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Comparative rhetoric studies the mode of public address among a specified group of people and the theories and values governing their public address in specific cultural contexts. Two ways to consider the subject of values in comparative rhetoric involve values as norms and values as appeals. Values assumed to be held by the audience are the bases for persuasion and may be studied as possible appeals in public address. During Kenya's parliamentary election of 1969 the appeals of political speakers were classified into four categories: personal qualifications, audience values or dis-values, speakers' past accomplishments, and promised future accomplishments. These appeals indicate the ambivalence that was felt in this country between traditional value systems and modern or national value systems: the wisdom of age and the youth of modern education; women's rights challenging a traditional value system; new goals of independence and nation building conjoined with pragmatic appeals for sharing the wealth. The specific content and use of value strategies depend upon the national and historical context. Therefore, to study comparative rhetoric requires in-depth preparation and access to field data, if not field work itself. (HOD)

An analysis was made of the strategies by which tutors adapt their teaching to individual students; the objective was to synthesize these strategies in a computer system called SCHOLAR. Tape recordings of dialogues between tutors and students about South American geography were made to discover the strategies used by tutors. Since SCHOLAR is a well-defined program, it was possible to analyze the naturalistic data in precise terms. Individual aspects of the dialogues were analyzed separately and, based upon the analyses, several hypotheses were prepared which described how the tutor related his teaching to the individual student. These strategies were implemented in SCHOLAR, and it seems likely that the analytical method employed could be extended to a wide range of conversational situations. For example, the use of this method (Dialogue Analysis) would permit psychologists to study questions about the interactive aspects of human language processing that cannot even be considered with traditional laboratory methods. (Author)

The "direct discourse analysis" introduced by Susumu Kuno is examined and found to be inadequate. To account for the data Kuno discusses, as well as for related data, a new approach to transformations is suggested. By determining the function, rather than the form, of a transformation, certain predictions are possible. Primary is the prediction that two or more grammatical devices may not apply to achieve antagonistic purposes in terms of theme-rheme distinctions. That is, no grammatical device may be used to indicate that an element of a sentence is the theme (or rheme) if another device has already been used to indicate the opposite. (Author/DD)

Information necessary to understand many English sentences appears to be supplied by a source outside the sentence which is composed of a fund of knowledge accumulated throughout life. This fund of knowledge may be visualized and a conceptual network into which the incomplete information supplied by a sentence can be mapped, thus making it possible for the reader to fill in the missing pieces of the conceptual situation designated by the sentence. Such a conceptual network would seem to be the source, also, of the various kinds of expectation concerning the contents of those parts of the sentence which the reader has not yet read which help the reader to resolve lexical and relational ambiguities. A greater awareness of this function of the reader's conceptual universe might lead to an improvement of instructional and remedial strategies for the teaching of the interpretative language skills. References are included. (Author/MS)

This thesis describes a method for teaching English composition, with the parallel development of comprehension skills, to students in the Middle East Technical University. A survey of techniques for teaching English composition to foreign students is provided along with a discussion of the steps usually followed in writing instruction. The theoretical aspects of writing are considered as are the various types of discourse. Ideas on teaching each type of discourse are presented. The author applies a theory of discourse to composition instruction, suggesting activities and a program outline for elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels. Typical examples of lesson plans for the intermediate level are included. A bibliography is provided. (VM)

The purpose of this study was to locate those measurable criteria of responsiveness to language which have not been utilized to any significant extent in standardized tests. The project involved creating a testing instrument, reviewing of the instrument by a panel of experts, and applying the resultant test to a small population of college students and to a criterion group of acknowledged sensitive users of English. By means of pre- and post-test, comparison was made between the performances of students and members of the criterion group. Reliability and validity studies were made of the results. Though the test was necessarily crude, it was found that certain areas of linguistic response warranted serious consideration in the development of future language competency tests: sociolinguistic and semantic context, deep structure of word-groups and sentences, primary factors of extended discourse, and, possibly, organization of extended discourse. (Author)

