This student workbook is a component of "Beginning Pashto," a set of materials (including a textbook, teacher's manual, tapescripts, and a glossary) that teaches the Pashto language. The workbook provides background information on Pashtun culture, discusses grammar, and includes information on individual vocabulary items. The workbook unit…

The development of interactive video materials for developing listening comprehension in beginning learners of Hebrew as a second language is described. Initially, videotapes presenting stories in the form of interviews set in Israel were designed and produced according to current instructional design theory. These were viewed by the prospective…

There is a great deal of knowledge required to send or receive a message of "no." The acquisition of communicative competence, i.e., the ability to interpret the full meaning of a message and the ability to properly formulate such messages, requires three levels of knowledge. These three levels are all needed in the interpretation of the…

The acquisition of the metalinguistic abilities involved in ambiguity detection and resolution was studied with children. It is suggested that metalinguistic abilities may serve as potential test measures for facility in learning a second language. School children (ages 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13) were tested for their ability to detect ambiguous…

Discusses using key words as carriers of meaning for sentences, offering sample sentences in the fields of (1) dictation and guided narration, (2) structural pattern drills, (3) spoken dialog, and (4) silent reading. Here key words are important in deducing the meaning of new words. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

This paper explores the influence of field independent-dependent cognitive style on second language test performance, especially as it relates to performance on the integrative type of measure known as the cloze test. Approximately 250 college students enrolled in a first semester Spanish course formed the sample group for this correlational…

Recent studies on written communication have emphasized the importance of discourse organization and rhetoric for the learning of reading and writing in a foreign language. This paper describes an attempt at a contrastive study of specialized discourse in French and in English. A corpus of medical articles all on the same subject has been analysed…

Two studies examined certain aspects of discourse analysis to determine their value in classroom use. The first study explored the relationships among information recalled as assessed by informal reading inventory comprehension questions, unaided retelling, and schema based retelling. Subjects were 15 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students who…

Language testing must be an integral component of any foreign language program. It should relate closely to the objectives of the program so that students are tested on what they practice in the classroom. Although language testing during the past few decades has been concerned primarily with measuring only linguistic knowledge, more consideration…

A resource kit for the teaching of French at the intermediate level is represented by a teacher's guide. The aim of this module is to make the elementary or secondary school student of French familiar with terminology used in French radio broadcasts, and especially in weather reports. The guide offers suggested classroom activities. Instructions…

This paper describes an approach to the teaching of listening comprehension for English as a second language. Its goals include improving the students' understanding of lectures and lecture-like materials and taking into account the knowledge that the student brings with him to the listening situation. The materials used in this approach consist…

Reading comprehension exercises are used more effectively as a teaching device than as a testing device. They can be used to teach students a variety of skills, such as the ability to discover specific facts, to see the writer's point of view, and to visualize what is described in words. (CFM)

Hypotheses concerning second language learning and foreign language learning in general are described, and the role of listening comprehension in the development of language skills is discussed. (CLK)

Describes dialogues and songs used to teach listening comprehension. (SW)

The article discusses programmed instruction in reading a foreign language to provide students in a specialized discipline with tools they need to understand specialized texts. Recent studies indicate the validity of teaching for reading comprehension only. Two examples of programs in scientific Dutch are attached. (Text is in French.) (AMH)