The purpose of this study was to examine the instructional effectiveness of adjunct post-questions, metacognitive process prompts, cognitive feedback and training in complementing semantic maps. Two hundred seventy Taiwanese subjects were randomly assigned to eight treatments. After interacting with their respective treatments each completed three…

This study compared the effects of instructor-provided vs. learner-generated analyses of semantic relationships between major concepts on structural knowledge acquisition in an introductory psychology course. One group explained the relationships on instructor-provided graphic organizers; the other group classified relationships between concepts…

Different learning strategies that are used by field-independent (FI) and field-dependent (FD) people in a hypermedia-assisted instructional setting were studied with 63 international college students for whom English was a second language. The treatment was a semantic network-based hypermedia-assisted language-learning environment to help…

General semantics and science fiction are disciplines that can be incorporated in lectures for public speaking and other speech communication classes. Alfred Korzybski's theories of general semantics lend themselves to researching, preparing, delivering interpersonal communication messages, and establishing student interest in foreign languages,…

Defining general semantics as the study of words or symbols and their effects on human behavior, this paper proposes a general semantics approach to the teaching of style in college introductory speech courses. The paper cites results of a 1980 survey of basic speech course content and emphases, showing that while most courses devote a great deal…

Papers that address implications of linguistic theory for applied linguistics are presented. In "Some Semantic Properties of Some Conjunctions," W. Abraham is concerned with the function of "but" and its translation equivalents in German and other languages. In "Is It Possible and Necessary to Write Text Grammars?," T. P. Krzeszowski examines the…

This introduction to the historical study of language is designed to give ninth-grade students contact with the methods of historical linguistics in a relatively limited area--the study of the lexicon. The unit begins with a consideration of recent changes in the lexicon, especially those due to technological advances which have caused the use of…

To increase the efficacy of visual instruction, more must be known about the operational forces within the image, and the determining factors in picture quality as a means of communication. The theory of information applied to this analysis of pictorial content, the fundamental thesis being that the value of an image depends on its content of…

Noting that a study of semantics can inform teachers' understanding of the reading process, this paper describes seven basic types of meaning, illustrates how the interrelatedness of meanings within a semantic field may be shown, and discusses children's acquisition of semantic fields. It cites research into the development of semantic fields in…

This experiment in attitude modification was undertaken at a community college to: (1) develop a systematic procedure for assessing student attitudes, (2) determine if human relations courses had any effect on student attitudes, and (3) determine if the semantic differential was an effective tool for measuring student attitudes. Full-time students…

SCHOLAR is a computer-assisted instruction (CAI) system which is capable of true man-computer dialog. Using a subset of English, the system is capable of generating questions, answering questions, analyzing responses, and producing subsequent actions. SCHOLAR has a data base that is a complex but well defined information structure in the form of a…

Most textbooks for teaching foreign languages have as their basis a grammatical syllabus. The theory has been that it is easier for students to learn a language if they are exposed to one part of the grammatical system at a time. Recently critics have questioned this theory, arguing that the grammatical syllabus fails to provide the necessary…

Indicates that segmentation significantly aided the comprehension of narrative and expository materials for hearing impaired students who read at a second-grade level. (NKA)

Two complementary theoretical approaches to children's foreign language acquisition, the monitor theory and theory of negotiation, are outlined. Three useful teaching techniques (meaningful practice, communication games, and children's playground games) are discussed in light of these theories, and related issues in syllabus and materials design…

Defines formulaic phrases by showing their stereotypical nature. A taxonomy of phrases is proposed for classificatory purposes, and some techniques are suggested for teaching these structures. The techniques are based on analogy and analysis, where students imitate a sentence by keeping certain structures unchanged and changing the rest. (PJM)