The lessons in this teacher's guide are intended to supplement existing taped materials in the French Basic Course. Emphasis is placed on creative activities, realistic situations, and authentic speech variations. The materials can be used for self-study purposes as well as in a language lab under the guidance of an instructor. The seven units in…

After finding that the English Pronunciation course required at Regensburg University reduced errors by only 14 percent, a course was developed in recognizing errors (one's own and others'), with emphasis on vowel reduction, speech rhythm, elementary intonation and liaison. As a result, errors were reduced by 67 percent. (IFS/WGA)

Reports a study of the production of Thai vowels, consonants, and tones by native English speakers using two forms of evaluation: acoustic measurements and auditory evaluation by native Thai-speaking listeners. The study focused on the differences in acoustic parameters between the two groups and the acoustic parameter influencing native…

Very sharp discrimination functions for the timing of voice onset relative to stop release characterize perceptual boundaries between certain pairs of stop consonants for adult speakers of many languages. To explore how these discriminations depend on experience, their development was studied among Kikuyu children, whose native language contains…

It has been observed that some American students develop disorders of communication when learning a foreign language by the audiolingual method. Such disorders take various forms - "word deafness," articulatory defects and deviations in vocal quality. A project to study these phenomena began in 1959 at Purdue University. One study examined the…

The connection between rhythm, motion, intonation, and meaning in second language learning is explored in a series of classroom activities and games. (MSE)

This paper discusses the importance of listening comprehension in the learning of English as a Second Language (ESL). It is argued that more emphasis needs to be given to the neglected skills of listening comprehension, since most training in oral communication at the secondary and college level focuses on effective speaking. The paper outlines…

This article briefly discusses ways in which the study of foreign language contributes to the development of reading skills in the speaker's native language. Comments are directed to the following areas: (1) auditory discrimination, (2) visual discrimination, (3) association and insight, (4) the reading process, (5) expansion of vocabulary, (6)…

The articulatory awareness task, which was found by Griffiths and Frith (2002) to discriminate ex-dyslexic from non-dyslexic adults, was given to three groups of Japanese college students with different English reading abilities. Two unexpected results emerged: (1) Articulatory awareness performance was generally poor across the groups, thereby…

A study to assess the feasibility of the use of low frequencies for teaching foreign language to the hearing impaired is described. The subjects were unimpaired Japanese students, aged 18 and 19, in beginning French language study. Recorded sentences translated into English, French, and Mandarin Chinese were combined in various ways and presented…

An examination of materials development for independent study in listening comprehension of English as a second language (ESL) begins with an outline of current directions in second language instruction. The discussion that follows has two parts. The first is a review of some changing perspectives on the role of listening in language learning and…

A study investigated the roles of phonological encoding and visual processes in word recognition in American learners of Arabic as a foreign language. Subjects were 36 individuals with proficiency ranging from beginning to native. Two experiments in word recognition were conducted, one at word and one at sentence level. At each level, the word…

This trilingual handbook (English, French, German) presents exercises for eight areas of language instruction: (1) practice in sentence patterns, (2) presentation and practice of a new item, (3) pronunciation, (4) use of pictures, (5) practicing the transfer from oral to written skills, (6) presentation and practice of conversational patterns, (7)…

This study conducted at the University of Kentucky in 1967-68 tests the theory of interaction between discrimination and pronunciation through a field test. After a brief review of previous research in phonemic discrimination as related to foreign language learning, the procedures and results of the test are presented. The text used was "Basic…

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of the assumption that auditory discrimination and pronunciation in a foreign language are closely related. If the assumption were to be well-founded, then it might be possible for foreign language students with high auditory discrimination ability to work alone in the language…