The procedures used to develop a list of concepts taught in fourth-grade language arts are described. Thirty concepts from the list were randomly sampled and then analyzed. Analysis consisted of listing examples and non-examples, relevant and irrelevant attributes, subordinates and supraordinates, and a definition and principle for each concept. Based upon these analyses, items were written to test the attainment of each of the 30 concepts at twelve different levels. The items represent the application of a test-item model that prescribes the levels at which a concept can be tested. Analyses of the 30 selected concepts and illustrative examples of test items are presented in this paper. Two appendices are included, the first concerning logical analyses of language arts concepts regarding words, and the second concerning logical analyses of language arts concepts regarding word in sentences. (Author/DI)

This working paper presents a twelve-part paridigm for testing the level of concept attainment in language arts. Items were selected for three topics: words, words in sentences, and connected discourse. Within each topic concepts presented in the middle elementary grades were identified, and ten concepts were randomly selected for each topic. Each concept was analyzed to determine its intrinsic attributes, definition, examples, supraordinate and subordinate concepts, and its relationship to another selected concept. Twelve items, one matching each task in the schema, were developed for each concept. The items were presented in the form resulting from item-tryouts and revision. An appendix provides a key to the correct answers for these items. (Author/DI)

This research studied the processes which enable people to acquire semantic information from natural-language discourse. Specific objectives were: (1) to represent semantically the structural meaning of English discourse by a well-defined semantic model; (2) to develop a way of using the semantic representation of a text as a structural model for scoring a subject's acquired knowledge; (3) to develop a process model for discourse comprehension; and (4) to investigate hypotheses about the effects of certain contextual conditions, designed to induce inferences about text content, on knowledge acquired from a text. Written reconstructions of knowledge acquired from a text were used in three experimental contexts: "arbitrary,""problem solving," and an incidental memory condition. Basic data consisted of the relative frequencies of classes of response from a semantic analysis of recall procedures. Results were consistent with a model of comprehension consisting primarily of "generative" rather than purely "interpretive" processes. Sources of individual differences were also studied. Part 2 contains a detailed development of a semantic structural model of English discourse and a technique for measuring semantic information acquired from discourse. (Author/DI)

This paper argues that the most appropriate books for elementary education are those that are the best that children can learn to read. The author suggests that many schools have problems teaching students to enjoy reading because the teachers too often attempt to teach from inferior school texts rather than from books that are worthy of study that is, books which are worth re-reading and which inspire reflective thought, within a course of study that should be enjoyable in itself. The author states that too often school textbooks cheapen and sully the students' learning, that only an education based on the great books provides the substance of a real education. Schoolbook culture, it is contended, offers no valid entry into the real world because it too often excludes the study of serious works of literary art. A genuine education would not only expose children at an early age to the great books but it would also treat writing as an art rather than as a set of mechanical skills to be mastered. (Author/DI)

Several methods illustrating how textbooks traditionally teach the use of pronouns in discourse in Thai are examined and criticized in this study. Examples of how "referential identity" and "lexical identity" are interrelated are provided. It is pointed out that (1) the semantic features of age, gender, and relationship are not sufficient to describe pronoun usage in Thai, and (2) dialogues and narratives based on rules of sentence-domain grammars do not accurately reflect the language of native speakers. The competence of the native speaker includes the skill to manipulate and vary pronouns through discourse. It is suggested that an objective of Thai language instruction should be to duplicate the behavior represented by that skill and to discover and teach the rules governing manipulations such as pronoun deletion and noun switching in sentence sequences. (RL)

This document reports on a conference focused on speech problems. The main objective of these discussions was to facilitate a deeper understanding of human communication through interaction of conference participants with colleagues in other disciplines. Topics discussed included speech production, feedback, speech perception, and development of language and language skills. Five levels of discourse were dealt with--the acoustical, the neurologic, the articulatory, the psychologic or behavioral, and various model languages. A concept of the speech-production system discussed was a system that has an output of phonemes and an input of control instructions. The discussion of the concept of feedback revealed that, depending upon the level of complexity of the speech response that was under discussion, the conference participants had a difficult time settling on how many and how extensive had to be the feedback loops that would be involved. In the consideration of speech perception, conference participants again had difficulty in reaching a decision on the definition of the stimulus for speech perception. A review is given of the schedule of development of certain kinds of speech and language behaviors. Conclusions include: (1) Speech production is a general kind of complicated motor behavior; and (2) Time-variant characteristics of speech signals are less identifiable anatomically than are spectral characteristics. (CK)

