell, follow, rewrite, locate, match, and number); each one states the
conditions (time restrictions and/or modality for performance); and each one
states the minimal level of performance required. Objectives stated in this form
allow for more precise communication within a program as well as with outside
agencies.
3. Training Procedures
The next step in the CBE system is the actual learning process. A com-
parison between traditional learning systems and the CBE system may prove
useful to illustrate certain inherent elements of a CBE program. To begin, the
objectives of a program, whenever possible, are defined and made public in
advance of implementation so that both the student and the teacher know
what is expected of them. (It may be necessary to translate objectives into the
ESL students native language.) This also allows the teacher to concentrate
each lesson on the identified critical needs of the students. It also helps the
student focus attention and study more efficiently. Many times we hear our
students complain that they are wasting time studying things which are un-
necessary or seem pointless. Training which is centered about well-defined
objectives based on students needs assists the teacher and the students to per-
form in a more efficient manner.
The utilization of performance objectives as a guide to training, when
accompanied by immediate assessment, assists the teacher in focusing on central
rules of communication that may have been overlooked in the training con-
ducted prior to the initial assessment. The teacher and student both learn from
learner -failure to meet a criterion in an objective. The teacher has a better idea
of what rules and strategies the student did not acquire and can therefore
provide follow-up training which is truly appropriate. The teacher may also
become aware of the violation of rules that were not enough a part of his/her
own consciousness as a native speaker to be included in the original training.
Thus, the student and teacher both acquire rules of communicative language
use.
In a CBE system, the learners are presented with alternate routes to the
acquisition of a skill. If a student isnt learning by doing work in a workbook,
other learning activities can be used such as tape recordings, slides, films, or
games, which will lead to mastery of the same objective. Of course, as different
instructional strategies are defined and different learning activities are outlined,
existing facilities and materials as well as student characteristics are taken into
account.
Consider the following: How does the teacher instruct an ESL class made
up of learners who are at best at the same level of proficiency, but who are more
than likely a heterogeneous group? It can be accomplished by offering students
alternate routes for mastering a skill. To do this teachers must take into account
228 TESOL Quarterly
both strategies in the classroom and the learning styles of their students (Findley
and Nathan 1978b). Such considerations will lead to the construction of learn-
ing modules which offer the learner choices of classroom arrangement (group,
small group, dyads, or individual) and modalities (visual, auditory, or kines-
thetic). The attached lesson plan (see Appendix A) illustrates a flexibility of
instruction while taking into consideration the obvious limits of a typical school
arrangement.
The instructional methods section includes three alternate routes for the
acquisition of the desired skill. The first calls for role-play and kinesthetic use
of materials in a small group setting. The second uses videotape and the third
uses a community-based exercise. The classroom materials section also reflects
use of varied modalities.
4. Evaluation Procedures
The evaluation procedures in a CBE system include a number of parts. Once
the terminal performance objectives are defined, each student must be assessed
to determine which of the necessary skills s/he already possesses. The pre-test
can identify the proper starting point for the student. The pre-test for a par-
ticular objective, in fact, could be just another form of the criterion measure of
the particular objective.
The four principles for developing a criterion measure are: 1) it directly
measures outcomes in a real world situation if at all possible; 2) it simulates
the performance in its real setting if condition #1 above is impossible, 3) it
includes all the elements described in the objective, and 4) it does not include
elements not in the objective. Some examples of evaluations follow:
Example 1E. Learner prepares a written card which has his/her name, street address,
city, state, and telephone number before an interview. The interviewer uses oral
requests with wh-questions and How do you spell . . . ? and records the data on
a card. Learner presents his/her card at the end of the interview. (criterion: exact
duplication of information.) (Findley and Nathan 1978a: 298)
Example 2E. Learner is instructed to 1) go to the door, 2) open the door, 3) go
out of the room, 4) shut the door behind him/her. Scoring: 4 points total, 1 point
for each act performed correctly. (criterion: 4 points) (Findley and Nathan 1978a:
446)
By referring to the objectives these evaluations are paired with, we can see
that the interview situation in evaluation 1E meets criteria 1 and 2 above through
use of an easily simulated setting. In relation to criteria 3 and 4, notice also
that the elements specified in objective 1 are present in the evaluation while
elements not specified in the objectives are not haphazardly included. Sample
evaluation 2E conforms to criteria 1 and 2 by providing for demonstration of
the ability to follow the 4-step direction in or outside the classroom. Only four
steps as specified in the objective are evaluated and no others. Consequently,
all four criteria specified above are evident in sample evaluation 2E.
In criterion-referenced learning systems, according to Klingstedt (1972),
students are not scored on a competitive basis. They are not required to com-
plete the evaluations at one particular time, but instead when they are ready,
which will ensure a greater degree of success. If the learner fails to complete
the evaluation with the required degree of accuracy, s/he needs to repeat an-
other cycle of activities which would enable him/her to succeed at the evalua-
tion when next given. The student is presented with an equivalent although
alternative form of the same evaluation procedure. Thus, as in example 2E
above, the learner would be asked to follow a different four-step direction.
5. Conclusion
It is important to stress that mere specification of competencies is of limited
value if they are not incorporated into the curriculum, like a doctor who is
able to accurately articulate a condition of health but is unable to bring the
patient to that condition. However, the benefits of such an articulation are defi-
nitely worthwhile, precisely because they can lead to appropriate curriculum
design.
A curriculum design which is the result of the merging of a CBE system
and a functional approach to language has great motivational power. School-
work and the learning process are brought closer to real life factors because
the intents and purposes of the language user are of primary concern. Each item
taught increases the learners communicative capacity which in turn affects the
students self motivation.
The procedural phase of competency specification in a CBE system com-
plements the needs assessment phase in functional-notional syllabus design.
Philosophically both are learner-centered and are based on what the learner will
be expected to do in major life roles, not the logic and content of academic sub-
jects or the grammatical structure of a language. In short, minimal competence
in a language is performing those functions basic to survival in society.
Little has been said up to this point about grammatical objectives. The lack
of attention is not to imply that grammatical competence is unimportant, but
rather that it is secondary to communicative competence in syllabus design and
implementation. Students must acquire certain aspects of the grammar of the
language to successfully perform each function. But beyond a rudimentary level,
knowledge of the grammatical structures should be acquired through communi-
cative exercises.
The functional-notional syllabus in a CBE system aids in the individualiza-
tion of the learning process and the grouping of individuals with common goals
because the design and content of the syllabus is a reflection of the particular
characteristics of the learners. Testing doesnt loom as a threat, but rather is an
aid in the instructional process. Similarly, time so common to a norm-referenced
system loses its potential as an element of pressure. Students, when provided
with more than one evaluation alternative, are able to learn at their own rates.
Both the CBE movement in education and the focus on functional objec-
tives in language instruction have roots in the demand for accountability and
responsibility in education. Competence is defined for the majority of second
230 TESOL Quarterly
language students not just in terms of knowledge of the grammar of the lan-
guage but in terms of functional performance capabilities. Interfacing these two
conceptual frameworks in language education provides the basis for responsible
and accountable teacher performance.
REFERENCES
Carvelti, Gordon. 1977. Requiring competencies for graduationsome curricular
issues. Educational Leadership 35, 2:86-91.
Findley, Charles A., Lynn A. Nathan, et al. 1978a. Bilingual office careers for His-
panics: A curriculum package. Final Report grant #77155-008, Office of Educa-
tion.
Findley, Charles A. and Lynn A. Nathan. 1978b. Which way to the target language?
ESL learning modalities. Paper presented at TESOL Convention, Mexico City,
1978.
Klingstedt, Joe L. 1972. Philosophical basis for competency-based education. In
Burns, Richard W. and Klingstedt, Joe L. (Eds.). 1972. Competency-based
education; An introduction. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Educational Tech-
nology Publications: 7-19.
Munby, John. 1978. Communicative syllabus design. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press.
Pipho, Chris. 1978. Minimum competency testing in 1978: A look at state standards.
Phi Delta Kappan 59, 9:585-588.
Trim, J, L. M. 1977. General introduction to the symposium. Paper presented at a
symposium on A European unit/credit system for modern language learning by
adults, at Ludwigshafen-am-Rhein, September, 1977. Strasbourg, Council of
Europe.
van Ek, J. A. 1976. The threshold level for modern language learning in schools.
London: Longman.
Wilkins, D. A. 1973. A communicative approach to syllabus construction in adult
language learning. Paper presented at a symposium on A Unit/Credit system
for modern languages in adult education. St. Wolfgang, Austria, June, 1973.
(ERIC ED 086 012).
APPENDIX A
GLOBAL OBJECTIVE: Getting Things Done
TASK (competency) : 2.0 Request Others To Do Something
Reviews
INDIAN AND BRITISH ENGLISH: A HANDBOOK OF USAGE AND PRO-
NUNCIATION. Paroo Nihalani, R. K. Tongue, and Priya Hosali. Delhi: Oxford
University Press, 1979. Pp. 260.
The English language, though not native to India, has been widely employed
there. During its long use in India, it has developed features of syntax, pronun-
ciation, vocabulary and style that lend it a character of its own. These features
have drawn the attention of scholars and linguists like Daswani, Dustoor,
Kachru, Patnaik and Verma, who have studied the characteristics of English
used in India and examined the possibility of recognizing it as a distinct variety.
We have had books dealing with the common errors of Indian students but no
reference book on the usage and pronunciation of Indian English. The Hand-
book of Usage and Pronunciation, compiled by Nihalani et al., fulfills a long
felt need. The book is divided into two parts: Part I consists of a Lexicon of
Usage; Part H, a Dictionary of Pronunciation. Keeping the British variety of
English as the norm, the authors present a comprehensive list of deviations from
this norm in Indian English. In the Lexicon of Usage, there are 1,000 or so
entries dealing with grammar, lexis, idiom, style, collocation and neologism in
the Indian use of English.
In their inventory of Indian usage Nihalani et al. frequently refer to intel-
ligibility and make statements like: Although the meaning is clear, such and
such usage would not be encountered in British English. Sometimes they refer
to the similarities between the Indian and the American varieties of English.
Quite often one wonders whether a particular usage should be considered an
instance of substandard usage/error, or an accepted and regular feature of ln-
dian English. The usefulness of the Lexicon would have considerably increased
had the compilers made a distinction between the features that are regularly
encountered in Educated Indian English and those that do not occur frequently
and should be considered substandard. However, the recurrence of certain fea-
tures in the entries points to the tendencies and characteristics of Indian English.
The following examples, all taken from the Lexicon, will present a fair sample
of the characteristics of the Indian use of English. On the basis of these ex-
amples, some conclusions can be drawn about the tendencies that this variety
manifests.
I. GRAMMAR
i ) Patterning of verbs
I look forward to get a chance.
He wanted that we should come early.
233
234 TESOL Quarterly
ii) Word order

