An experimental approach to reading a foreign language is described, in which the assigned text was taped by the instructor. These tapes were then supplemented by worksheets which included content questions on the author and vocabulary and grammar exercises based on the text. The tapes were made available to the students in the language…

Special emphasis is placed on the potential of dialog learning in a discussion of a sequence of activities and materials appropriate for developing the recognition and selection levels of activity involved in listening to a foreign language. Also referred to are the (1) procedural features of presentation, (2) emotional problems possibly resulting…

The authors studied a longitudinal English intervention in a 70/30 (Spanish/ English) developmental bilingual education (DBE) program (n = 302) and compared this model with a typical-practice, 80/20, late-exit transitional bilingual education program (n = 187) in terms of students' language and literacy acquisition from kindergarten to second…

The curriculum guide for Ohio's secondary level programs in English as a second language (ESL) begins with background information on factors to consider in developing an ESL curriculum, including limited-English-proficient students' characteristics, the language acquisition process, skill areas to be covered, instructional goals for four major…

Following a brief review of the literature on cognates, and a discussion of six arguments in favor of using cognates as a vocabulary acquisition device, a study is described which was designed to determine whether students were able to utilize English-French cognates in listening and reading comprehension in French. Seventy-four tenth grade…

This handbook is a compendium of communication testing techniques submitted by French teachers from the United States, France, and Canada. The majority of the handbook consists of sample oral communication tests. The introductory section defines communication, outlines communications testing, and discusses listening comprehension, oral expression,…

The idea of reducing the redundancy of a verbal message in a statistical way is presented as a practiced technique of language testing. Considering the temporality of speech comprehension, and the necessarily sequential intake of information, these cues may include the serial order of elements and transitional probability. To give the background…

A college-level course is described that is designed to increase oral proficiency and comprehension in Spanish and to introduce students to the culture of the Hispanic world. The course is taught in Spanish, and faculty members from other disciplines serve as guest lecturers to provide reinforcement of material learned in the areas of history,…

This paper is part of a series presented at the symposium on a European units/credits system for modern language learning to adults. Included are a list of 58 modules or units of study, together with some indication of real-life situations in which the skills associated with the modules could be used. These modules have to be further divided so…

The procedures for the construction of the Dutch national exams of reading comprehension and for setting cut-off scores have remained roughly unchanged over 20 years. Construction procedures are characterized by thorough screening rather than pretesting; cut-off scores are influenced by procedures and percentages fails rather than by equating. Two…

This paper discusses findings from an ongoing 3-year study of the impact of strategy training on Russian listening comprehension. In particular, the study focused on the techniques that encourage increased student control of their application of learner strategies. The research presented adds to prior research on listening training in second…

Understanding about how students make sense of foreign language texts, based on relevant research and theory, can contribute to effective foreign language reading instruction. Both linguistic factors in the target language and native language reading skill development are critical to success in foreign language reading. Linguistic factors…

Approximately 500 works concerning acquisition of French as a first or second language by children from infancy to adolescence are listed. Although works on prelinguistic development are not included, research on comprehension during this period is. Studies of early simultaneous bilingual development are included if one of the languages is French.…

In order to test hypotheses derived from the concept that grammatical, syntactic, semantic, and contextual cues affect the degree of reading comprehension in a visual display, the present investigation was undertaken using the French language. The subjects were approximately 30 college students in a second-semester elementary French course. Five…

A study examined the construct validity of second language listening comprehension tests that use different types of texts by determining to what degree the text's listenability facilitates or hinders comprehension. Three hypotheses were tested: (1) texts containing more listenable features, thus closer to the oral end of the oral/literate…