Presents a method for managing and teaching oral presentation in the conversational foreign language class. (Author/VWL)

Describes how a kindergarten teacher uses picture book text to initiate dialog improvisations and patterned conversations, providing children who are acquiring English with meaningful, low-risk opportunities to use and learn English. (SR)

Reports an experiment contrasting word-onset gating with results when words were gated from their word endings. The study demonstrated a significant recognition advantage for words gated from their onsets. The overall results support the position that the perceptual advantage of word-initial information can be understood within a general…

Presents an interview of Sandra Thompson on various topics relating to the Chinese language. The interview touches on conversational data on Chinese, the lack of morphological complexity in Mandarin Chinese, and the development of Chinese functionalism. (12 references) (CK)

English-speaking children reduce words by omitting syllables in certain predictable patterns. To better understand the nature of phonological reductions in children, this study explored whether adults produce predictable output patterns when reducing words. (Author/VWL)

Investigated how English and Japanese speakers syllabify two-syllable English words and nonwords with single intervocalic consonants Results are discussed in light of linguistic and psycholinguistic theories of syllabification. (Author/VWL)

Examines "la ronda," a common event in Spanish schools in which children present oral narratives of non-school experiences. Suggests that la ronda's goal is to help children and teachers build a sense of themselves as a moral community. Despite parallels in organization and content between la ronda and sharing time in U.S. schools, there…

Examines whether early simultaneous bilingual language exposure causes children to be language delayed or confused. Cites research suggesting normal and parallel linguistic development occurs in each language in young children and young children's dual language developments are similar to monolingual language acquisition. Research on simultaneous…

Proposes a standardized orthography for the English Creole vernacular of Trinadad and Tobago. The reasons for this standardization are to meet the needs of a local population writing more and more in Creole, and to prepare a standard reference dictionary of the language. (43 references) (Author/CB)

To deal with the problem of subjectivity and multiple variables in the oral evaluations given in French foreign language classes, this study considers three main questions: (1) Which criteria should be evaluated; (2) How should these criteria be evaluated; and (3) What is the role of the institution in the evaluation? (SBR)

Describes how foreign language instructors can test oral communication skills by simulating real-life situations and how this testing format was adapted so it could be used in a multisection French course. (one reference) (GLR)

Suggests an alternative approach to the teaching of indirect or reported speech. Deixis is proposed as a means of clarifying the anomalies of reported speech. The problem is assessed from a grammatical and semantic point of view in the reporting of statements (as opposed to the reporting of questions or commands). (GLR)

Explores the benefits in using textbook dialogue as script to be performed in the second language classroom. Teachers, in the role of director, can use theatrical techniques and suggest appropriate pantomime, gestures, and voice inflections to enhance the script. (CB)

Investigation and comparison of telephone behavior, and the attitudes and values attached to telephone usage in England and Greece, from the perspective of an interaction model. Results revealed cultural differences in responses to making telephone calls, verifying numbers and speakers, and apologies for wrong numbers or disturbing calls.…

A study investigated the ability of second language learners of Spanish to simultaneously process form and meaning during input. The students' conscious attention to form competed with conscious attention to meaning, and it is suggested that learners could attend to form during the intake process only when input was easily understandable. (CB)