When we shall come?
iii ) Tense usage
I have read the book yesterday.
The bus driver is missing since yesterday.
iv) Use of stative verbs
I am not understanding what you mean.
v ) Use of transition verbs
1 ) Deletion of the reflexive
You are invited to avail this opportunity.
2 ) Deletion of the indirect object
The minister was unable to assure that the matter would be
investigated.
vi) Use of the conjunction as after certain verbs
call, declare, make, term
vii ) Use of the adverb too
I shall be too glad to offer my services to you.
viii ) Greater frequency of pre-modified phrases
welcome address
meeting notice
a blessings message
ix) Preposition and particle usage
1 ) Superfluous use
The price of liquor is falling down.
2 ) Deletion
Please convey him my best wishes.
3 ) Substitution
Charged for murder
x) Article usage
1 ) Superfluous use
last but not the least
2) Count/non-count
a luggage
a good advice
xi) Adjective usage
1 ) Use of the simple form of the adjective in place of the participial
form
charter bus
colour pencil
ice water
2 ) Addition of the -al suffix to the noun modifiers
departmental store
xii ) Noun usage
1) Pluralization
aircrafts
The book is based on facts.
laughters
Reviews 235
xiii ) Verb usage

1 ) Substitution
deliver a lesson
catch hold of
xiv ) Idiom and phrases
1 ) generalizations applied to the nouns in idioms
pay a lip service to
laughing in ones sleeves
2) reduction
He has bought two new trousers.
beer bottle (cf VIII above)
3) expressions of Indian origin
black money
double fry
4) hybrid phrases
lathi-charge
II. LEXIS
i ) Neologisms ( see also xiv -3 above)
lakhier (on the analogy of millionaire)
derecognize
ii) Loan words
gherao
iii ) Semantic shift
colony
busybody
iv) Plural forms (cf X -2) and XII above)
v) Compounds of Indian and English morphemes
(Also see XIV -4 above)
Rikshwa-walla
vi) Words no longer used in British English
bioscope (for cinema)
III. STYLE
i ) Redundancy
No need to return the cheque again.
The reason is because were late.
ii) Clichs
auspicious occasion
iii) Mixing of registers
I communicated my reflections to a chum.
Ill be a bit lateIve got to receive
my husband at the airport.
iv) Collocation
third class (i.e. inferior ) man
236 TESOL Quarterly
v) Archaic expressions
demise
abode
Some linguists dispute whether Indian English should be considered a dis-

tinct variety. The compilers of this Handbook steer clear of this controversy. In
their entries they only objectively describe the peculiarities of Indian usage
without judging whether such usage should be considered acceptable or not.
But the unstated assumption of the compilers of the Lexicon seems to be that
an Indian English usage not encountered in any native variety is somehow not
quite all right. The Afterword to the lexicon refers to obscure occurrences of
usage in native English which allow the compilers to exonerate identical usages
in Indian English.
The Lexicon of usage is not a comprehensive description of Indian English.
For example, it is very common to omit articles. This feature is not represented
in the entries. Thus, the Lexicon remains an inventory of the marginal features
of the Indian use of English. It is not interested in those areas where British
and Indian usage are identical. Although the title of the Handbook includes
the phrase British English, it refers to only those usages in Standard British
usage from which the Indian usage diverges.
A non-native variety of language which is so intensively used in an alien
milieu, as English is in India, is bound to throw up expressions that meet the
special requirements of the alien users of the language. These requirements are
a reflex of the different culture, history and environment of the non-native users.
Every language shows this resilience and creativity when a demand is made
on it. In describing a non-native variety due allowance should be made for in-
novations. However, a distinction should be made between those usages that
conform to the rules of the grammar of the native variety and those which do
not, and therefore may be considered instances of ungrammatical usage. Com-
menting on the expressions chutney-green, lemon-set, bed sheet, the authors say
that these expressions are not found in British English and . . . are quite un-
known to speakers of British English. The intention of these entries cannot
be to familiarize the native speaker with Indian usage, as their meaning would
be clear enough to anyone who knows English. The Lexicon is not a glossary
of Indian expressions. By listing only those usages which deviate from standard
British (which is used as the norm or the point of reference) the authors of the
Lexicon constantly remind its users of a standard, which by implication enjoys
universal acceptance. Thus an oblique kind of prescription lurks behind the
facade of the neutrality of description. This is not without its uses, though In-
dian users of English can use the Lexicon as a reference book to check their
own usage. It is in this context that one would have liked the compilers of the
Lexicon to calibrate the entries on an acceptability scale, especially when the
long introduction to the Dictionary of Pronunciation is vehemently prescriptive
in its recommendation of a model of pronunciation. An addition of this kind
(i.e., an indication of acceptability) based on the criteria of frequency, intel-
Reviews 237
ligibility and similar tendencies in other varieties (See Willmott 1979) would
have considerably enhanced the pedagogical value of the Lexicon, as usages
passing the test of acceptability could be recommended for teaching and test-
ing. Although it would mean setting a different standard of correctness for In-
dian English, it would narrow the gap between the prevalent practice and peda-
gogical prescriptions. It would help writers of teaching materials, examiners,
and language test designers in their jobs and make it easier for Indians to use
an English that is not stigmatized as incorrect.
In contrast to the neutrality of the Lexicon, the Dictionary of Pronunciation
makes a forceful plea for accepting and teaching an Indian variety of spoken
English, or EIE (Educated Indian English), the term used by the authors. The
Dictionarys long introduction gives the impression that it is meant primarily
for the teachers of English in India, as it forcefully recommends pedagogical
policies regarding the adoption and the teaching of an Indian model of spoken
English. The dictionary does contain a list of the phonetic substitutions made
by Indian speakers in their English. One would have liked to have in addition
a list of commonly and frequently mispronounced English words (especially
those where the accent is wrongly placed) either in a separate list or added
to the dictionary.
The Introduction is followed by a Dictionary of Pronunciation comprising
over 2,000 words. These include almost all the items in Michael Wests General
Service List of English Words. The head-word is followed by 1) the form rec-
ommended for Indian learners of English, and 2) the British Received Pronun-
ciation version. The pronunciation recommended for Indian learners of English
(why learners only?) is based on the criteria of national and international in-
telligibility and attainability in the actual teaching situation. The recommended
pronunciation, the compilers of the materials say, can serve as the prescriptive
minimum for the purposes of testing spoken English proficiency of Indian
learners of the language.
The Handbook should be of great use to writers, broadcasters, teachers and
students of English in India. It is certainly an extremely useful reference book
on the Indian usage and pronunciation of English.
REFERENCES
Daswani, C. J. 1975. Indian English. JSL II/2 Winter 1974-75,
. 1978. Some theoretical implications for investigating Indian English, In
Ramesh Mohan (Ed.), Indian writing in English. Bombay: Orient Longman.
Dustoor, P. E. 1968. The world of words. Bombay: Asia.
Kachru, B. B. 1966. Indian English: A study in contextualization. In C. E. Bazell
et al. (Eds.), In memory of J. R. Firth. London: Longman.
. 1978. Lexical innovations in South Asian English. In Indian Writing in
English. Ramesh Mohan (Ed.) Bombay: Orient Longman.
Patnaik, B. N. 1978. On the syntax of Indian English. Paper presented at the XXXth
Conference of the Indian Association of English Studies, held at Jaipur.
Verma, S. K. 1973. The Systemicness of Indian English. ITL Review of Applied
Linguistics 22.
. 1978. Swedeshi English: form and function. Paper presented at the Xth
International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, held in
Delhi,
238 TESOL Quarterly
Willmott, M. B. 1979. Variety signifier in Nigerian English, English Language

Teaching Journal 33, 3.
V. D. Singh
Central Institute of English
& Foreign Languages
India
ITS TIME TO TALK. Fraida Dubin and Myrna Margol. Englewood Cliffs,
New Jersey: Prentice-HaII, 1977. i-x + Pp. 224.
Its Time to Talk is a book of 194 communication activities designed for in-
termediate and advanced learners of English as a second or foreign language.
The activities are placed within six different settings: 1) Strategies in the Class-
room; 2) People in the Community; 3) Services in the Community; 4) Places in
the Community; 5) Media in the Community; 6) Family and Fun. Tasks in-
clude discussions, interviews, polls, treasure hunts, panels, debates, role play,
problem solving, and story telling. Each section contains a meaning list, which
glosses words as they are used in the activity. Special attention is paid to two-
and three-word verbs. At the end of the book is a Glossary of Meanings, giving
the number of each activity where a word or expression is introduced. The final
entry is a Topic Index, listing the thematic material within each activity.
The authors have put together a delightful and useful book. It is geared
to students living in the United States, but sections can easily be adapted to
overseas situations. The variety of cultural situations discussed is impressive.
Topics range all the way from bumper stickers, garage sales, and recycling to
T-shirts, womens liberation, The Yellow Pages, fire stations, and churches, to
name but a few. To the authors credit, sensitive issues are not ignored: there
are discussions on rape, drugs, venereal disease, abortion, and x-rated movies.
Students are treated as mature adults, although there is also room to adapt the
activities for children.
Many of the lessons provide a framework for learning about day to day
life in a foreign society. Any student who has tried to get a haircut in a foreign
country will be grateful for the opportunity to experiment with the relevant
vocabulary in class first.
Some of the suggestions are old classroom standards. Experienced teachers
are familiar with first day introductions, role play of famous people, and word
games. Still, new twists are often suggested for even these old stand-bys. Other
activities suggested are more novel to the language classroom. A particularly
interesting idea is having a student taken on a walk blindfolded, his/her job
being to describe the experience and its accompanying emotions to the class.
The authors have built flexibility into the lessons, which are not meant to
be used in sequence, but as the needs of the class arise. It is an encyclopedia of
ideas which can be combined and re-combined in an infinite variety of ways.
Although meant to be used as a textbook, it is probably more useful as a teach-
ers reference book.
Reviews 239
Another important point in its favor is that the book complements the learn-
ing of other language skills. The authors state in the preface that the book is
meant to supplement a grammar text. For this purpose, a cross-referencing of
grammar points might have been useful.
Dubin and Margols book is particularly rich in vocabulary building. The
lesson on Handy People, for example, provides the student with vocabulary
such as screw, washer, and bulbuseful items for the more advanced language
learner. The authors use a great deal of everyday slang such as green thumb,
cold shoulder, and pain, in the neck. The student has a chance to learn English
as it is spoken in daily life. The authors are sensitive to cultural differences, as
well. Their section on body language is particularly instructive.
The book has only two major flaws. The most obvious problem is over-
organization. The teacher or student, after reading the preface and examining
the contents of the chapters, is left bewildered by the headings, sub-headings,
and sub-sub-headings. Each of six chapters has six lessons, and each lesson has
from five to six parts. The outline of the first chapter could be the outline of a
whole book.
Furthermore, the grading of tasks often appears to be arbitrary. Why is an
interview with a gas station attendant, labelled a (less difficult), easier than
an interview with a clerk in a health food store, labelled c (moderate diffi-
culty)? The care which the authors have used in preparing the book leads one
to believe that there is a good reason, but it is not readily apparent.
Second, the vocabulary sections are fraught with problems. The choice of
words defined is frequently inconsistent. To go out (for lunch) is defined, al-
though a student might well understand the phrase go out from other contexts.
Yet the expression for the sake of, complex both syntactically and semantically,
is left undefined.
Moreover, definitions are often as complicated as the expressions defined,
or even more so. Calm is explained as without tenseness. Poised is defined as
composed. A student who does not know the words calm and poised is not
likely to know the words tense and composed.
Other definitions are misleading. Casual clothes are in style, A person who
dresses casually can be both comfortable and stylish. The student is likely to
equate casual with stylish, which is, at best, only partially true. In another ex-
ample, a pair is described as two people working together. While this defini-
tion works well within the context of the book, it can lead the student to be-
lieve that only people come in pairs, totally disregarding gloves, shoes, glasses,
pants, etc. A general definition, followed by an example taken from the context,
would have been less misleading. The examples cited here are typical of prob-
lems found in nearly every lesson.
Despite these reservations, the benefits of Its Time to Talk far outweigh
the flaws. Creative teachers will certainly find a few, and more likely, a great
many new and interesting ideas in it. At the very least, they will have a fine
encyclopedia of speaking activities. Dubin and Margol have demonstrated a
240 TESOL Quarterly
flair for flexibility and creativity. Their book encourages these qualities in the
teacher and student, and it will add variety to the EFL classroom.
Theodora Bofman
Ben Gurion University of the Negev
PRINCIPLES OF LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING. H. Douglas

