"Muddiness" in student writing can be eliminated, and students can learn to write with clarity, through the employment of a 1-3-3-3-1 pattern: one opening sentence, three paragraphs of three sentences each, and one closing sentence. To this basic pattern, the concept of key words may be added to help students develop a focus for each piece of…

This study compared 15 classes of freshman composition taught by the Aims approach, which stresses the different expressive, literary, persuasive, exploratory, scientific, and informative aims of writing which govern the writer's choices relative to author, audience, subject matter, and language and 16 classes taught by a traditional Modes…

Proposes an approach to effective communication instruction which avoids the use of techniques and instead emphasizes the linguistic, logical, psychological, and sociological analysis of discourse. (AM)

Material comprising teachers' questions and pupils' responses was collected during ordinary lessons in order to gain an understanding of the linguistic interaction during lessons in the mother tongue. (Author/LMO)

Reports on a study that examined the relationship between understanding of specific cohesive items and general reading comprehension ability, as well as differences in performance of girls and boys. Makes suggestions for the classroom based on the findings. (ARH)

Describes an approach to French literature that looks at the process of making a novel into a film. The technique focuses on comparisons of composition, characters, and language. (MSE)

Argues that a major cause of the inconsistent use of the past tense even by very advanced learners of English as a second language is an inadequate understanding of its actual meaning and discourse function. Suggestions are offered for teaching and practicing this tense in context. (SED)

Discusses one teacher's gradual acceptance of poetry as a useful means for teaching many areas of the language arts. Includes a case study of one student's growth as a poet. (HTH)

Concludes that differences exist in the classroom behavior of some deaf and some hearing teachers and that what defines the successful teacher is task persistence and clarity. (FL)

Current research into educational technology often uses partnerships between teachers, researchers, and technology designers to study the introduction of new technology in the classroom. However, these partnerships involve commitments of time from teachers and technology reform projects. In addition, these partnerships often focus on student…

Describes a method to improve student comprehension of content area materials that involves three distinct readings, each followed by a progressively more detailed graphic overview of the content. (HTH)

Explores the resources of television broadcasts for language instruction, particularly when they provide authentic models for the acquisition of communication skills illustrating the functional aspects of language, discourse strategies, and extralinguistic components of a situation. (MES)

The relationship between writing and reading linking prescriptive and contrastive rhetoric, textual discourse analysis, ESP text research, and psycholinguistics and reading is examined. The chief axioms stressed for writers are planning and using discourse devices. How these can be translated into reading strategies is demonstrated. (PMJ)

The four parts in this section present: (1) an advertisement based on the literary style of Emile Zola; (2) exercises designed to practice expressions of similarity and difference; (3) the transcript of a discussion on the problem of swamps; and (4) variations on the shopkeeper-customer dialogue. (AM)

Presents a language teaching method designed to increase communicative competence through an application of speech act theory and the use of dialogs and the source language. (AM)