The value of literature as instructional material in English as a second language is related to the fact that to understand literature, not only the language system but also the contextual meaning must be understood. In addition, the fictional element of literature can add interest for students. (MSE)

Reports on a study of the relationship of English phonological variation to intelligibility for adult second language learners of English. Indicates that learners tested on their ability to understand working-class (New Yorkese), educated (Standard English), and Foreign-accented speakers of English found the standard more intelligible than the…

Discusses the theoretical foundation for Ferguson's correlation between speed in detecting syntactic errors in written English and acquisition of the listening comprehension skill. A detailed analysis of Ferguson's procedure is given along with references to other pertinent literature. The original conclusions are questioned. (AMH)

Delineates five developmental listening comprehension stages second language learners pass through: (1) streams of sound, with no comprehension; (2) word recognition within the stream; (3) phrase/formula recognition; (4) clause/sentence recognition; and (5) extended speech recognition, or general comprehension. The discussion illustrates the…

This article affirms the pedagogical validity of using radio commercials in English as second language listening classes and offers suggestions on how to introduce this type of material. (CFM)

Two methods of teaching reading comprehension, one the traditional-frontal approach and the other a self-test approach, were used with university students of English as a second language. The test result at the end of the course revealed little difference between the students taught by the two methods. (CFM)

An adult seeking to increase his listening comprehension in French complains about the lack of adequate materials. This situation is compared to that of learning Chinese, where materials are plentiful and geared to independent study. (AM)

Presents a list of vocabulary items peculiar to French Canadian news broadcasts, intended for developing listening comprehension skills. (AM)

Discusses the use of structured exercises and the media to develop both selective and global listening skills in second language students. (AM)

Listening comprehension exercises in second language instruction are expected to: (1) increase students' efficiency at message extraction, and (2) lead to assimilation of new vocabulary and expressions. Data from a small experiment using such exercises illustrate the distinctions drawn and the limitations. (CHK)

Examines the correlation between reading ability in a student's first and second languages and his language proficiency in a foreign language. The study concerns university students of English as a second language in Belgrade whose first language is Serbo-Croatian. Available from: Liviana Editrice, Via Altinate 31, 35100 Padova, Italy.

Discusses studies of German students using "CyberBuch," a hypermedia application for reading German texts that contains annotations for words in the form of text, pictures, and video. The article examines incidental vocabulary learning, the effectiveness of different types of annotations for vocabulary acquisition, and the effect of…

Presents a theory of reading and a justification in the form of a defense of a highly generalized approach to the different forms of reading and of a lexical approach to receptive grammar. The article also addresses the question of the usefulness of models in general and this one in particular, specifically with relation to foreign-language…

Focuses on how reading comprehension can be facilitated with a multimedia application for second language learning. Results indicate that a dynamic visual advance organizer does aid in overall comprehension and that annotations of individual vocabulary items consisting of both visual and verbal information help more than verbal information only.…

Examined the effect of the gender of the speaker and listener on second language listening comprehension. Iranian English-as-a-Foreign-language students listened to four short passages and answered some multiple-choice questions. Results clearly indicate that only the gender of the speaker had an influence on foreign language listening…