A detailed account of experiments conducted to determine whether speech "balloons" added to pictures and symbols in FL aided in conveying meaning. Conclusion: pictures without speech balloons were more effective. Conclusions are drawn regarding future design of picture materials. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Advocates the study of poetry in FL classes and suggests methods by which students could be tested on poetry. (KM)

Some of the most frequent and serious learning difficulties encountered by Thai students learning English verbs, which involve the linguistic discrepancies between the Thai and English verbs, are analyzed. (Author/RM)

Offers suggestions about explaining the use of the accusative case in Russian time expressions. (PMP)

Condensed from "The Massachusetts Teacher, Volume 48 (January 1969), 10-11, 24.

Abstracts of 51 papers presented at a conference on foreign language teaching are included. Each abstract is one to two pages in length. Specific teaching methods as well as general pedagogical ideas are treated. Several papers deal with specific languages, including Latin, French, German, Spanish, and Slovak. Instruction in a specific language…

In the 1960's, two medical doctors, Georgi Lozanov and Alfonso Caycedo, discovered independently that certain yogic techniques of physical and mental relaxation could be used to produce not only analgesia but also improved memory and concentration. Systems originally used in medicine and psycho-therapy were applied to education, in particular to…

The suggestopedic technique of second language instruction is sketched. Recent efforts to adopt the technique in parts of the American West are reviewed. The historical precedent of suggestopedia and the interpretation of the technique by two linguists at the 1979 TESOL convention are investigated. Hypnosis is compared to suggestopedia, and…

A thorough investiqation is attempted of efforts to apply hypnosis and suggestive learning techniques to education in general and specifically to second language learning. Hypnosis is discussed in terms of its dangers, its definition, and its application. Included in this discussion is a comparison of auto- and hetero-hypnosis, an overview of the…

The use of contrastive analysis in foreign language teaching is based on five assumptions: (1) that the prime cause of difficulty and error in foreign language learning is interference from the learners' native language; (2) that these difficulties are due chiefly to the differences between the two languages; (3) that the greater these…

The need for a contrastive approach in foreign language teaching has long been recognized, but in the construction of textbook materials and in classroom practice it has rarely been realized. For pedagogical purposes a useful distinction can be drawn between difference and contrast. Differences can be taught as new items of knowledge, whereas…

This reader was designed for use in the Foreign Service Institute's basic course in Dari (Kabuli or Afghan Persian). It consists of sample newspaper articles in Dari, each followed by an English-Dari vocabulary list. (PMP)

Presented is information for teachers, administrators, and consultants concerned with teaching foreign languages to gifted high school students. Discussed in the introduction is the value of foreign language study, the psychological basis of language learning, and identification of language talent. It is advised that the student experience the…

This newsletter continues to report on the use and instruction of English throughout the world. Articles here concern the status and role of English in Zaire, Portugal, Taiwan, Israel, Tanzania, and Burundi. One report discusses the work and scope of the Center for English Language Research and Teaching in Beirut; another article reports on…

It is asserted that noun errors made by students of Russian show that they have not grasped the syntactic functions of the declensional desinences. A number of teaching techniques are outlined which attempt to follow the subconscious processes that speakers of Russian go through in selecting declensional desinences. (RM)