The author discusses the impact of the "computer revolution" on the field of rhetoric and public address in terms of the potential applications of computer methods to rhetorical problems. He first discusses the computer as a very fast calculator, giving the example of a study that probably would not have been undertaken if the calculations had had to be done manually. Clevenger then points out the advantages of the computer for information retrieval--especially for tedious, time-consuming projects--and suggests further use of the computer for preparation of concordances. He gives examples of the computer's potential uses for content and stylistic analyses, and he suggests methods whereby computer simulations could be used for rhetorical studies, such as predictions of audience response under given conditions. Finally, Clevenger discusses the computer as a "low-grade creative thinker," whereby the machine might generate a few useful questions or ideas concerning certain rhetorical statements or analyses. (RN)

The contributions of Cicero and Quintilian, the two leading Roman rhetoricians, were based on their acceptance of the prior philosophical theories of Isocrates, which emphasized a cultural approach to rhetoric. Cicero and Quintilian, drawing from Isocrates, sought prospective orators who had a natural talent for eloquence and who could adopt a cultural approach to rhetoric that emphasized the worth of reading and writing as important to forming the abilities of the model speaker. Their particular contributions were their emphases on the relationships between writing and speaking ability and their construction of systems of rhetoric which viewed the orator as the prime motivator of a group of listeners on a specific occasion. Their writer-speaker centered rhetoric anticipated the tradition of rhetoric and letters that flourished in later centuries, with special relevance for mid-twentieth century students of communication theory. (Author/RN)

Compositions based on a picture as stimulus and written by fourth and sixth graders were studied for syntactic and lexical deviations. From the corpus of data, eight interpretations were made: (1) comma fault, sentence sense, and coordinating conjunctions were the most frequent syntactic problems encountered--all could be eliminated by oral proofreading; (2) other syntactic deviations (the apostrophe as possessive marker, the distinction between common and proper nouns, the meanings of determiners, internal sentence punctuation, and subject-verb agreement) were candidates for instruction; (3) on a per-sentence basis high quality themes averaged less than one error, and low themes over three errors; (4) instruction in all of the syntactic deviations could be incorporated into a written language program for the elementary level; (5) lexical deviations were the result of problems of vocabulary development and word selection rather than spelling; (6) of the spelling deviations, many resulted from the omission, addition, or substitution of a single letter; (7) as the density of deviations per word decreased, the quality of writing was judged better by teachers; and (8) lexical deviations were also susceptible to a cognitive learning approach rather than a rote memory approach. (HS)

In this report, previous studies are reviewed in order to reconsider the assumption that lower class black children are generally deficient in their ability to produce syntactically elaborated speech. Though several studies have seemed to confirm the elaboration-deficiency hypothesis, the evidence presented is not convincing. Specific critiques of previous studies were that they: (1) confounded elaboration with dialect differences; (2) were not sufficiently sensitive to the content and context of sentences; (3) involved questionable decisions as to the elaborateness of syntactic forms; and, (4) were generally too gross to permit adequate interpretation of data. (Author/DM)

The system described in this report is designed for use as a computational tool that allows a linguist to develop and study methods for generating surface strings from an underlying semantic structure. Initial findings with regard to form-determiners (such as voice, form, tense, and mood), some rules for embedding sentences, and some attention to pronominational substitution are reported. The report discusses how a particular semantic network can be used in conjunction with a grammar to generate sequences of coherent English sentences. The paper first outlines the form of the grammar and lexicon and describes a random generation algorithm that produces syntactically well-formed nonsense. It then shows how the semantic nets are used to control the ordering of grammar rules and lexical selections to generate meaningful discourse. There is also a section on some of the methods and rules for generating multi-sentence discourse. Special emphasis is given to the questions and problems that arise. A list of references is provided.For additional information, see FL 002 344. (Author/VM)

