Eduard,

Some people might use the term semilingual to refer to
monolinguals.  It is definitely more strongly associated
with the bilingual environment.  The term used by most
people who deal with the monolingual situation is “delayed
language.”  Both terms usually refer to children in a school
setting, where the L1 skills have not reached the level
necessary for the development of literacy.   In general
everyday discourse is also limited in these groups.

I do want to make clear that I would not refer to the
college students/teachers (my data) –who were all literate--
as semilingual (or “delayed L1” or whatever).   I am sure
that when those adults were children their L1 skills were
sufficient to begin literacy development on schedule and
that they were never referred for language
therapy/assistance.  However, as they went through the K12
system they were given very little instruction in formal
English (grammar, vocabulary) and skill development
(writing).  Because of the lack of instruction, they had
problems composing complex sentences and using more formal
vocabulary. Their grammatical problems –or even their
lexical problems—would not be evident in everyday discourse,
because the vocabulary and structure of everyday discourse
are more limited.  

BTW, the everyday level is the level acquired through do-it-
yourself foreign language lessons (i.e., up to intermediate-
level proficiency) for anyone who has tried such a
program.   To acquire the formal level of the L2 a person
would have to really hit the books, just the way you did.  
The point is that the formal level of discourse has to be
very consciously learned and practiced.  My sense is that
many educators still continue to conflate everyday discourse
and formal discourse, and also incoherence with language
variation.  
yvonne


---- Original message ----
>Date: Fri, 18 Aug 2006 14:07:20 -0500
>From: "Eduard C. Hanganu" <[log in to unmask]>  
>Subject: Re: The role of English teachers  
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>Yvonne,
>
>You state that "Semilingualism refers to non-native
speakers (e.g.,
>ESL students, and usually identified in elementary school
settings),
>who have not acquired a sufficient foundation in either the
first or
>second language."
>
>Alan Davies, though, in his book "The Native Speaker: Myth
and
>Reality," applies the term *semilingualism* both to native
and non-
>native speakers. He states:
>
>"What semilingualism argues (Skutnabb-Kangas, 1981) is that
in
>certain situations, "either of a multilingual character or
an
>impoverished one, which creates a climate of disadvantage,
children
>may be brought up with no fully developed linguistic system
and what
>they have will be either (a) a set (two or more) of partial
systems
>or (b) one inadequate system." (p. 30)
>
>Eduard
>
>To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the
list's web interface at:
>     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
>and select "Join or leave the list"
>
>Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
Yvonne Stapp PhD
Assistant Professor of ESL
James Madison University
Dept of Exceptional Education MSC 6908
Memorial Hall 3130B
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
phone 540-568-4525