Brown. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1980. Pp. xi + 276.
The central assumption of Principles of Language Learning and Teaching
is summarized in the opening chapter:
There are no instant recipes. No quick and easy method is guaranteed to provide
success. Every learner is unique. Every teacher is unique. And every learner-teacher
relationship is unique. (p. 14)
Thus, the book does not attempt to provide any simple answers to language
learning and teaching, but rather to offer a balanced view of the issues and
topics that all prospective teachers need to be aware of in approaching their
unique teaching/learning situations. According to Brown, the book is designed
to provide teacher trainees with a grasp of the theoretical foundations of foreign
language teaching rather than with any specific techniques and procedures. As
such, Brown examines much of the current research in linguistics, psychology
and education which has a direct bearing on foreign language teaching, and
leaves the classroom application of these findings to concurrent or subsequent
practical training.
The twelve chapters of the text offer a framework for a theory of second
language acquisition. Because of the complexity of the processes involved, the
book covers a broad range of issues from first language acquisition to discourse
analysis. The topics are succinctly summarized and related to each other in a
list of twelve statements, each reflecting a chapter subject.
CHAPTER THEORETICAL STATEMENT
1. Language Learning and A theory of second language acquisition includes an under-
Teaching standing, in general, of what language is, what learning is,
and for classroom contexts, what teaching is.
2. First Language Knowledge of the childs learning of his first language pro-
Acquisition vides essential insights to an understanding of second
language acquisition.
3. Comparing and Contrast- However, a number of important differences between adult
ing First and Second and child learning and between first and second language
Language Acquisition acquisition must be carefully accounted for.
4. Human Learning Second language learning is part of and adheres to general
principles of human learning.
5. Cognitive Variations There is tremendous cognitive variation from learner to
in Language Learning learner in style and strategies.
6, Personality and One's personality, the way a person views himself and re-
Language Learning veals himself in communication, will affect both the quan-
tity and quality of second language learning.
7. Sociocultural Learning a second culture in all its ramifications is often
Variables very much a part of learning a second language.
Reviews 241
8. Comparing and Contrast- The linguistic contrasts between the native and target lan-
ing Two Languages guage are importantbut not exclusively importantas-
pects of learning the linguistic system.
9. Error Analysis Language learning, as a creative process of forming a sys-
The Study of tem, inevitably involves the making of errors which are
Learners Inter- really necessary aspects of the learning process, and from
Language which the teacher and learner can gain further insight into
perfecting knowledge of the target language.
10. Discourse Analysis Human communicative discourse is the locus of the function
The Study of the of language, and without a knowledge of discourse a lan-
Pragmatic Functions guage learner will never achieve communicative competence.
of Language
11. Foundations of Ones theory is viable only if one is ableinformally, if not
Measurement and formallyto devise hypotheses about the teaching/learn-
Research ing process and test these hypotheses with actual learners
with a view to formulating an integrated understanding of
second language acquisition. Certain principles of testing
and research are thus germane to a theory of second lan-
guage acquisition.
12. From Theory to Finally, a theory of second language acquisition is of value
Practice. in that it has practical application in the real world. (pp.
249-51)
Each chapter critically highlights the seminal studies and theories of dis-
ciplines closely related to second language acquisition. For instance, the chapter
on discourse analysis describes Joos levels of formality, Austins concept of
speech acts, Hallidays functions of language, as well as nonverbal dimensions
of discourse, and closes with a discussion of the application of these constructs
to a notional-functional syllabus. Noticeably absent from the chapter, however,
is any attention to systems of classroom interaction analysis.
Each chapter includes an annotated list of suggested readings of key articles
and books dealing with the topic under discussion, and, at the end, a list of
topics and questions for study. Most of the questions attempt to review and
clarify the content of the chapter; a few, but only a very few, have practical
application. In the chapter on language acquisition, for example, students are
asked the following: If you can, try to record samples of young childrens
speech. . . . Transcribe a segment of your recording and see if, inductively, you
can determine some of the rules the child is using (p. 39). Undoubtedly, some
teacher trainers would prefer more questions of this type to aid the class in
bridging the gap between theory and practice.
However, the lack of such practical questions is more than compensated
for by the numerous readable examples that are offered to clarify complex con-
cepts. For example, the construct of field independence is concretely introduced
through the following analogy:
Do you remember, in those coloring books you pored over as a child, a picture of
a forest scene with exotic trees and flowers, and the caption under the picture saying
Find the Hidden Monkeys in the trees? If you looked carefully, you soon began
to spot them, some upside-down, some sideways, some high and some low, a dozen
or so monkeys camouflaged by the lines of what at first sight looked like just leaves
242 TESOL Quarterly
and trees. The ability to find those hidden monkeys hinged upon your field-inde-
pendent style: your ability to perceive a particular, relevant item or factor in a
field of distracting items. (p. 90)
The major strength of the book clearly rests in its balanced account of the
issues impinging on second language acquisition. Rather than presenting dicho-
tomies in a good guy / bad guy fashion, the pros and cons of each side of a topic
are carefully examined. For instance, in discussing field-independence and de-
pendence, the potential strengths and weaknesses of each style for second lan-
guage acquisition are set forth with the conclusion that
In second language learning, then, it may be incorrect to assume that learners should
be either field-independent or field-dependent; it is more likely that persons have
general inclinations, but, given certain contexts, can exercise a sufficient degree of
an appropriate style. The burden on the learner is to invoke the appropriate style
for the context. The burden on the teacher is to understand the preferred styles of
each learner and to sow the seeds for flexibility in the learner. (p. 93)
This same balanced view is taken in describing a learners tolerance and intoler-
ance for ambiguity (Again, advantages and disadvantages are present in each
style. p. 95); in presenting the principles of Community Language Learning
(There are advantages and disadvantages to a method like CLL p. 117); in
describing a notional-functional syllabus (The notional syllabus should not
be viewed by language teachers as a panaciea, no final word. p. 204); and in
describing various methodologies ( There is no panacea, no final word. p. 244 ).
Thus, throughout the book a reasoned and cautious view of the issues is pre-
sented. Given the complexities of second language learning and teaching, and
the confusion of sometimes contradictory research findings, such an approach
seems the only reasonable one. Unfortunately, there are no instant recipes.
But fortunately, a text such as this helps teachers and teacher trainees to con-
tinue to ask some of the important questions.
Sandra McKay
San Francisco State University
NEW ORIENTATIONS IN THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH. Peter Strevens.