An attempt was made to measure the language behavior of students in the upper elementary grades. The procedures and results of research in the following five areas are described in this report: (1) Relationship between the Linguistic Ability Test and the written discourse of fourth and sixth graders; (2) Comparisons of the discourse of fourth and sixth graders and of males and females; (3) Analysis of the effects of color and abstractness of pictures and of the specificity of instructions used in obtaining written discourse samples; (4) Comparisons of written discourse rated good, average, and poor; and (5) Comparison of oral and written discourse. (AG)

A pretest/post-test procedure for measuring information gain from discourse was investigated together with several other aspects of discourse processing. The main purpose was to determine the effect of a pretest on discourse learning as measured by post-test performance. The study also investigated (1) serial position effects in learning from discourse, (2) learning of factual versus relational information, and (3) information chunking of discourse material. Four hundred fifth-graders were used as subjects. The results indicated that (1) the pretest was an essentially neutral event, neither facilitating or depressing post-test performance; (2) almost all learning or retention was on factual as opposed to relational information; (3) negative recency serial position effects were obtained as a function of the order in which the information was presented in the passage, but no serial position effect was obtained as a function of test item order; and (4) no evidence was obtained for information chunking on a supra-sentence level. Tables, figures, and references are included. (Author/AW)

This volume, the first in a series of four on the languages of Nepal, contains the following papers: "Toward the Systematization of Display Grammar,""Clause Patterns in Kham,""Tentative Systemic Organization of Nepali Sentences,""Maithili Sentences,""Notation for Simultaneous Representation of Grammatical and Sememic Components in Connected Discourse,""Paired-Sentence Reversals in the Discovery of Underlying and Surface Structures in Sherpa Discourse,""Contra-Expectancy Particles in Tharu Bhojpuri,""Chaining and Spotlighting: Two types of Paragraph Boundaries in Sunwar," and "An Approach to Discourse in Sunwar." For other volumes in the series, see FL 004 895, FL 004 897, and FL 004 898. (DD)

This volume presents five languages of India-Nepal from four different language families: Halbi and Kupia (India) of the Indo-Aryan family, Parengi-Gorum (India) of the Munda family, Dhangar-Kudux (Nepal) of the Dravidian family, and Tamang (Nepal) of the Tibeto-Burman family. Papers are entitled "Semanitc Relations between Whole Propositions in English,""Sentence Patterns in Halbi,""Sentence Patterns in Kupia,""Sentence Patterns in Tamang,""Clause Patterns in Parengi-Gorum," and "Paired Semantic Components, Paired Sentence Reversals and the Analysis of Dhangar-Kudux Discourse." For other volumes in the series, see FL 004 900, FL 004 901, and FL 004 902. (DD)

This paper deals with the computer's production and recognition of sentences in a connected discourse and its application to computer assisted instruction. Studies of textual properties in real discourses have been carried out at the paragraph level. The theoretical concepts of representing paragraph content in terms of (1) the factual data expressed by the grammatical units in a paragraph, (2) the development types and their structural relationships and (3) the cohesive principles used in the sentences of the paragraph is presented. The theoretical investigation of discourse properties is aided by a paragraph generation system constructed to synthesize paragraphs and to test out the linguistic assumptions made in the study. The theoretical concept and the computational tool constructed are used in the development of an integrated computer-assisted system designed to synthesize and analyze news stories at the paragraph level and to provide preprogrammed critiques to students learning journalistic writing. (Author)

The purpose of these studies was to test the hypothesis that thematization affects the probability that a probe word will produce meaning-preserving recall of a sentence that is part of a discourse. Sentences were constructed along the lines of subject-verb-object and were presented in three experiments: free recall of isolated sentences, prompted recall of isolated sentences, and prompted recall of sentences from paragraphs. The experiments were: (1) Free Recall, No Context; (2) Prompted Recall, No Context; and (3) Prompted Recall, Paragraph Context. University of Pittsburgh undergraduates served as subjects for all three experiments. The results indicated that the effectiveness of words from sentences as retrieval prompts for sentence meaning is dependent upon thematization. When a sentence was presented in isolation, without context, and when the imagery and concreteness of the subject-noun and object-noun were high and equal, there was no difference between the two nouns in prompt effectiveness. However, when the subject was the theme of the paragraph, the subject was a much better prompt than the object. When the object was the theme, subject and object were equal. (WR)

