1. Contrastive linguistics. This term has had some vogue in recent years as a name for the comparative description of language structures with a view to improving the quality of language teaching. A concise definition is offered by one worker in the field: “Contrastive linguistics offers hypotheses concerning identifications a learner will make between elements of his base and target systems, thus providing predictions and explanations concerning his learning behaviour of presumed high value in planning learning and teaching strategy” (Nemser 1970, forthcoming: 2-3).

In 1959 the Center for Applied Linguistics launched a Contrastive Structure Series under the editorship of Charles A. Ferguson. Six volumes have appeared so far, in which German, Spanish, and Italian phonological and grammatical structures have been compared with English for the benefit of teachers, textbook writers, and ultimately students of these languages. The Center has gone on to organize, under William Nemser’s direction, a number of Contrastive Projects in Yugoslavia, Romania, and other countries, in co-operation with local scholars in linguistics and language teaching.