The roles that pragmatics can play in the development of communicative competence are discussed, and three uses are examined in greater detail, with examples offered: (1) for the refinement of the study of speech acts as they occur in different cultures; (2) to help determine the extent to which explicit instruction can increase the rate at which…

Guidelines and lesson plans are presented for teachers of Latin using historical films as instructional and support materials. A discussion of the use of historical films addresses these issues in classroom practice: the legality of using films in the classroom (copyrights); techniques for using historical films as sources of cultural information;…

Use of a theme- or topic-based curriculum to teach English as a Second Language in a Japanese university is described. Students are freshmen and sophomores. The thematic approach accommodates the interests of the large number of teachers in the program and encourages teacher development of instructional materials while achieving some consistency…

Nine papers present either discussion of the issues or practical answers to the issues of nonstandard dialects, pidgins, and creoles in the classroom. They include: "The Case Against a Transfer Bilingual Program of Torres Strait Creole to English in Torres Strait Schools" (Anna Shnukal); "Summary: A Survey of Teachers' Attitudes…

Materials presented here include a variety of resources for teachers of Esperanto: a brief guide to Esperanto teaching, including suggested teacher qualifications, a listing of instructional materials and resources, including serials, with details of publication, activities in preparation for teaching, grade-level class activities, notes on…

A college teacher of both freshman English and English as a Second Language (ESL) recounts the addition of computer networking to her ESL classroom and its effects on student attitudes and performance. When computerized instruction and networking capabilities, already used in freshman composition, were added to the ESL class, a variety of expected…

Development and evaluation of interactive videodisc (IVD) courseware for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction are described. Effective listening and viewing strategies, identified through descriptive research, were incorporated into an existing ESL IVD. Subjects, 81 college ESL students, were pre-tested, then divided into control and…

Experiences with the whole language approach to English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) instruction in a Lebanese kindergarten are described. Children's literature was selected for use in instruction, in part because few appropriate commercially prepared materials were available and in part because it presents appropriate language in an entertaining,…

A program designed to teach university science lecturers in Indonesia how to design and teach one-semester courses in English for special purposes (ESP) is described. The program provided lecturers with training in language teaching methodology and course design. The piloting of the teacher training course, focusing on physics instruction, is…

A study at Purdue University (Indiana) investigated three English-as-a-Second-Language students' understanding of and attitudes toward teachers' written feedback on compositions. All were enrolled in an expository prose class for non-native speakers of English, and all were freshmen of varied ages and backgrounds. Data were gathered in videotaped…

This study examined the contribution that formal strategies-based instruction might offer learners in University of Minnesota foreign language classrooms, focusing particularly on speaking skills. Of 55 intermediate students enrolled in college-level French and Norwegian foreign language classes, 32 participated in the experimental group who…

This study analyzed audio recordings of authentic business negotiations carried out by native speakers of English in British companies. Analysis focuses on the roles of buyer and seller, with special emphasis on the inherent power differential caused by the reality of the business transaction and the pragmatics of the business relationship. In…

This text for use in teaching Koniag Alutiiq, the Kodiak Island dialect of Alutiiq, contains 20 units on its phonology, morphology, and grammar. Each unit consists of 4 to 13 lessons. The alphabet used is one developed for the Kenai Peninsula dialect and adapted slightly for Koniag Alutiiq. The first unit focuses on phonological patterns and…

An essay on use of cooperative learning (CL) techniques in the second language classroom looks at the benefits of CL, examines the current status of their use, particularly in Singapore, and makes recommendations for implementing CL techniques in second language reading instruction. The discussion begins with a review of literature on group…

A survey of 781 elementary school teacher trainees at the University of Waikato (New Zealand) was undertaken to examine students' language background and indicators of language knowledge and language awareness, including: fluency in a language other than English; students' perceptions of their own second language fluency; exposure to foreign and…