Developed as a high school quinmester unit on persuasive speaking, this guide provides the teacher with teaching strategies for a course which analyzes speeches from "Vital Speeches of the Day," political speeches, TV commercials, and other types of speeches. Practical use of persuasive methods for school, community, county, state, and national election campaigns are emphasized. Range of subject matter covers (1) persuasion within the student's world; (2) analysis of audience; (3) persuasive verbal and nonverbal communication; (4) appeal to reason; and (5) appeal to emotions. The guide is arranged by performance objectives with the teaching strategies listed under each objective. Appended is a list of student and teacher resources including state-adopted textbooks, non-state-adopted supplementary materials, films, records, and games. (HOD)

Developed for a high school quinmester unit on the language of persuasion, this guide provides the teacher with teaching strategies for a study of the speaker or writer as a persuader, the identification of the logical and psychological tools of persuasion, an examination of the levels of abstraction, the techniques of propaganda, and the effective forces in advertising. The range of subject matter includes (1) the identification of the devices used by the propagandist and evaluation of their effectiveness; (2) evaluation of news in the mass media; (3) evaluation of advertising in the mass media, including analysis of techniques and identification of appeals; and (4) instruction and practice in the use of persuasion. The guide is arranged by performance objectives with suggested teaching strategies listed under each objective. A listing of student and teacher resources (state-adopted textbooks, non-state-adopted supplementary materials, and films) is provided. (HOD)

This study investigated the written and oral discourse of a subject with an established reputation as an author, editor, lecturer, and television host, to determine whether his written discourse was more complex syntactically than his spoken discourse. The oral language sample was taken from a taped television program in which the speaker responded to questions asked by three guest journalists; the written sample was taken from four newspaper columns written by the speaker. The samples were then segmented into minimal terminal syntactic units and the words in each sample were counted, as were the clauses, nonfinite verbals, passive constructions, auxiliaries, and attributive adjectives. Findings revealed (1) the median length of syntactic units was significantly greater in the written language samples; (2) the proportion of syntactic units containing one or more dependent clauses was significantly greater in written samples; (3) oral samples did not show as high a frequency of gerunds, participles, attributive adjectives, passive constructions and modal and perfective auxiliaries; and (4) noun clauses, infinitives, and progressive auxiliaries were observed more often in spoken discourse. (HOD)

Based on the belief that the most appropriate focus of a language arts curriculum is the process and content of communication, these several unipacs (instructional packets) explore some essential elements of communication which should be incorporated into a curricular theory: (1) abstraction , which is the assertion that words may be classified as relatively abstract or concrete; (2) statements in context--reports, inferences, and judgments; (3) symbols (words) and referents; (4) denotative and connotative meaning; (5) the appropriateness of communication, which can affect the effectiveness of a message; (6) language change as a result of time, geography, and culture; (7) dialects, which show variation in pronunciation, vocabulary, and syntax; and (8) form and media--form being the physical and literary framework in which a message appears and media representing the carrier of a message from sender to receiver. Activities and situations are presented in each instructional packet to help conceptualize the various communicative elements. (HOD)

Compositions of 1000 words were collected from 32 eighth-graders and 32 twelfth-graders in Manitowac, Wisconsin. In each grade, 16 males and 16 females were equally distributed into two ability groups based on IQ. Data from the writing samples were analyzed with an analysis of variance in which the factors were grade, sex, and ability level. The data consisted of five ratios computed from a frequency count of sentences, T-units, clauses, and words, together with frequency count of 11 kinds of subordinate structures. Results showed significant differences between the two grade levels, but not between sexes or ability levels. Grade differences included the use by 12th graders of longer clauses and T-units; more coordination between main clauses by 8th graders, resulting in a higher ratio of T-units per sentence; more frequent use of noun clauses by 12th graders; and more frequent use of adverb clauses by 8th graders. (Author/MF)

