In this era of rapid globalization of business opportunities, many managers face the need to communicate with foreign counterparts who do not speak English. The solution, in many cases, is to use an interpreter. Interpreters, however, may make mistakes, and irritation, embarrassment and even major problems may arise from errors in translation.…

Information from a survey of temperament and learning styles was used with International Teaching Assistants (ITAs) at the University of Minnesota in an ITA development course to enhance their communication skills and teaching abilities. The study used the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, a condensed version of the Myers-Briggs Temperament Inventory,…

Cultural diversity in the classroom provides the opportunity for children to learn about the customs, clothes, and languages of other countries. Various art forms offer a vehicle for boys and girls to communicate in nonverbal play. A "two-faced" happy-sad puppet provides a nonverbal means for very young or nonnative speaking children to indicate…

The purpose of multicultural career education and development is to foster positive self-concepts and career choices regardless of cultural background, encourage understanding of cultural groups' contributions, and develop effective intercultural communication skills. The attitudes, values, opinions, and beliefs with which a person perceives the…

A television program employing a visual metaphor should be an effective instructional tool. Concrete imagery should make the metaphor more memorable and the topic more comprehensible. Splitting the metaphor between audio and video channels should make a strongly unified message, because the audience would have to compare the verbal and visual…

A regional center for physically disabled children in Gothenburg, Sweden, called Bracke Ostergard, teaches non-speaking pupils to communicate with Bliss symbols. School records were examined for the 38 non-speaking pupils, mostly cerebral palsied, who had been trained to use Bliss symbols. Results showed that, of the 32 cerebral palsied children,…

Papers from a workshop on folklore in second language teaching include: "Folklore in the Classroom: Lifting the Lid on the Magic Coffer" (Genelle Morain); "An American Folklore Quiz" (Genelle Morain); "Who's Afraid of Dr. Faust?" (Gerhard H. Weiss); "German Folklore Bibliography for Teachers" (Gerhard H.…

This review of journal literature proposes that ethnic/race-specific research on cognitive/learning styles provides models for cross-cultural and multicultural classrooms that will maximize learning through building self-esteem and devoloping a reason for learning. The intent of the review was to discover patterns and themes developing across…

This observational study examined student and teacher verbal and nonverbal behaviors in microcomputer classrooms in a high school where most of the students are Black, Hispanic, or Asian, and almost half of them are classified as economically disadvantaged. A total of 125 students in grades 9 to 12 were observed, with 47 students in marketing, 18…

Intended for classroom and prospective teachers, this book presents ways for integrating music, art, and drama into the elementary curriculum. Described are experiences and activities in the arts that can be used as teaching tools in basic elementary school curriculum areas. Contents are selected so that no special training, knowledge, or skills…

Communication is essential in each and every sphere of life, and is considered the fundamental social process because human beings interact with each other through communication in social settings. Classrooms have their own social settings in which teachers and students interact. During interaction, the main purpose of the teacher is to…

The present study aimed at investigating learners' beliefs about different learning activities and the degree of discrepancy between learners' preferences and instructors' awareness of those preferences in foreign language learning. The study involved 603 EFL students majoring in different fields who responded to a questionnaire on their preferred…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 32 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the analysis of conversational sequencing in group systems; (2) the effects of hearing aids on interpersonal perceptions; (3) styles of communication between…

This study examines some aspects of the interaction of one Hmong family with the English-speaking community to determine what sort of language contact situations they encounter and what means they use to communicate in those situations. Observations revealed that English language use outside of the classroom was limited. The subjects did not seek…

Considerations for communicative competence instruction in second language courses are largely undefined as to exactly what topics of appropriate behavior or rules of social interaction should be included. Sociolinguistics can provide second language teachers with an abundance of analytical material regarding the underlying cultural implications…