The objective of the procedure outlined in this article is to introduce new items, bring the learner to the point of being able to integrate these items in his approximative competence and so extend his ability to the production of extended discourse. Lesson transcripts document the use of the procedure. (Author/CFM)

After a discussion of some important impulses that language teaching has received recently, a way is described by which the capacity for meeting communication and information needs through the foreign language can be developed. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

This paper examines the role of foreign language teaching in answering the external needs of students, including equipping the student with vocational or professional skills, and the internal needs, including the broadening of perception of self, society and culture. Communication in general and participation in society benefit from foreign…

This discussion is divided into three parts: (1) [native] language acquisition versus [second] language learning, (2) successful language learning, and (3) teaching strategies (grammar-translation, direct, cognitive and cognitive habit-formation). (KM)

Secondary students of French interviewed a researcher posing as a French speaker. Error patterns and structures used were analyzed. Many errors were apparently due to interference; many others were apparently the result of reduction processes. Results suggested that errors might be corrected in terms of comprehensibility to a native speaker.…

Assumptions and conclusions concerning language teaching at the advanced undergraduate level are presented, and suggestions of both general attitudes and practical activities to implement the conclusions are proposed. Although the practical experience and all examples are drawn from the teaching of French, the principles and methods should be…

Surveys some basic issues of modern linguistics and the theory of language teaching. Examines the notion of creativity in human language, a concept regarded here as basic to any linguistic description and as fundamental to all pedagogical applications of linguistics. (Text is in French.) (Author)

This paper attempts to characterize what seem to be key movements in the teaching of EFL at various levels in Europe. These movements reveal that semantic approaches to language teaching are widespread. Recent research into the effectiveness of teaching methods has demonstrated how difficult it is to show whether audiolingual or cognitive code…

The language teacher must provide a variety of activities in the classroom in which the student can use the second language in unrehearsed, novel situations requiring, on his part, inventiveness, resourcefulness and self-assurance. There should be less emphasis on linguistic accuracy and more on truly spontaneous and creative language. In the…

In the first part of this paper several theories on the subject of communicative competence are examined. Part 2 is devoted to a discussion of how a teacher can test for communicative competence, and the practicality of this type of testing, in terms of class time, equipment required and objective grading, is emphasized. Part 3 summarizes a number…

Besides lack of motivation and insufficient time allowed for foreign language study, one reason for the failure to develop communicative competence in second language students lies in the methodology. Until recently, most second language pedagogy has centered on linguistic competence, or knowledge of how to communicate in a language. Research in…

Methods of assessing children's oral language ability are explored in this paper. Following a discussion of problems involved in the formal assessment of oral language ability, a study is described that revealed that the evaluation of the oral language of 12 kindergarten children in the social context of the natural classroom environment,…

The wide assortment of books and seminars on assertiveness training shows a growing desire among people to learn how to express their feelings. This paper attempts to adapt many of these techniques to the foreign language classroom. Sixteen activities which enable students to practice communication are proposed. They encompass all levels of…

Communicative competence, the ability to use a language effectively in unrehearsed transactions with native speakers, must be the ultimate goal of language teaching. Drills and repetition of patterned phrases do not, in and of themselves, lead to real language use. We should begin giving students opportunities to use language in unrehearsed,…

Reviewing 45 years of language teaching, the article discusses, anecdotally, successive methods which had their vogue: "Direct Method,""Play Way,""Limited Vocabulary,""Pattern Practice,""Situational Approach,""Communicative Competence." A balanced middle position is favored. The article warns against dogmatic attachment to unproven linguistic…