In one essay of this collection of four, Kenneth L. Pike explores the value of exercises which are based on axioms about language structure and which are designed specifically to develop writing competence; he lists eight tagmemic principles accompanied by suggested exercises. In another essay, Pike differentiates the roles of linguist and literary critic and applies linguistic analysis to jokes. Hubert M. English, Jr., demonstrates how using five of Pike's "universal concepts" of perspective can improve the content of student compositions and foster invention. Alan B. Howes emphasizes the student's need to sharpen his perception and consider the subject from several angles before writing about literature. He illustrates the value of Pike's model of particle, wave, and field, developed for the study of language, for encouraging the flexibility of perspective in the study of literature. (JM)

The complex nature of grammar and its relevance to teaching today are explored in the light of modern linguistics. Reviewing the development and fundamental theory of transformational generative grammar, the author points out its substantial merit and also its failure to be understood as exemplary grammatical analysis of language rather than grammar itself. Final remarks deal with the validity of grammatical rules and the proposal that grammar be considered a subject of study in its own right. (RL)

To determine the variety of syntactic patterns that potential English teachers would normally use and the possible differences in their oral and written discourse, 1000-word oral and written language samples were collected from 21 student teachers. These samples were divided into T-units and classified according to 23 sentence patterns based on Paul Robert's kernel rules with selected transformations. Significant differences in syntax were identified between the subjects' oral and written language. For example, the subjects used four times as many "subject-verb-direct object" sentences in written than in oral language and they utilized a greater variety of sentence patterns in oral than in written language. (Tables show the frequency of individual sentence patterns used in the samples, significant differences between oral and written syntax, and the intercorrelation of 19 variables considered to be indicators of syntactic maturity.) (JB)

The purpose of this project is to present the results of the authors efforts to analyze classroom discourse into strategies. The source of data used in this investigation is the same as that which was used in the previous study of the logic of instruction. It consists of recorded classroom discourse at the high school level including grades nine through twelve. Five consecutive class sessions where recorded for each teacher of each subject at each grade level. The recorded classroom discourse was transcribed and dittoed, and the dittoed materials were used in making the analyses both of the logical operations and of the strategies of instruction. It is hoped that this study will afford a broader and more adequate empirical base upon which to rest experimental studies of teaching. (JL)

Twenty-five Philippine languages and dialects were studied to determine the manner in which words, clauses, sounds, and sentences group together to make up units larger than the sentence. Data obtained were analyzed according to tagmemic theory. The introduction to this volume (see also AL 002 032 and AL 002 033) gives a brief orientation to the concepts and terminology of tagmemics. Four points are emphasized: (1) trimodal structuring, (2) pattern and function, (3) hierarchy, and (4) system. Three parts comprise the majority of the document. Part 1 discusses discourse structure; Part 2 deals with paragraph structure. The third part presents the grammar and lexicon in Dibabawon procedural narrative discourse. Illustrative data are given mostly in the form of summary and sampling in English translation. (DO)

This paper, one of a group prepared by the Classroom Interaction Project of the University of Missouri's Center of Social Behavior (see related documents AL 002 750-752), is organized into two parts. The first section, a presentation of results of research into the sociolinguistic distribution of syntactic structures in black and white classrooms, is divided into three categories: those dealing with grade level differences between (1) black and white pupils, (2) teachers of black pupils and teachers of white pupils, and (3) the total sets of teachers and pupils. Findings did not support the two major hypotheses that (1) white pupils use complex language more frequently than black pupils, and (2) complexity of language increases with grade level. It was found rather that black and white pupils in the sample were in different language development cycles, in which whites attained maximum use of complex structures sooner than blacks but where blacks used more complex structures once their peak of development had been reached. It was also found that the classroom language of the teacher tended to reflect that of the pupils. The second section of the paper discusses the implications of the research for language research as well as for education. (FWB)

