Arguing that slot-cards teach the structure of the verb and the grammatical message each slot carries while reducing the number of forms to be learned, the author describes a technique for teaching the tense modes of the present indicative, the present subjunctive, and the perfect indicative in French. A working model of the verb stems "aimer" and…

The beginning reading problems of the child who speaks nonstandard English are analyzed from the standpoint of the linguistic theory of interference, the name given to the condition in which the person imposes the sound and grammatical system of his own language on the language to be learned. Applications of the Skinnerian theory of stimulus…

The first article in this issue is a response by Dieter Mindt to articles in the January, 1974, issue on the language laboratory versus the portable cassette tape recorder, in which it is argued that although the cassette recorder has many uses it cannot replace all the facilities offered by the stationary language laboratory. James R. Nord…

In order for education to be truly progressive, it is necessary to recognize that some innovations are merely ideas resurrected from the past. An example of this is bilingual education, which is growing in popularity throughout the country as a means of instructing non-English speaking children. An examination of historical documents reveals that…

With this issue, the Center for Applied Linguistics takes over the preparation, publishing, and mailing of this newsletter. A report is given on the first year's activities of the Alaska Native Language Center of the University of Alaska, which is involved in developing and disseminating literacy materials and native literature, designing…

A conversation with the author's 7-year-old son who is just beginning to learn French serves to illustrate the concept of communicative competence and its implications for second-language teaching and testing. Communicative competence is defined as the ability to engage in spontaneous, interpersonal transactions, in contrast to linguistic…

This annotated bibliography contains 86 document and journal references listed in "Research in Education (RIE)" and in "Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE)." Included are references related to programs, issues, materials, and methodology involved in bilingual teaching. (SET)

The subject of this study was a Peruvian child who learned German first and, from the age of 2 years and 10 months, was systematically exposed to Spanish. At the age of 4, he had mastered both German and Spanish to the same degree of phonic, morphological, and syntactic competence. Two weeks after the surgical removal of a brain tumor at 5 years…

During the year 1972-73 experiments were conducted at the University of Brussels on the use of motion picture films as a medium of teaching English as a foreign language to college students. Most of the students were at the intermediate level in English, and needed practice in aural comprehension and oral expression. Selected films were obtained…

The English speaker learning French tends to interpret the sound characteristics of the second language according to English conventions. The term "sound characteristics" as used here refers to the phonetic aspects, the rhythm, and the intonation of French. A number of examples are given to support the theory that insufficient knowledge of these…

This learning module is designed to provide the prospective teacher of English as a second-language with an overview of the contrasting features of the English and Spanish sound systems and practical classroom applications. After completing the learning activities in the module, the student is expected to be able to: (a) explain the main…

A word of caution is needed about the tendency of language teachers to seize on simplistic and unproven solutions to complex problems. For example, the concept of individualization, when it is limited to having students work in isolation to fulfill mechanically-prescribed objectives, should be questioned. The so-called "systems approach" to…

This work asserts that contrastive analysis should be regarded as a technique of research and not limited to error prediction and material preparation. Introductory observations are made on the state of the field, the domain of contrastive analysis, contrastive analysis and transfer, and contrastive analysis and foreign language instruction. In…

This programed textbook uses drawings of objects and people as it introduces basic vocabulary and grammatical patterns for the student of English as a second language. The 149 steps in the book progress through a variety of patterns including negatives, questions, and commands. Present and present progressive action verbs are included. Forms of…

The two papers in this booklet comprise part of the research in the Hungarian-English Contrastive Linguistics Project, which is concerned with investigating the differences and similarities between the two languages with implications for second language acquisition. The first paper compares the obstruent clusters in English and Hungarian,…