In designing a foreign language curriculum, the needs and abilities of the students should be considered. Slow learners need mostly to be taught listening comprehension, while better learners should be taught good reading skills and have a good knowledge of "non-textbook" aspects of the language. (AG)

Two competing hypotheses about speech processing were examined in two experiments. The hypotheses were that: (1) people rely on the configurational properties of sentences in relative clause (RC) processing; and (2) people rely on the grammatical roles of the noun phrases involved in relativization in RC processing. The first experiment used a…

The effects of topical coherence on the comprehension of two groups of non-native (Finnish) users of English and a control group of English native speakers were observed, with reaction times from a visual word monitoring task as the dependent measure. The experiment examined the ability of intermediate and advanced second language students to…

Research suggests that interaction between native speakers (NSs) and second language learners (non-native speakers) (NNSs) is characteristically different from speech between NSs, and that it is the modified nature of NS-NNS interaction which provides learners with optimal input. A study was undertaken to determine whether input and interactional…

Mexican university students enrolled in a general English course were administered a battery of tests including a reading comprehension test based on a Spanish text, one based on an English text, and the TEAL test battery of English language proficiency for adult students. Half the students were given an easy English text and a difficult Spanish…

The question of how a scientific researcher copes with a text written in a language which he or she does not adequately understand is examined in this Dutch language study of Dutch preservice engineers. Although French, German, and English are traditionally taught in secondary schools in the Netherlands, French gives Dutch engineers the most…

One new French course taught by short wave radio is described here, and the remainder of the issue is devoted to schedules of major language programs (French, Spanish, Russian, German and Hebrew) given on short wave radio in North America. Frequencies are given in kilohertz, wavebands in meters. Approximate reception quality under normal…

The comprehension of deviant sentences is dependent on several linguistic variables. Grammaticalness (G), meaningfulness (M), and familiarity (F) are three variables which are potentially such. In order to study the effect of violating these variables upon Ss' responses to deviant sentences, 85 deviant and 15 correct sentences were assigned to…

Describes the elaboration, over a period of three years, of a French language and civilization program consisting of linguistic and cultural preparation in England, followed by a one-week intensive linguistic and cultural experience in France. (AM)

This article examines some of the ways in which language has been organised for language teaching. Their deficiencies are examined and some possibilities for the future are suggested. (Author/NC R)

Describes the use of the cloze procedure in testing global communicative competence of university students of French. The topics covered are: the instrument and procedures, background of scorers, inter-scorer reliability, scoring methods, power of discrimination and validating of the tests. Paragraphs used in the experiment appear in the appendix.…

A description of a methodic approach to instruction in reading comprehension. The selection of texts, particularly those of high interest to students, is discussed. Several sample exercises illustrating the method, usable at all levels, are included. There are also a number of simple texts. (Text is in French.) (AMH)