This paper argues that traditional techniques of content analysis which have been applied to classroom verbal interaction studies fail to account for certain types of implicit information, and presents a technique, called "reconstruction," that provides for the inclusion of such information in a content analysis. It is argued that if identical messages (paraphrases) can contain varying amounts of overt information then the case for implicit information and thus reconstruction is supported. In other words, if individuals who interpret messages must supply information which is not overtly available, then this implicit information must be included to obtain frequency counts which accurately reflect the semantic preoccupations of the verbal interaction. The paper first discusses the existence of implicit information in a communicative event and a technique of reconstruction for discovering that information. The second part presents data to show that reconstruction makes a difference, and in particular that black and white classrooms differ in the degree to which they exhibit implicit information in their discourse. These differences are felt to be substantive. It is also felt that, without such reconstruction, content analyses of classroom discourse generate distorted views of the concerns of participants. See also AL 002 750 and AL 002 752-753. (Author/FWB)

This paper serves as an introduction to a group of papers produced by the Classroom Interaction Project of the Center for Research in Social Behavior at the University of Missouri in Columbia. This project has been chiefly concerned with ascertaining if black-ghetto and white-suburban classrooms use language differently and, if so, in what ways. Finding earlier methods used in classroom interaction research inadequate, the project has concentrated on the development of formal concepts and methods for the analysis of classroom discourse, and these papers are meant, therefore, to illustrate the application of these formal tools for classroom discourse analysis to the problem of racial differences among classrooms. The paper begins with a description of the methods used in producing the videotape recordings which serve as the data bank for the project. The data bank, which consists of more than 250 videotaped classroom lessons, and the sampling procedures used in obtaining it are then discussed, followed by an explanation of the various stages involved in processing the data. Finally, general conclusions are presented. Although differences between the languages spoken in black and white classrooms were found, there was no indication that black classroom usage is inferior to white classroom usage. See related documents AL 002 751-753. (FWB)

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the two judgmental factors of "confidence-eagerness" and "ethnicity-nonstandardness" (previously identified from teachers' semantic differential evaluations of audio-taped samples of children's speech) would still be found when samples were presented in an audiovisual mode and whether these factors were pertinent to the differentiation of ethnic and social status. A set of 2-minute video-tapes made from interviews with six 11 and 12 year old boys from six ethno-status groups--Black middle and lower, Mexican-American middle and lower, and Anglo middle and lower--was presented as test stimuli to 102 undergraduate female Anglos who were asked to respond to a 59-item semantic differential scale. Some of the subjects were asked to respond to the audio mode, others to the video mode, and the rest to complete audio-visual conditions. Their responses implied that the two-factor model of confidence-eagerness and ethnicity-nonstandardness can be used in video-taped studies of children's speech. (Included are tabulations of adjectival pairs in the 59-item semantic instrument, subjects' responses to a semantic differential scale, and results of the two-factor analyses of confidence-eagerness and ethnicity-nonstandardness.) See also TE 002 001 and TE 002 002. (JM)

In this study, the judgmental ratings that 15 teacher-subjects made of the two-factors of "confidence-eagerness" and "ethnicity-nonstandardness" in children's speech are compared to their presumptions of the speech behavior expected from children from certain ethnic and social status groups. In a pre- and post-test experiment using written stereotyped descriptions of ethnic and social status, the teacher subjects were asked to predict the speech performance of children from six ethno-status groups--Black middle and lower, Mexican-American middle and lower, and Anglo middle and lower. The results of these ratings were then compared to the subject's ratings on a semantic differential scaling of the video-taped speech of six 11 and 12 year old boys from these six ethno-status groups. (See TE 002 000 and TE 002 001.) Although some deviations were found, the subject's ratings of both the stereotyped descriptions and the video-taped speech samples corresponded closely to each other. (Tables include the scales used to index the two-factor model, ethno-status stereotype descriptions, and graphic representations of the ratings of confidence-eagerness and ethnicity-nonstandardness.) (JM)