London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1977. pp. i-xii, 183.
This book contains partially revised versions of fourteen papers, the ma-
jority written from 1969 to 1976, and most of these have appeared earlier in spe-
cialized journals and proceedings of meetings. One might therefore say that
this volume has released these papers from quarantine for the profession at
large for use in the English-speaking world.
The papers are divided into five parts: Part I, Principles and theory of lan-
guage teaching (four papers: pp. 3-51); Part II, Methodology and teacher
training (three papers: pp. 55-86); Part III, Special problems in ELT (two
papers: pp. 89-116); Part IV, The language we teach (three papers: pp. 119-
156); and Part V, Some technical questions (two papers: pp. 159-171). There
Reviews 243
is also a valuable bibliography, listing almost 120 items (pp. 172-176), a list of
professional journals and periodicals (pp. 177-178), and an index.
The first part provides the theoretical context to which the teaching of
English is related in the other four parts. This relationship between theory and
practice is based on Strevens practical experience in teaching undergraduate
and postgraduate students from many parts of the world, in helping to train
and re-train teachers, in paying longer and shorter visits to fellow-professionals
in a large number of foreign countries (p. vii). It is from them, says Strevens,
that I have gained most of my ideas (p. vii). All that wealth of experience
and grasp of a large body of literatureboth on native and non-native varieties
of English (e.g., Indian English, Singapore English, African English)is pre-
sented in these papers.
In their range and scope, the papers cover a wide spectrum, from a theo-
retical model of the language learning/teaching process (pp. 12-36), to Where
has all the money gone? The need for cost-effectiveness studies in the teaching
of foreign languages (pp. 166-171). Again, a relationship has been established
between theory, method, and ( always important) dollars and cents (in his case,
pounds and pennies).
Whatever complaints we may have about the field of TESL, we can cer-
tainly not complain about a paucity of new books on theory, method, or ma-
terials. On the contrary, the outpouring of books in this field is overwhelming.
It is true, however, that a majority of these publications present old ideas using
new terminology. Fortunately, that criticism does not apply to Strevens book.
In what sense is Strevens justified in using the term new orientations in his
title? First, there is a clear attempt to establish a link between theory, applied-
theory, and language pedagogy (Part I). This is a crucial distinction, which
has been either confused, misunderstood or badly presented in literature on
ELT. Second, it provides useful discussion of the methodology and approach
to ELT on the two sides of the Atlantic. This is a topic which professionals
usually wonder about, but rarely find discussed in a clear and unbiased way.
Third, the distinction between ELT and ESP has been illustrated lucidly by
Strevens, providing a good introduction for the uninitiated. Fourth, it shows an
awareness of the pragmatics of the teaching of English in the world context.
It is important that this fact be recognized by ELT specialists, since almost
40% of the speakers of English use it as a non-native language (see Kachru
and Quirk 1980; Kachru 1977 and 1980). Fifth, there is a brief but lucid and
well-illustrated discussion of the varieties of English and the varieties within
varieties. It is refreshing to read a sympathetic discussion on the institution-
alized non-native varieties of English. Finally, Strevens discusses the role of
technology and dollars in ELT. All this has been brought together and integrated
without unnecessary technical discussion in a style that both the professional
and the non-specialist can find enjoyable.
This is one of the very few books which shows an understanding and ap-
preciation of the sociolinguistic, glottopolitical, attitudinal, and educational con-
244 TESOL Quarterly
siderations which determine the use of English in the world context. An ESL
teacher with a rather narrow perspective of the field will perhaps be irritated by
this book, but a sophisticated one will find it both valuable and refreshing.
I was particularly impressed with Strevens acute and far-sighted linguistic
sensitivity as shown in his discussion of the non-native Englishes (pp. 119-146).
This aspect is either ignored in the literature, or primarily presented from a
pedagogical point of view. Strevens on the other hand has discussed this aspect
of English with understanding and a good grasp of the theoretical, functional,
and pedagogical issues.
One has often heard the complaint that books on ELT published in America
generally give very little information about the research on and approaches to
ESL in other countries. Without ignoring American scholarship, Strevens intro-
duces us to the important names and insights in language and linguistic re-
search in Britain, for example D. Abercrombie, C. Candlin, J. R. Firth, M. A.
K. Halliday, H. E. Palmer, R. Quick, and H. Sweet, to name just a few. Thus,
Strevens has been able to bring together the approaches to ELT from both
sides of the Atlantic. In addition, important bibliographical references have
been provided for African English, Indian English, Singapore English, and other
such non-native Englishes.
I have used this book with success in courses on English in the Third World,
sociolinguistics, and applied Linguistics. It provides a stimulating introduction
to the field of ELT, and, what is especially important, makes us think of new
issues and challenges.
REFERENCES
Kachru, Braj B. 1977. The new Englishes and old models. English Teaching Forum
XV, 3: 29-35.
Kachru, Braj B. 1980. The pragmatics of non-native varieties of English. In L. Smith
(Ed.) English for cross-cultural communication. London: Macmillan.
Kachru, Braj B. and Randolph Quirk. 1980. Introduction. In L. Smith (Ed.) English
for cross-cultural communication. London: Macmillan.
Braj B. Kachru
University of Illinois
THE BILINGUAL BRAIN: NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL AND NEUROLIN-

GUISTIC ASPECTS OF BILINGUALISM. Martin L. Albert and Loraine K.
Obler. New York: Academic Press. 1978. Pp. xi + 302.
The field of second language research is indebted to the monograph, The
Bilingual Brain, because it has stimulated current research on neurological as-
pects of second language acquisition (SLA), e.g., Krashen and Galloway 1978,
Long 1978, Galloway and Scarcella 1979, Vaid and Genessee 1979, Wesche and
Schneidermann 1980.
The Bilingual Brain probably will not attract most TESOL Quarterly read-
ers since it may not be of direct interest to the ESL teacher concerned with
immediate and practical aspects of methodology in the classroom. The text is
Reviews 245
primarily a theoretical research work and does not deal with pedagogical ap-
plications in any detail.
And unfortunately the theoretician-researcher in SLA will probably find
the text outdated. (It is unfortunate that the text was held up so long in press. )
Most of the current issues of this decade are not discussed in the section on
SLA models, e.g., Krashens monitor model, Schumanns pidiginization hypothe-
sis and Lamendellas neuropsychological model. A discussion of an SLA model,
even if it is primarily neuropsychological in nature, is incomplete without a
treatment of other non-biological variables which, it is claimed, play a role in
SLA (e.g. the nature of L2 input, social distance, teaching method, motiva-
tional and cognitive factors). Discussion of such factors, which is not included
here, is relevant because these variables may complement or challenge neuro-
logical explanations. Finally, the sections in the monograph which deal with
perceptual-production models of SLA and bilingualism are based on the com-
pound-coordinate bilingual distinction which has been abandoned for the most
part in second language research.
The largest portion of the monograph is the chapter on neuropsychological
aspects of bilingualism. In it are summarized a series of experiments which the
authors and their colleagues conducted with bilingual. This section presents
interesting speculations on the possible differences in language organization
between bilingual and monolingual brains. It is suggested that a putative differ-
ent cerebral lateralization for the second language of the bilingual may be
related to the age of learning the second language and language specific factors.
Few of the experimental results reported in this chapter reached statistical
significance, however, and the significance of even these results is open to ques-
tion given the large number of variables compared. This lack of significance may
be a consequence of the very small number of subjects (7 to 10 per group). It
may also be a consequence of one or more compounding variables such as sex
differences in patterns of brain organization (Harshman and Remington 1975,
Harshman, Remington and Krashen 1976, McG1one 1977 and 1978).
For the reader who has a background in neurology and aphasia (language
deficits due to brain damage), the text is a good source of data on bilingual
aphasia. The authors have compiled and summarized over 100 case histories
of polyglot aphasia in tabular form.
REFERENCES
Galloway, L. & R. Scarcella. 1979. Cerebral organization in adult second language
acquisition. Paper presented at the winter meeting of the Linguistic Society of
America, Los Angeles.
Harshman, R. & R. Remington. 1975. Sex, language and the brain, Part I: literature
on adult sex differences in lateralization. Unpub. MS.: UCLA Phonetics Laboratory.
Harshman, R., R, Remington, & S. Krashen. 1976. Sex, language, and the brain, Part
II: evidence from dichotic listening for adult sex differences in verbal lateraliza-
tion. Unpub. MS.: UCLA Phonetics Laboratory.
Krashen, S. & L. Galloway. 1978. The neurological correlates of language acquisition:
current research. SPEAQ Journal 2: 21-35.
246 TESOL Quarterly
Long, M. 1978. Towards a neurolinguistic explanation for the effect of learner age
on secondary language acquisition. Unpub. MS.: Program in Applied Linguistics,
UCLA.
McGlone, J. 1977. Sex differences in the cerebral organization of verbal functions in
patients with unilateral brain lesions. Brain 100: 775-793.
McGlone, J. 1978. Sex differences in functional brain asymmetry. Cortex 14: 122-128.
Vaid, J. & F. Genes see. 1979. Neuropsychological approaches to bilingualism: a
critical review. Unpub. MS.: McGill University.
Wesche, M. & E. Schneidermann. 1980. Right hemisphere participation in second
language acquisition. Paper presented at the Third Los Angeles Second Language
Research Form: UCLA.
Linda Galloway
University of California,
Los Angeles.
THE TEACHING OF PRONUNCIATION. Peter MacCarthy. New York:

Cambridge University Press, 1979. Pp. x + 108.
Monographs on the teaching of pronunciation surprisingly have always

been rather thin on the ground, whereas of course there has never been any
lack of practice materials on English pronunciation for foreign learners. The
typical approach to pronunciation teaching has been in essence phoneme-based,
with a predilection for the use of minimal pairs as a presentation device, while
at the same time covering the main characteristics of accent and intonation.
Since by and large it has been generally agreed that pronunciation is only to
be improved by constant imitation and repetition of the sounds and sound
patterns of the foreign language, there has not developed to any extent a rea-
soned methodology of pronunciation teaching based on general phonetic prin-
ciples. Perhaps rather too much of the detail of teaching has been left to the
ingenuity and inventiveness of the teacher. In that it attempts to present a
loosely principled approach to the teaching of pronunciation coupled with an
abundance of practical advice, the present book may be considered a valuable
contribution to the field.
The author stands unequivocally on the side of auditory before articulatory
discrimination in the conviction that an extensive program of systematic ear-
training must form the indispensable foundation to any successful pronuncia-
tion learning and teaching. This standpoint which the author has expounded
consistently in various works over the past 20 years has again received con-
siderable support from recent experimental findings (see in particular the spec-
tacular results of Neufeld 1978). It also derives directly from the British tradi-
tion of aural sensitivizing as a major part of practical phonetic training. Indeed
the whole book reflects a strongly British orientation as witness the geographical
bias in the use of the terms Cis- and Trans-Atlantic for respectively British
and American varieties However, although it is standard British pronunciation
(RP) that serves as the model for demonstration and description purposes, this
book is almost equally relevant here for the teacher of American English. More-
over, in its role as general handbook on pronunciation teaching, the book ad-
Reviews 247
dresses itself also to modern language teachers in the English-speaking countries.

The general approach is broadly parametric, i.e., the learner is trained to
exercise his control of pronunciation on a scale along which a single variable
may vary (p. 105). There is also concern for a psychological approach to pro-
nunciation teaching which basically involves a serious attempt to tackle some
of the more familiar inhibiting factors affecting a learners second language
performance. Phonetic terminology is used liberally, but is well motivated and
justified in context.
The first chapter contains some general remarks on the learning and teach-
ing situation, covering briefly the nature of skill learning, the importance of
the teacher as a speaker of the target language, and various other external factors
affecting the classroom setting. In Chapter Two, the author presents his own
position and develops the methods which underlie the treatment of the pro-
nunciation details of English and the other languages introduced in the two
later chapters. The basic point is made that pronunciation ability can and
should be trained independently of other language abilities. General ease of
communication with native speakers and their pleasure in hearing an accom-
plished accent are quoted as some of the arguments for the importance of good
pronunciation, where the aim should always be high. ( Here the author does
not commit himself on one of the current issues within British pronunciation
teaching circles, viz. the degree of foreignness to be tolerated in an accent and
whether this can or should be determined by native speaker acceptability/
irritability judgments.) Another point which MacCarthy is rightly at pains to
emphasize is that pronunciation will not automatically improve through a period
of foreign residence, simply because the learner fails to notice how people
speak, which is in its turn largely due to a lack of training in auditory discrimi-
nation.
This brings us to the core of MacCarthys approach to pronunciation teach-
ing. In the section on The education of the ear (p. 13-20), he makes a strong
case for implementing a basic auditory training program as the initial phase
of any pronunciation course. The three main goals of such a program are sum-
marized thus: (i) practice at directing attention to and making decisions on
what one has heard; (ii) de-conditioning from exclusive dependence on the
mother tongue as the basis for all auditory judgments; and (iii) cultivation of
the awareness of spoken language in general (p. 16-17). For an explanation
of the disappointing results commonly reported on language teaching, by what-
ever method, one need look no further than to the fact that the capacity of the
ordinary person to perceive auditorily the phenomena of the language to be
learnt is widely, but wrongly, taken for granted (p. 16) [my italics]. In this
light, the use at an initial stage of minimal pairs taken from the actual language
being studied is seen as being far too sophisticated to be presented to the ear
and so to the attention of a person who has never practised listening to any-
thing (p. 16), The author then goes on to list a variety of exercises of different
types (ABX, Odd-Man-Out, Same/Different, Present/Absent), designed to train
248 TESOL Quarterly
auditory discrimination along individual phonetic parameters which are later

