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This paper examines how selected aspects of contemporary urban environment influence the form and function of the family and the position of women within the family and within society. The study was undertaken within the framework of Marxian analysis and with a specific focus on how advanced industrial capitalism perpetuates the family in its present form. The hypothesis is that the positions of the family and of women have changed fundamentally since the capitalist mode of production brought about a spatial and functional separation between domestic and industrial activities. Specific indications of this separation include that the means of making a livelihood passed from the hands of the family into the hands of the capitalist class, women were left with only the responsibility for the domestic sphere, women and children were drafted as cheap labor and kept in unskilled positions, women became financially dependent on men, and the family unit became peripheral to commodity production. Review of socialization, historical, and political-economics literature indicates that, in addition to these historical influences, several other phenomena have contributed to the position of the family and of women in modern urban societies. Among these phenomena are sprawling urban housing patterns (which encourage individualized and spatially isolated family units and artificial stimulation of consumption), the perpetuation of this isolated family function in accordance with the long term nature of housing resources, and capitalism's inherent necessity for growth in the form of more consumption units structured along these same lines. Additional research is suggested on the role of women in the family under capitalism in the contemporary urban environment. (DB)

When the traditional opportunities for professional renewal do not seem adequate or appropriate to teachers of English as a second language (ESL), one means of professional development is self-initiated, naturalistic research in curriculum and instructional development. However, individual action research has the limitations of one person's time, resources, and perspective. Collaborative, self-evaluative research accomplished through a network of teachers can be more effective and allows for development in the areas of instructional evaluation, curriculum development, instructional innovation, and curriculum evaluation. The education of ESL teachers should include instruction in systematic experimentation and self-evaluation. Because of the limitations of professional conditions within a single school, mechanisms for interinstitutional networking should be developed among private sector teachers. Groups and schools interested in self-monitoring and development must acquire naturalistic research skills and use them systematically, while allowing research projects to begin modestly and to evolve according to local needs and circumstances. A paper on the "TIQL" teacher-based research project is appended. (MSE)

Assessment of communicative language learning means evaluating not only whether the language used is correct or incorrect, but also whether it is appropriate for the context. In structuring a communicative exchange for the purpose of testing, it must be determined that the problem used as the subject of an assessment interaction is suitable, and that it is at the appropriate level of language use, of interest to students, relevant to their language needs, and generalizable to other situations. The hypothetical problem should create an information gap and the incentive to bridge it. The linguistic, semi-linguistic, and non-linguistic means used to communicate in the exchange must be evaluated according to the alternatives available, the appropriateness of the language for the occasion, the degree to which error can be tolerated before it inhibits communication, the extent to which the essential elements of the exchange are present, and the degree to which it approaches native performance. The use of transcripts can be helpful in the analysis of spoken exchanges. Role-playing exchanges by fluent speakers can be used to establish the likely content and form of an interaction, for both evaluation and feedback to the student. (MSE)