The aim of this study was to assess the length of latencies or reaction times that it took for 15 teachers and prospective teachers to judge the degree of "ethnic-nonstandardness" or "confidence-eagerness" in a child's speech. A set of 2-minute video-tapes made from interviews with six 11 and 12 year old boys from six ethno-status groups--Black middle and lower, Mexican-American middle and lower, and Anglo middle and lower--was shown to the subjects, who were asked, as they watched the tapes, to signal the duration of time necessary to mark 15 scale cards and sequence them in any order they felt to be valid. Time lapses in the sequencing of the cards and the amount of viewing time relative to each scale completion were then recorded and tabulated. It It was found that it took an average of 1 and one-half minutes to rate a child's speech as either "ethnic-nonstandard" or "confident-eager." (See also TE 002 000 and TE 002 002.) (JM)

Three papers, based on a study done with 160 Wisconsin fourth- and sixth-graders, are presented in an attempt to contribute to the psycholinguistic information needed in developing elementary English language learning programs. The first paper, "A Linguistic Ability Test for Elementary Grades," discusses a written test made up of 15 linguistic tasks which measure linguistic ability objectively and relate these to written discourse. The second paper compares and analyzes differences in discourse when children are asked to respond to pictorial stimuli ranked from concrete to abstract and are given preliminary instructions which vary. The third paper, based on the writing samples obtained from the pictorial-stimuli situation, describes the lexical and syntactic linguistic deviations made by the subjects. The data and linguistic variables are tabulated in the appendix. (JM)

Students who are taught to understand and apply Korzybski's uses of semantics to their writing will learn to write more concretely. As students locate words and descriptions vertically on Korzybski's scale of abstraction levels, they will become able to perceive how meanings change when descriptions become either more general or specific, to differentiate between an idea and an example of an idea, and to discern patterns of abstraction levels in paragraphs and entire books. To make their writing more specifically useful, students should be encouraged to qualify isolated words with quantitative or identifying numbers and dates and to replace "is" with an active verb. By incorporating these writing aids, students will be reminded to constantly observe, question, and experiment with meanings and to express their own ideas in modestly specific and accurate sentences. (CK)

The purpose of this study was to test the implication that ethnic stereotyping may bias a teacher's perception of a child's speech. The subjects, 44 undergraduate education majors, were asked to view three 90-second segments of video tape showing fifth and sixth grade boys from three ethnic groups--Black, Mexican-American, and Anglo--and were asked to complete a rating instrument made up of a set of semantic differential scales designed to judge a child's speech in terms of "confidence-eagerness" or "ethnicity-nonstandardness." The video tapes were produced in such a manner that it was possible to substitute the speech of one child for another. Each subject was shown a segment of an Anglo child speaking standard English, a segment of a Black or Mexican-American child speaking the standard English of an Anglo child (dubbed in), and a segment of a Black or Mexican-American child speaking his own dialect. Findings indicated that visual clues of ethnicity did bias the subjects' evaluations of standard English speech samples. Black and Mexican-American children shown with audio dubs of standard English were judged to be less confident and eager and more ethnic and nonstandard than the Anglo children speaking standard English. (See also ED 042 756-ED 042 758.) (JM)

Seven objective measures of language production--number of words, T-units, subordinate clauses, clauses of all types, words per clause, words per T-unit, and clauses per T-unit--were applied to 269 compositions written by seventh, ninth, and 11th graders to test assumptions about the relationships between quality of writing and students' age and maturity levels. Quality ratings of high (H), middle (M), and low (L) were given to each paper, using the evaluation procedures of the STEP test. The following relationships were tested: For total words, total T-units, words per T-unit, number of subordinate clauses, and total clauses, it was hypothesized that H=M, M>L, and H>L; for words per clause, H=M=L; and for clauses per T-unit, HL, and H>L. Results indicated that (1) distinctions between quality of papers were not signaled by differences in ratios of words to T-units, words to clauses, or clauses to T-units, (2) quality was distinguished by significant increases from low to middle to high in total words, total T-units, and total clauses, and (3) on the whole, low papers made use of significantly fewer subordinate clauses than did either middle or high. (Included are tables indicating the statistical measures used and a review of normative studies which previously examined developmental trends in composition quality. (JM)