to be combined by careful grading. The parameters employed are number and
order of segments and syllables in the utterance, duration, pitch and variables
along the familiar parameters of vowel and consonant quality. While perhaps
one may sympathize with the authors conviction that time spent initially on
this kind of training represents time saved in later teaching, the implementation
of such a program, certainly in a general language course as opposed to a pro-
nunciation course per se, will make severe demands on both teacher and learner:
on the former in terms of practical phonetic ability and on the latter in terms of
general motivation. One wonders whether many teachers will feel inclined to
devote this part of the curriculum entirely to meaningless practice. Ideally of
course one would like to see the strong claims made by the author in favor of
this approach tested in direct comparison with other pronunciation teaching
methods. Also one could wish the author had supplied more details on quantita-
tive aspects of the proposed program.
The section on performance training stresses the importance of viewing
any foreign language production literally as a performance, and further en-
courages self-observation on the part of the learner. Again, the facility for
listening to oneself would be improved by the scheme of auditory training, but
how the performance training ties up with this is not exactly made clear. Does
the articulatory program strictly follow the auditory one, or are the consecutive
parameter by parameter? At what time relative to the completion of the auditory
program does the articulatory one begin, etc? Such questions are left uncom-
fortably open. Phonetic transcription has a useful place in pronunciation teach-
ing, but the author sensibly stresses the point yet again that no great merit
attaches to mastering a system of notation as such (p. 31). At the end of the
chapter is included a set of five ad hoc categories useful for the setting up of
a hierarchy of errors or a list of pronunciation priorities, as the teacher sees fit.
The categories are based on the criteria of phonemic contrast, degree of con-
tribution to the overall quality of the accent and general facility of correction.
The two remaining chapters concentrate exclusively on the teaching of the
production of a foreign language: of other languages to speakers of English
(Ch. 3) and of English to speakers of other languages (Ch. 4). The pronun-
ciation features themselves are described in terms of variations in the four
major parameters: facial movement, tongue activity, activity at the larynx, and
management of the breath. Inevitably, there is a considerable amount of repeti-
tion as well as mirror-imaging in the two chapters, and the following discussion
will concentrate primarily on Chapter Four. Cis- and Trans-Atlantic varieties
are distinguished according to their well-known segmental differences, and it
is the standard pronunciation of the British variety (Received Pronunciation)
that thereafter serves as the model of description. The considerable influence
of English spelling on pronunciation learning is discussed at length. The first
parameter, management of breath, is dealt with in terms of stress and stress
timing, weak forms and centralization, with sample practice material included
Reviews 249
for the first two. Activity at the larynx is covered with sections on unvoicing,
aspiration and pitch variation. The former two are described with reference to
a VOT variable and thus in the case of aspiration one could question the con-
tinued practice, which the author supports, of advising the learner to produce
an h before a following vowel, as in p + heart for part, etc. The treat-
ment of intonation (under pitch variation) is disappointingly sketchy: There
are no remarks that can usefully be made on the subject of the intonation of
English in particular, which would be of assistance to the foreign learner want-
ing to manage the rise and fall of his own voice in suitable ways, or to the
teacher wishing to be helpful to his pupils in this area (p. 84). In this way,
intonation is seen as something additional to be taught perhaps incidentally
in a course of pronunciation, a view which is directly in conflict with the current
importance attached. to intonation in pronunciation learning. Tongue activity
is described solely with regard to English consonant combinations and associated
simplifying processes, while the description of the most obvious visual charac-
teristic of (at least British) English pronunciation, that of little facial move-
ment, is coupled with the cautious advice to the learner to cultivate something
of a mumble! The chapter ends with an inventory of principal mispronuncia-
tions of foreign learners including common tendencies generally (such as the
th, w/v, r and weak form problems) and a list of particular problems of
French, German, (Castilian) Spanish, Italian and Russian speakers, each error
being classified according to the categories established in Chapter Two.
Chapter Three follows much the same lines as Chapter Four. The descriptive
parameters are essentially the same, but naturally with a different emphasis.
English speakers have to learn, for example, to separate lip rounding/spreading
from vowel place back/front, to control full voicing at word boundaries, and
generally manipulate VOT in unaccustomed ways.
An appendix includes a table of phonetic symbols used and an annotated
table comparing seven different vowel notations used in handbooks on RP, the
seventh being newly introduced in the present book and deviating from previous
tively. The inclusion of a discussion on this topic is reflective of the traditional

interest in European circles for matters of transcription, which has again come
to the fore since the recent publication of new editions of the Advanced Learn-
ers Dictionary and the English Pronouncing Dictionary, both of which them-
selves depart from previous usage in the notation of vowels, Perhaps it is in-
I for the vowel in sit in Notation Type VI. Vowel diagrams, unfortunately with-
out any reference to what they are meant to represent, are included for all
vowels described in the text. As always, one could take issue with the details
of plotting of certain vowels.
There follows a useful list of practice books on (British) English pro-
nunciation and a glossary of technical terms, the definitions of which are fairly
conventional; e.g. stress as amount of effort expended on a syllable (p. 107).
250 TESOL Quarterly
However, the definition of phonetics, which as a subject, can be considered

to include sub-branches such as phonemics and phonology (p, 106), would
surely provoke comment on both sides of the Atlantic.
The book remains throughout a work by a practicing teacher for other
teachers. Though demanding in the ideal case a considerable degree of prac-
tical dexterity on the part of the teacher, its professionalism of approach based
on tried phonetic principles combined with numerous teaching tips makes the
book recommended reading to all those concerned with pronunciation teaching
and by implication anybody involved in foreign language teaching.
REFERENCE
Neufeld, Gerald G. 1978. On the acquisition of prosodic and articulatory features in
adult learning. The Canadian Modern Language Review, January: 163-174.
Allan R. James
University of Amsterdam
Research Notes
Research Article
DIFFICULTY IN LEARNING AND EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING
TRANSITIONAL WORDS: A STUDY ON ARABIC-SPEAKING UNIVERSITY
STUDENTS
Nola S. Bacha and Edith A. S. Hanania, American University of Beirut, Lebanon
One aspect of our work in language acquisition concerns areas of difficulty for
Arabic-speaking students studying English at university level. The research reported
here is a preliminary investigation of one such area, the use of transitional words in
English writing.1
Learners of English as a second language are known to have difficulty in using
appropriate connective to achieve coherence in writing. This problem has been noted
in particular among Arab students, and some writers have suggested that the main
source of difficulty lies in the difference between the rhetorical systems of the two
languages, the assumption being that Arabic relies more on coordination than on
complex hierarchical relationships (Kaplan 1967). Some recent research has indicated,
however, that while the differing rhetorical system of the first language may be a
factor, the difficulty appears to stem more directly from a restricted knowledge of
linking words in the English language and of the logical relationships associated with
each (Hawrani 1974, Carthy 1978). Research in this field is not extensive, not even on
English as a first language (Hagen 1971). Nonetheless, authors appear to agree on
the need for better instructional material and more effective teaching (cf. Arapoff
1968, Steed 1978).
The main aim of the present study is to investigate the difficulty met by Arab
students in the use of transitional words and to test the effectiveness of teaching this
rhetorical device at the university level. The work assumes that mastering the correct
use of linking words is a complex matter, and that it involves understanding of logical
meaning relationships holding between clauses, knowledge of linking words associated
with each relationship, and awareness of grammatical rules of use for various struc-
tures. These assumptions form the basis for the preparation of instructional material
and for testing in the present work.
1. Procedure
1.1. Sample. The study was carried out on about 300 students registered in four
levels of first-year English Communication Skills courses at the American University
of Beirut, where the medium of instruction is English. For this group, the level of
ability in English ranges from intermediate to native-like proficiency. The students
come from varying secondary school backgrounds where the medium of instruction
may be English, French, or Arabic. With few exceptions, the secondary school English
programs in the area give little attention to composition and to rhetorical aspects of
1 Transitional words, also referred to as linking words or connective, provide a link
between sentences or parts of sentences, clarifying or indicating the inherent meaning rela-
tionship between them. This rhetorical term is taken here to cover several grammatical struc-
tures, including coordinators (and, but), subordinators (because, although), and conjunctive
adverbial (therefore, however, in contrast).
251
252 TESOL Quarterly
writing, Writing skills, however, form an important part of the English Communication
Skills courses at the University.
1.2. Investigation of Difficulty. The first stage of our work was concerned with
identifying some areas of student difficulty. For this purpose, a specially designed test
was prepared comprising three parts. Part I consisted of sentence completion items,
the blanks to be filled in from a given set of simple linking words: and, but, because,
so. Since these words are well within the vocabulary range of the students, errors
could be attributed to failure to understand the meaning relationships. Part II con-
sisted of multiple-choice items involving more difficult transitional words and covering
a wide range of meaning relationships. Part III, in contrast, was a paragraph where
students had to fill in blanks with their free choice of transitional words, thereby test-
ing the recognition of meaning relationships in continuous discourse, as well as the
production of appropriate connective. The test was also designed to provide informa-
tion on students knowledge of related grammatical rules, This was done by leaving
out punctuation between clauses and between sentences in Part I and II, students
being asked to add the appropriate punctuation.
The choice of transitional words used in the study, both in testing and for teach-
ing, was made within the framework of a specially devised classification of connective
according to logical meaning relationships (with reference to the classifications of
Arapoff 1970, Jones and Faulkner 1971, and Carthy 1978), Only words judged to be
most commonly needed by university students were included.
The test was administered to the student group described above, and enough
time was allowed for all students to complete the items, The data were analyzed, by
part, by item, and by student level. The mean percent score per student per item,
S(%), was used as a measure.
1.3, Effectiveness of Teaching. If the main source of difficulty for second-language
learners is lack of knowledge of transitional words and their semantic associations,
then special instruction in this subject should be effective. The effectiveness of instruc-
tion was tested by the following controlled experiment, A set of instructional units
was prepared. These units were designed to teach the use of connective within four
basic categories of meaning relationships: addition, comparison and contrast, clarifica-
tion, result and reason. The material was in semi-programmed form suitable for
classroom or individual use.
The student sample was divided into an experimental group, which received
instruction in this material, and a control group, which had no access to the teaching
units. Each group comprised comparable class sections at each level. The experimental
group received instruction in the units during part of the regular English classes over
a period of two weeks. A post-test, parallel to the first test, was then administered
to the whole sample, and a comparative analysis of the results was carried out.
2. Results and Discussion

Table 1 gives the results on Parts I, II, and III of the first test, for the whole
sample of 295 students. As can be seen, mean scores on Part I are very high, indicat-
ing that students had little difficulty in recognizing basic meaning relationships between
clauses and in using the simple transitional words associated with these meanings. The
scores on Part II are lower and cover a wider range, reflecting students difficulty with
some of these items, Part III, which involved the production of correct items, posecl
the greatest difficulty, as seen from the scores. This feature fits in with the general
pattern of language learning, where recognition precedes production, In this respect,
Part III of the test is a better indicator of students ability than are Part I and II.
The scores also show that the students performance on all parts of the test parallels
their proficiency as indicated by the class level.
Research Notes
TABLE 1
Mean scores, S(%), per item per student, and their weighted totals,
on each of three parts of the first test. N = number of students.
Class levels are indicated.
N Part 1 Part 11 Part III

Level 1 ( 2 sections) 40 89.3 70.0 60.8
Level 2 ( 8 sections) 159 91.7 81,9 66.8
Level 3 (5 sections) 76 90,6 85.2 74.5
Level 4 (1 section) 20 94.5 89,0 83.3
Total 295 91.3 81,6 69.1
Table 2 summarizes the results of analysis by item, for Parts II and III of the
test, grouped under categories of meaning relationships. The scores, which are arranged
TABLE 2
Mean scores, S(%), for two parts of the first test, on items grouped
by their meaning relationships. Terms areas defined in Table 1.

