Introduces a recorded skit entirely based on the responses of one speaker, the lines spoken by the other being suggested by the context or left to audience's imagination. Suggests this material for use with advanced students and proposes various classroom activities leading to a reconstruction of the dialogue. (MES)

Finds that dictation exercises are insufficiently used in foreign language teaching. They serve many purposes, e.g., in tests, as introduction to texts, and in recollection exercises. They may have various forms, such as dictation with blanks to fill in, transcription of song texts, etc. (IFS/WGA)

Radio dramas deserve wider use in foreign language teaching because of their important place in current Anglo-American literary production, and also for their pedagogical value of providing training in auditory comprehension. Suggestions are given for obtaining materials. (IFS/WGA)

"The Man Who Escaped," a radio crime drama with 25 episodes, was used in a ninth-grade English class. Two class hours are described. The texts used are given and suggestions for teaching are added, along with evaluative commentary. (IFS/WGA)

Reports on an experiment which sought to use the cloze procedure to test progress in listening skill development in German-speaking students of English. (AM)

Discusses the utilization of songs to improve the pronunciation, listening comprehension, and grammar of second language learners. (CFM)

Proposes a method for teaching listening comprehension skills to students of French in Canada by incorporating Quebec phonetics in a standard French phonological component. (AM)

In Part I, three aspects of cloze tests are examined: placement, measuring achievement, and evaluation. In Part II, it is shown how original texts and textbook texts are prepared for different forms of the cloze test. (Text is in German. (IFS/WGA)

Discusses how the use of video media as a mode of language presentation influences the definition, purpose, and research agenda of a second-language listening comprehension instrument. Video media is used as an umbrella phrase to describe the cluster of media in which dynamic visual elements are blended with auditory elements to create a whole…

To explore the potential learner benefits of early exposure to literature and suggest instructional guidelines for effective literature study at the beginning level, this article examines the nature of literature and surveys how current textbooks guide beginning learners to access literary works. (Author/JL)

Discusses the relevance for the valid testing of reading of the difference between a 'unitary skill' approach to reading and a multiskills approach. The article produces evidence suggesting that a distinction may be drawn between language-based skills and 'global' reading skills. (55 references) (Author/CK)

Investigated the relationship between Chinese character recognition and production by second-language learners. Subjects were 47 first-year Chinese language students in the United States. (15 references) (Author/CK)

Investigates how socioaffective strategies used by language learners affect reading comprehension. Participants were 50 Korean English-as-a-Foreign-Language college students. (Author/VWL)

Examines the relation between background knowledge and second language (L2) proficiency in L2 reading performance in two groups of university learners of English, one from mainland China and one from Hong Kong. Results show a strong cultural effect on reading comprehension, but not on post-intermediate readers. Findings have implications for…

Investigates the reading strategies of Turkish English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) students in Turkish and English and the possible effects of reading instruction on reading in Turkish and English. Addresses whether strategy instruction in EFL reading effects EFL reading strategies and reading comprehension in English , and whether strategy…