Journal of Language and Social Psychology

This study investigated the relations of a series of attitude, motivation and aptitude variables to the acquisition and retention of French language skills. Subjects were drawn from a sample of 105 students registered in an intensive French language summer training programme in Trois-Pistoles, Quebec, who completed a series of tests at the beginning and end of the course. A factor analysis of data from the 89 students with complete data identified four factors, French Achievement, Integrative Motive, Self-confidence with French, and SelfPerception of French Competence. These results suggested that the roles played by language aptitude and attitudinal/motivational variables differed somewhat, and reflected the socio-cultural conditions under which language learning took place. Investigation of language loss suggested that language use and attitudinal/ motivational characteristics were major factors involved in the retention of second language skills in the period following intensive training.

This paper has a two-fold aim: to illustrate the use of qualitative, linguistic data in the study of overt racism; and to focus on the experience of black people at the receiving end of racist acts. Accounts of the experience of covert racism in the context of an 'open' university in South Africa were examined in terms of a method based on attributional principles (Essed, 1988). It was found that black students' accounts of racist experiences did not constitute incoherent stories containing snap judgments about an actor's racism, but followed explicit and logical rules. In addition, these accounts illustrated that when judging an incident as racist or not, black students showed a high degree of tolerance (i.e. testing all possible alternative interpretations before deciding that an incident could be construed as racist) and made clear distinctions between racist and non-racist incidents (i.e. did not react in an 'over-sensitive' manner by classifying all discriminatory instances as racist). It was also found that most students expressed a sense of powerlessness and resignation regarding covert racism on campus. Finally, suggestions were made regarding the extension of this method for socially responsible research in South Africa.

This paper seeks to reopen the issue of whether Mrs Thatcher's interviews do show, as has been claimed, a distinctive pattern in that they are characterised by interviewers often gaining the floor through interruption at certain points in her speech because her turns appear to be complete at these points. Bull & Mayer (1988) have argued that earlier claims by Beattie (1982) and Beattie, Cutler & Pearson (1982) on this matter are suspect for a variety of methodological and statistical reasons. Each of their criticisms are addressed in this paper. It is argued that Bull & Mayer's study cannot be considered a direct test of the original hypothesis for a variety of reasons which are all outlined. The dialogue which is subsequently set up has implications far beyond the limited research question of the structure of Mrs Thatcher's political interviews and raises some compelling questions about the classification of all conversational turn-exchanges as well as the future development of schemes for classifying interruption.