Category N Part II Part III
1. Result and Reason 295 97 70
2. Addition 295 88 67
3. Comparison and Contrast 295 80 62
4. Clarification 295 60

in decreasing order, reflect increasing difficulty for the students. The sequence can
be interpreted along developmental lines, without reference to first language. The two
categories: result and reason, and addition, which posed the least difficulty, are
commonly needed in student writing and express very clear meaning relationships,
both factors favoring earlier acquisition. The category of comparison and contrast,
while also common, consists of a more complex system (for instance, in contrast, on
the contrary, and on the other hand have specific meaning associations and different
rules of use). Clarification, the category which students found to be the most difficult,
is perhaps the one least needed in all but the most advanced stages of writing.
Moreover, it requires making fine logical distinctions between relations of definition,
restatement, and intensification.
The effect of special instruction on students command of connective was mea-
sured by comparing their performance before and after teaching. Table 3 compares
TABLE 3
score on first test. Total scores are weighted means. Terms are as
defined in Table 1.
Control Experimental
254 TESOL Quarterly
the mean scores obtained on the two tests by listing the increase in mean scores from
group, at each of three levels. The overall gain of the experimental group is seen to
be 7.3% greater than that of the control group. Furthermore, the development of the
control group was erratic, fluctuating from positive to negative values, whereas that
of the experimental group was consistently positive and substantial (details are not
shown in Table 3). These results are encouraging, considering that the pretest and
the instruction were given just after the students had covered the regular course
work on transitional words, and that the experimental group was exposed to the
teaching material for a short period of two weeks limited to the classroom.
Corresponding data on punctuation were also obtained from the same tests. The
results, which are not tabulated here, show the same features as above, but the
development was much greater. Where as the difference between the pretest and the
for the experimental group was consistently positive, averaging +33%. This dramatic
result may have important implications both for research and for teaching.
It may be concluded from this preliminary investigation that Arab students
difficulty with transitional words reflects the natural developmental process of lan-
guage acquisition, and that instructional material which combines the semantic and
grammatical aspects of the subject can be effective in teaching the proper use of
connective.
The present work is being extended along three lines: refinement of the test, of
instructional material and of teaching conditions to obtain more detailed data; study
of the effect of using this instructional material on students free writing; and explor-
ing the stages of development in the acquisition of linking devices by non-native
compared to native student groups.
REFERENCES
Arapoff, Nancy. 1968. The semantic role of sentence connectors in extra-sentence
logical relationships. TESOL Quarterly 2, 4:243-252.
. 1970. Writing through understanding. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Win-
ston.
Carthy, Veronica. 1978. An analysis of the use of transitional devices in descriptive
compositions of native and non-native speakers of English. M.A. Thesis, American
University of Beirut.
Hagen, Lyman B. 1971. An analysis of transitional devices in student writing. Re-
search in the Teaching of English 5, 1:190-201.
Hawrani, Shawqi. 1974. Contrastive analysis of meaning relationships and linking
devices in English and Arabic. M.A. Thesis, American University of Beirut.
Jones, Alexander E. and Claude W. Faulkner. 1971. Writing good prose. New York:
Charles Scribners Sons.
Kaplan, Robert B. 1967. Contrastive rhetoric and the teaching of composition. TESOL
Quarterly 1, 4:10-16.
Steed, James F. 1978. Getting the connection, English Teaching Forum 16, 4:16-18.
Research Notes 255
Abstract
THE CONSTRUCTION AND VALIDATION OF THE LISTENING AND
READING COMPONENTS OF THE ENGLISH AS A SECOND LAN-
GUAGE ASSESSMENT BATTERY
Maria Lombardo, School of Education, Boston University
The diagnosis of language proficiency for grouping limited English-speaking stu-

dents in bilingual education programs has been a problem for three reasons: a) in-
consistent identification of language proficiency skills for functioning in a monolingual
and/or bilingual classroom; b) non-specification of appropriate norm-referenced and
criterion-referenced tests for assessing receptive and expressive English; and c) limited
availability of criteria for grouping bilingual students. To address these problems, The
English as a Second Language Assessment Battery (ESLAB), a criterion-referenced
measure, was constructed and validated with secondary students.
Item analysis based on logical and empirical knowledge included revision and
rearrangement of items. The data findings were: a) percentile (p) values of 27.1% to
89.9% for the Aural Comprehension Test, 1.7% to 64.4% for the Structural Competency
Test, and 0.6% to 69.5% for the IRI; and b) the point biserial (RPB) values of .08 to
.67 for the Aural Comprehension Test, .01 to .47 for the Structural Competency Test,
and 0.0 to .70 for the IRI.
Reliability involved the computation of internal consistency. The Hoyt estimate
of reliability y for the Aural Comprehension Test was .81, for the Structural Competency
Test .37, and for the IRI .83 and .79 for the total. Cronbachs alpha values were .74
for the IRI and .21 for the total test statistics. The SEm for the three tests was 4.25.
Four types of validity were established: a) face validity based on examiners and
examinees judgments, b) content validity determined by language and reading experts
analyzing test items in terms of the specified objectives, c) predictive validity using
Kendalls tau (Nie et al., 1975) to correlate each test level results (Beginner I, Begin-
ner II, Intermediate 1, Intermediate II, and Advanced) with the four Teacher Estimates
(T.E.) and ESL report card grades, and d) concurrent validity used only for the IRI.
This study examined the Receptive Area (listening and reading) through the
Comprehension Test, the Structural Competency Test, and the Informal Reading
Inventory (IRI). The Expressive Area (speaking and writing) was analyzed by Rivera
(1979) through the, Oral Screening Test, the Oral Competency Test, the Dictation
Exercise, and the Writing Sample.
General guidelines for constructing the battery were specified, then item analysis,
reliability y, and validity were established. Teacher training workshops were conducted
for the six teachers who examined the students: A sample of 59 mostly Hispanic
students from an inner city area was tested. This 12 to 16 year old seventh and eighth
grade group was composed of 25 boys and 34 girls with varying degrees of English
proficiency.
A Pearson Coefficient indicated a high correlation between the IRI and Cloze
Test .7484 at p< .01; IRI and Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test (1976 Ed.), .6203
at p< .01; Stanford and Cloze .6105 at p< .05; T.E. and Stanford .4248 at p< .05;
T.E. and Cloze .3577; and T.E. and IRI .0456 (Teachers tended to underestimate
students reading levels).
It was concluded that the Receptive Area tests are valid measures of language
proficiency. The relationships among the four language areas evidenced from the
research were: a) listening and reading are related; b) the receptive area is related
to the expressive area, and c) oral skills precede literacy skills.
CALL FOR PAPERS
The University of Michigan will host the IXth Conference on Applied Lin-
guists: Language Transfer in Language Learning, March 1 and 2, 1981. The
deadline for submission of abstracts (4 copies of a 3-page double spaced sum-
mary) is September 15, 1980. Send to: Susan Gass, English Language Institute,
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.
256
The Forum
Comments on the J. Ronayne Cowan, et al. article English Teaching in China:
A Recent Survey (TESOL Quarterly, December 1979).
I am a lecturer in English Language and Literature at Peking University
in the Peoples Repulblic of China. At present, I am at the State University of
New York College at New Paltz as an exchange scholar in the Department of
English. I have read with great interest English Teaching in China: A Recent
Survey by J. Ronayne Cowan, Richard L. Light, B. Ellen Mathews, and G.
Richard Tucker. While it is a straightforward report, it is apparent that some
misconceptions have crept in owing to the brevity of the scholars stay, the tight
program of having to visit 21 educational institutions in five cities within 19
days, and a limited understanding of Chinese society and culture as well as
the Chinese language. I feel it my duty as a Chinese teacher of English to offer
some explanations which may help American scholars know more about English
teaching in China.
It is true that books in English available to the general public in China
are limited. But they are by no means limited only to English translations of
books written by Chinese authors or translations of works by Marx and Lenin.
The Commercial Press, a publishing house engaged chiefly in the publication
of textbooks, dictionaries and other reference books for foreign languages, is
putting out steadily a series of original works in English with Chinese annota-
tions. These include both classic and modern English and American literature,
such as Jonathan Swifts Gullivers Travels, Jack Londons Martin Eden, and
many others. Another series of simplified versions of works of this kind with
Chinese explanations of difficult words and expressions is also being published.
The Popular Science Publishing House is putting out a series of biographies of
great scientists with Chinese translations. These books sell rapidly since there
are now hundreds and thousands of people in China learning the English lan-
guage. They can be sold out overnight. It is, therefore, unlikely to find at all
times books of this kind sitting on the shelves of bookstores.
Although teachers of English in China do not have sufficient periodicals
or professional books on the teaching of English, it seems rather odd to me
that during their visit to more than a dozen colleges or universities, the Amer-
ican scholars could find editions of The journal of Phonetics, American Speech,
The Journal of Linguistics, PMLA, English Language Teaching Abstracts, a n d
English Language Teaching only in one institute in Guangzhou. I am sure my
department at Beijing University has most of these journals. So does the Beijing
Foreign Languages Institute. Is it that they visited only the college general
libraries and did not have a chance to go to the department libraries? It is the
257
258 TESOL Quarterly
usual practice in China that books and periodicals of specialized interest to one
department are kept in the department library only.
In addition to these journals published abroad, we have quite a number
of Chinese periodicals on teaching foreign languages in primary and secondary
schools as well as colleges. Most of them are edited by different language de-
partments or institutes. These journals discuss theories on linguistics and meth-
odology current in the West, give advice on teaching techniques or the handling
of a language class, and introduce examples of successful experience in a certain
school or college or in the teaching of certain aspects of English or other foreign
languages. They also include research papers on different aspects of the English
language. Besides, there is a very popular periodical for learners of English,
entitled English Study, edited by the English Department of Beijing Foreign
Languages Institute.
The fact that tertiary level EFL materials produced in China are often
indistinguishable in format and level of difficulty from the middle school unified
series has reasons of its own. Theoretically, middle school graduates entering
tertiary institutions should have learned the unified series. They should have a
fairly sound background in English grammar and pronunciation, a vocabulary
of 1500 words and the ability to read simplified material and to converse about
daily life. But it was only in 1978 that the unified series started to be used, and
its compilation has not yet been fully completed. Middle school graduates of
recent years will not be able to learn the whole series in school and attain the
standard set above. Moreover, the proficiency of middle school English teachers
varies a great deal. It is not unusual to find middle school graduates competent
in one skill but deficient in another. Furthermore, a number of students enrolled
in 1978 or 1979 (and possibly in 1980 and 1981) learned English through self-
study, usually by taking TV or radio lessons or with the help of somebody who
knows English. There are often certain deficiencies in their command of English,
In order to ensure a solid foundation in English, they are made to go through
basic grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary and usage after they enter college.
But the time for the study of basic English is not necessarily two years, Beijing
University has a three-volume series of basic English. In 1978, after the students
were enrolled, they were given a proficiency test to find out the level of English
of each student. Then they were divided into three classes. For the A class, it
took less than a semester to finish the three books. For the B class, it took a
little over one semester, and for the C class, it was about one academic year.
I am afraid I cannot agree that older teachers stress proficiency in English
while younger ones are interested in methodology. The emphasis on English
language skills in the current curriculum for English majors is not a reflection
of the viewpoint that proficiency in English should be the sole prerequisite for
holding a teaching position, but a result of not being able to decide, at the
beginning of training, the kind of jobs students will undertake upon graduation.
It has always been the teachers viewpoint that there should be a difference in
methods for the training of teachers, translators, interpreters, or research workers
The Forum 259
in language or literature. As this cannot be realized at the moment, the only

