This paper suggests that language teachers reconsider their approach to listening comprehension, as recent studies seem to indicate that listening is not a passive but a highly active skill. The importance of listening comprehension as an independent skill is stressed in the first section, and principles of speech processing from which the…

This reader is designed to accompany the sixth text in the Orientation in American English series. It is intended to provide advanced practice in reading comprehension as well as concentrated practice in composition techniques and writing. At the same time it supports and reinforces concepts and structures introduced in the text. The reader may be…

A discussion of specific ways of using these two media in language teaching. Particular attention is given to the use of foreign language programs on radio to develop listening comprehension. The use of educational television is illustrated by discussion of the program, "Les Gammas! Les Gammas!" (AMH)

Understanding spoken English is often difficult for students of English as a second language because words are run together. Some of the common types of word blendings are: final consonant sounds, links with beginning vowel sound, same consonant is shared across word borders, and similar consonants blend. (SW)

Discussing G. Neuner's article on the reading comprehension test in issue no. 2, 1977, of this journal, the construction of the test, the distribution of points, problem design, and choice of texts are criticized. Suggestions for correcting are given. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

An extra-curricular Russian course in York, England, is outlined. Course materials and texts are described. Intensive oral skills introduction sets the stage for development of other skills; speaking and listening skills at the end of the course are impressive. Reading is done as homework and related to aural-oral development. (CHK)

Advanced second language students' listening needs call for improvement in processing spoken discourse. Psychological data on memory span and linguistic discourse analysis findings are cited in support. A three-phase approach to listening instruction is proposed. (CHK)

Word formation is seen as receiving too little attention in foreign language teaching; its study increases auditory and reading understanding. Practical suggestions are given for collecting and arranging material, and for analyzing the structure of words. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Reports a study which investigated the use of rational cloze procedure in conjunction with retrospection or introspection assessment techniques to examine how individuals understand text in both first and second languages, especially the use of contextual constraints. (MSE)

Presents the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages' provisional generic descriptions for nine levels (novice-low, novice-mid, novice-high, advanced, advanced plus, and superior) in the following areas: (1) speaking, (2) listening, (3) reading, (4) writing, and for six levels in culture. (SED)

It is proposed that language acquisition improves if beginning students are allowed to experience three stages of acquisition: comprehension (preproduction), early speech production, and speech emergence. Each stage requires a different kind of activity building on the previous stage's development. (MSE)

Two unresolved issues in first language and second language research on the role of background knowledge in comprehension are discussed: (1) the theoretical distinction between "content" and "formal" schemata and their interrelationship in texts and (2) the relationship of effects measured in cross-cultural research to background knowledge that…

Describes a study of multiple-choice and open-ended questions, each presented in the native language and in the second language, on the same second language text. Different methods resulted in different scores. Some methods were found to be more difficult than others and to have a greater effect on students of low-level proficiency. (SED)

Conducted experiment to determine how the presence of sandhi-variation, a common characteristic of spoken English that reduces the perceptual saliency of many of its features, affects the comprehensibility of English unit. Results indicated that sandhi-variation is an important input-intake filter for English learners but not for those whose…

Results of a study of speech production and speech perception by adult learners of English indicate the main differences between native-speaker and nonnative speaker perception and production. Methodological issues are raised relating to the comparison of the two, and the need for further research to evaluate and refine the relationship between…