tangible thing is proficiency in language skills.
I do not think junior English teachers discuss only aspects of the English
language when they meet with veteran teachers. At my university, teaching
problems and teaching techniques are a very important part of their discussions.
It is true that there is a great emphasis on improving the language skills of
the junior teachers. The reason is that most of them were trained after 1971
when teaching was carried on in a rather haphazard way, and as a result their
competence in English is not very adequate. There are also a large number of
primary and secondary school English teachers who have had only a few months
training before they start teaching. Most of them have to learn as they teach.
To discuss with them theories on methodology at present seems like a slow
remedy that cannot meet the existing urgency, while talks over the radio on
how a class should be handled do not often make sense.
I think among both older and younger teachers of English in China there
is a growing awareness of the importance of methodology in language teaching.
But we have not paid enough attention to the study of theories on methodology.
We improve our teaching techniques more often through practice and experi-
ments. The study of methodology is often made on a more individual basis.
There are many in-school/college as well as inter-school/college exchanges on
teaching methods. Teachers usually sit in on one anothers classes or go to other
schools or colleges to audit language lessons and have seminars afterwards.
Veteran or successful teachers often give demonstration classes to junior teach-
ers. This is predominantly done in primary and secondary schools.
English teachers in Beijing often attend lectures on methodology given by
foreign experts from all over the world and sometimes have seminars with
them. They often apply to their teaching what they learn from these lectures.
However, it is my feeling that many of these experts have experience in teach-
ing English only in developing countries where English, though not the mother
tongue, is very often the major language, or in their own countries to immigrants,
They usually do not know the Chinese language or the difficulties the Chinese
have in learning English. They do not seem to realize that China is a society
in which Chinese culture is pervasive and that students have to learn English
in an essentially Chinese environment. They rarely hear a word of English or
see a sign in English outside their classrooms or campuses. The experts do not
often comprehend Chinas urgency of having to teach English to a large number
of people efficiently and within the shortest time possible. Nor do they realize
that the majority of these people are adults with little or no background in
English. Therefore, their advice is usually this: use the direct method, do not
use Chinese in an English class. However, we find that, through our experience,
such advice is not very suitable to Chinese students, especially at the beginning
stage. The experts demonstration of the direct method is often limited to
elementary English more suitable for teaching at primary or secondary levels.
We are particularly interested in methods of teaching English to more advanced
260 TESOL Quarterly
students. Although we profit a great deal from those lectures, we sometimes

cannot help feeling a bit disappointed, because the suggestions made are some-
how off the point and do not solve our practical problems. . . .
I am aware that my remarks are brief and that they generally reflect my
own experiences and understanding of conditions in China. Others may come
forth to supplement or expand upon my comments and those of the authors of
the article. Through such efforts and interchange, the nature of English language
teaching in China will become clearer. We teachers of English in China can
use the assistance of specialists from the outside world. These specialists, more-
over, can be most effective if they are adequately informed of the conditions
and needs of China. This cannot be accomplished overnight, and will require
the willingness of both sides.
With best wishes in the New Year,
Jie Tao
Peking University
P.S. There is a minor point about the translation of the names of two publish-
ing houses. a) The University Peoples Publishing Co. in the References should
be Remin Jiaoyu Publishing House (the Peoples Education Publishing House),
because it publishes textbooks not only for colleges and universities but also for
primary and secondary schools. b) The standard translation for Shangwu Pub-
lishing House in Appendix D is the Commercial Press, which is one of the oldest
publishing companies in China with a history of over sixty years.
Comments on TESOL Quarterly Style Sheet (TESOL Quarterly, December

1979).
T O label your examples inappropriate usage is to discard centuries of
sociolinguistic custom in which the male pronoun has been understood to refer
to males and females. This usage was common, acceptable and appropriate. To
prescribe a different usage is hastening a natural linguistic development in an
artificial way.
However, the suggested revisions seem most sensible where they avoid the
possessive pronoun altogether or substitute plural forms. I also admire your
suggested revisions which tighten up a construction by eliminating an unneces-
sary it or the reflexive form of the pronoun.
My only strong objection is to #6 of section A in which you recommend
s/he, which I read as s and or he. This expression should be she/he or
he/she; though they are two letters longer, they represent real English mor-
phemes and make neither the eye squint nor the tongue stumble.
To conclude, your attempt at evenhandedness is admirable. You have suc-
ceeded in making me more aware of balancing gender references in all my
writing and speaking.
Dr. Benne Willerman
The university of Texas at Austin
The Forum 261
Comments on the concept and implementation of self-placement

The process of placement testing is riddled with difficulties: students come
with very different backgrounds and different types, as well as levels of pro-
ficiency (one may read reasonably well, but have little command of spoken
English; another may know a lot of grammar and vocabulary, but be unable to
use this passive competence); it is impossible to reflect adequately all aspects
of a program without employing a long and unwieldy test; getting an adequate
estimate of the speaking and writing skills is costly in terms of both manpower
and time; and so on. Many of these and related problems can be diluted, if not
altogether avoided by self-placement procedures.
The following is a possible sequence of events (which could be modified
according to the particular situation concerned):
I. Initial Counseling: a brief session, long enough for the interviewer to explain
the range of possibilities (the number of levels in the program, the main focus
of the program, any courses with a specific purpose) and to identify the stu-
dents proficiency in terms of a narrow range of possibilities within the broad
framework: one of two or one of three courses in a nine-level program, for
example.
II. Package Inspection: the counselor then directs the student to a particular
package. The student is told that he is going to be selecting the class which
he feels is most appropriate for his needs; the counselor will be giving as much
help as he can. The student is told what the package contains (see discussion
below) and what he is to do with it.
III. Class Visit: particularly in an open enrollment program, the next step should
be a class visit; the student sits in a class at the level recommended by the
counselor and is given a short worksheet to complete; the worksheet will direct
his attention to the relevant features of the class (the balance of activities for
the four skills, for example) and ask in each case how comfortable the student
is with what he sees.
IV. Re-Counseling: at this point, the student returns to the counselor and
discusses the results of steps II and III. In most cases, a decision is taken at
this point and the student is assigned to a class. In some cases, steps II and III
may have to be repeated with a lower or higher level and the student return
for re-counseling.
V. Follow-up Counseling: self-placed students should be contacted two or three
weeks later. They may be unwilling to come forward and reveal that they feel
they are at the wrong level since they themselves played a large part in selecting
the level.
The self-placement package consists of all materials which should be of
use in assessing the content, activities and material of a given level of the
program. The following items suggest themselves:
(a) a reading passage with, say, ten multiple choice questions and an answer
key available for the student to check his accuracy;
262 TESOL Quarterly
(b) a listening exercise on tape; again with an answer key;

(c) the textbook and any ancillary materials which are heavily used at that
level;
(d) a sample of writing from students at that level, with an indication of the
quality of the samples (adequate for this level; good for this level etc);
(e) a testing instrument used at this level for diagnostic or achievement testing;
(f) a video tape of ten or fifteen minutes of a typical class session at this level
(if this is not available, the class visit described above is crucial).
The strongest feature, I think, is that students have a very major role in
deciding the level at which they will work. The process helps the student to
become aware of his own needs and to match them with the most appropriate
level in the program. In language programs where students pay a lot of money
and put in a lot of time, it is of very great importance that they accept the
validity of the placement process.
In addition, the student enters the program with a certain amount of
information at his disposal. The placement process has been an exchange of
information.
Third, the student is less anxious when he goes to class for the first time.
He should know more about what is going to happen, what is expected of
him and what he can expect of the teacher.
Fourth, there is a saving of time and energy, once the packages have
been prepared.
Fifth, learners in EFL situations, perhaps also in adult education in this
country, sometimes rate themselves too low. I have seen students avoid the
placement process altogether by declaring themselves to be completely ignorant
of the language. Unless classes are very small, the fact that these students have
been placed too low because of a lack of self-confidence may not be detected for
some time. By giving such students a clear idea of what happens at a given
level, the self-placement process might avoid this problem.
Finally, it is much easier, in an open enrollment situation, to modify the
self-placement package than to construct separate placement tests for different
points in the semester. Again, the package will give the entering student an
idea of what has happened in the class and what he can expect.
Peter A. Shaw
Announcements
Meetings of Interest to TESOL Members
June 30-August 15, 1980. Bilingual Program Summer Institute for Haitian
Creole. Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. The Institute will pro-
vide training in Haitian Creole and Haitian Culture for present and prospec-
tive teachers in bilingual programs addressed to children speaking Haitian
Creole in U.S. Schools. For applicants and information contact: Creole
Institute, Lindley Hall, Room 017, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
47405.
October 10-12, 1980. Fifth Annual Boston University Conference on Language
Development. For abstract guidelines and information, contact: Language
Development Conference, Box F, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215.
October 16-18, 1980. Annual Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language
Association. Denver, Colorado. For information, contact: Professor Ingeborg
Carlson, Executive Director, RMMLA, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Arizona
State University, Tempe, AZ 85281.
October 24-25, 1980. The Second National Conference on Individualized In-
struction in Foreign Languages. Ohio State University. For information,
contact: Gerard L. Ervin, Foreign Language Coordinator, The Ohio State
University, College of Humanities, 186 University Hall, Columbus, Ohio
43210.
Call for Papers

The University of Illinois-Chicago Circle Campus will host a conference
on Spanish in the U.S. Setting: Beyond the Southwest. Abstracts in six copies
not more than one page in length must not carry your name; submit a 3x5
card with your name and the title of your paper. Send all materials or
inquiries to: Spanish in a U.S. Setting: Beyond the Southwest, c/o Lucia
Elas-Olivaries, Dept. of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, University of
Illinois-Chicago Circle, Box 4348, Chicago, IL 60680. Deadline for abstracts
is June 15, 1980.
1981-82 Advanced Research Fellowships in India

Twelve long-term (six to ten months) and nine short-term (two to
three months) research awards, without restriction as to field, are offered
for 1981-82 by the Indo-U.S. Subcommission on Education and Culture.
Applicants must be U.S. citizens at the post-doctoral or equivalent pro-
fessional level. Application deadline is July 1, 1980. Application forms and
263
264 TESOL Quarterly
further information are available from the Council of International Ex-

change of Scholars, Attention: Indo-American Fellowship Program, Eleven
Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C. 20036.
New Publication Available

The 1979 issue of CATESOL Occasional Papers is now available, at $3.50
per copy. It may be ordered from: CATESOL, 750 Eddy St., San Francisco, CA
94109.
Free Publications
The ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics is offering on
request a limited number of copies of the following articles. Write to User
Services, ERIC/CLL, 1611 North Kent Street, Arlington, Virginia 22209.
The Role of Colloquial French in Communication and Implications for
Language Instruction. Thrse Benin.
Diagnosing and Responding to Individual Learner Needs. Diane Birck-
bichler and Alice Omaggio.
Working Together: Guidance Counselors and Foreign Language Teachers.
Helene Loew.
An American Foreign Language Immersion Program: How To. Gabriel
Jacobs.
Rate-Controlled Speech in Foreign Language Education. Etienne Flaherty.
Urban Minority Students, Language and Reading. Clifford Hill,
Language and Reading Comprehension. Stanley Wanat.
ERRATUM :
In the March 1980 issue of TESOL Quarterly, Vol. XIV, No. 1, there
appeared an article by Machiko Tomiyama, entitled Grammatical Errors
and Communication Breakdown. Ms. Tomiyamas name has been incor-
rectly spelled as Tomiyana in the Table of Contents and Title Page and
the title inadvertently appeared on the Title Page as Grammatical Errors
Communication Breakdown. We apologize for any difficulties this may
cause Ms. Tomiyama.
Publications Received
Adams, W. Royce. 1980. PREP: For Better Reading. New York: Holt, Rinehart
and Winston.
Bander, Robert G. 1980. From Sentence to Paragraph: a Writing Workbook in
English as a Second Language, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Case, Doug and Kan Wilson, 1980. Off-Stage! Sketches from the English Teach-
ing Theatre London; Heinemann Educational Books.
CATESOL Occasional Papers #5, Fall 1979. California Association of Teachers
of English to Speakers of Other Languages.
Cook, Norman and Chris Ttofi. 1979. The Generation and Supply of Electricity.
London: MacMillan.
Cooper, Stephen, 1979, Graduate Theses and Dissertations in English as a Sec-
ond Language, Language in Education: Theory and Practice, Number 15.
Arlington, Va.: Center for Applied Linguistics.
Cornelius, Edwin T. Jr. 1979. New English Course, Books 1 and 2. Teachers
Annotated Edition. Encino, Ca.: English Language Services, Inc.
Cornelius, Edwin T. Jr. and John P. Dermody, 1979. New English Course, Work-
book 1, Encino, Ca.: English Language Services, Inc.
Cornelius, Edwin T, Jr., John P. Dermody, and Elaine Kern, 1979. New English
Course, Workbook 6, Encino, CA.: English Language Services, Inc.
Cornelius, Edwin T. Jr. and Elaine Kern. 1979. New English Course, Book 6.
Teachers Annotated Edition, Encino, CA.: English Language Services, Inc.
Coy, Joye Jenkins, David R. Gonzalez, and Kathy Santopietro, developers. 1980.
English as a Second Language Oral Assessment (ESLOA), Revised.
Crandall, Jo Ann. 1979. Adult Vocational ESL. Language in Education: Theory
and Practice, Number 22, Arlington, Va.: Center for Applied Linguistics.
Cross Currents VI, 2. 1979. A Journal of Communication/Language/Cross-Cul-
tural Skills. The Language Institute of Japan.
Kaleidoscope Readers. 1979. Stage 3. London: MacMillan Press, Ltd.
Mellgren, Lars and Michael Walker. 1980. New Horizons in English 1, 2 and 3.
Workbooks and Teachers Resource Books. Second Edition. Reading, Mass.:
Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.
Mellgren, Lars and Michael Walker. 1977. Yes!: English for Children, Books A,
B and C. Teachers Guides. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co.
Mellgren, Lars and Michael Walker. 1979. Yes! Young English Series, Levels D,
E and F. Workbooks and Teachers Chides, Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley
Publishing Co.
Metcalf, AlIan A. 1979. Chicano English. Language in Education: Theory and
Practice, Number 21. Arlington, Va.: Center for Applied Linguistics.
265
266 TESOL Quarterly
Maggie, Alice C. 1979. Games and Stimulations in the Foreign Language Class-
room. Language in Education: Theory and Practice, Number 13. Arlington,
Va.: Center for Applied Linguistics.
Papers and Studies in Contrastive Linguistics, #9. 1979. The Polish-English
Contrastive Project. Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan/Center for Ap-
plied Linguistics, Arlington, Va.
Raimes, Ann. 1979. Problems and Teaching Strategies in ESL Composition. Lan-
guage in Education: Theory and Practice, Number 14, Arlington, Va,: Cen-
ter for Applied Linguistics.
Ranger Story Workbooks. 1979. Ranges 3 and 4. London: MacMillan Press.
Rossner, R., P. Shaw, J. Shephard and J. Taylor. 1979. Contemporary English.
Pupils Book 2. London; Basingstoke: The MacMillan Press, Ltd.
Sharpe, Pamela J. 1979. Barrens How to Prepare for the TEOFL Test of English
as a Foreign Language. Third Edition. Woodbury, N. Y.: Barrons Educa-
tional Series, Inc.
Studia Anglia Posnaniensia #10, 1979. An International Review of English Stud-
ies, Poznan: Uniwersytet 1M Adama Mickiewicza W. Poznaniu.
Yorkey, Richard C., Richard Barrutia, Anna Uhl Chamot, Isobel Rainey do Diaz,
Joan B. Gonzalez, James W. New, and William L. Woolf. 1978. InterCom:
English for International Communication 1-6, Teachers Editions and Work-
books. New York: American Book Company.

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VOLUMES MENU

The Optimal Distance Model of Second Language

Requesting in Elementary School Classrooms. . . . . . . . . Robert L. Politzer 165 (30-39)

The Cross-Lingual Dimensions of Language Proficiency: Implications

Second Language Reading and Testing in Bilingual

Functional Language Objectives in a Competency Based ESL

Research Notes and Abstracts

Its Too Damn TightMedia in ESOL

On a job, repairing cars, preparing meals, or ordering materials, a great

1. Characteristics of Communications in Language Classes and Other Settings

1.1 Communications about Objects in Language Classrooms

2. Making Communications in Language Classes Closer to those Outside

they were ordering someone else to chop an onion or dice an onion or

4. Determining what to Emphasize

sense words for them accompanied by scowling, pounding a fist on a wall,

5. Advantages of Collecting Authentic Material

7. Words in Transcriptions Tell only Part of the Message

ads. In television commercials too, pictures of people are remembered as long

8. An Observation Task to Highlight Mediums other than Language

9. Characteristics of SolicitsCommands, Requests, Questions

10. A Test for the Reader

11. Context is More than Other Words

13. Further Explorations

The Optimal Distance Model of Second Language

The critical period hypothesis has become a well accepted construct in

Despite the variety of intuitive, observational, and empirical support, the

The third stage of acculturation is one of gradual and, at first tentative

In Schumanns hypothesis, the greater the social distance between two

4. Perceived Social Distance

measured by standard proficiency tests. The implication is that successful lan-

5. A Sociocultural Critical Period?

Teachers of foreign languages would do well to heed Adlers words. While

Requesting in Elementary School Classrooms*

Classes were videotaped of nineteen third-made teachers teaching a

1. Classroom Discourse and Requests

2. Text Used in the Study

Category 1: Direct Imperative. This is the most obvious linguistic form of

Category 2: Subject Matter Information Questions. As will be shown be-

Whats another way of saying cannot? T.VI

Category 3: Action Solicitation Questions. These questions call for actions

Who can tell me what a verb is? T. IX.

Category 5: Statement Obviously Calling for Action. This category consists

Category 6: Incomplete Statement Which Teachers Expect Student to Com-

Instead of saying, should not, we say. . . . (student supply shouldnt),

Category 8: Your turn. Your turn is a way of telling a student to per-

As can be seen in Table 1, student requests occur relatively rarely; and

Category 1: Direct Imperative.

Category 5: Statement Calling for Action.

Student (Class of T.IV), I cant see. (Teachers reply, Why dont

Only in one instance did a pupil attempt to request a leader to perform

4. Distribution of Frequencies of Request Categories

5. Teaching Efficiency and Direct Imperatives

A. Pretest and Posttests Data

Accounting for the relationship between the measure of teaching efficiency

The adjusted as well as the actual frequencies of instructional activity related

authority in research in teaching is among the teacher-shoulds that can be

6. Discourse Analyses and Teaching

The Cross-Lingual Dimensions of Language

It is argued that a dimension of cognitive/academic language proficiency

A clarification of the concept of language proficiency and its cross-lingual

The linguistic equivalent of Guilford's (1967) model is proposed by Her-

to be reducible to a global proficiency dimension (see Canale & Swain 1979,

Language Cognitive and