The basic theory that the teacher style required for effective learning in the classroom is contingent on the favorableness of the group situation was tested in a controlled experiment. Eight groups of eighth-grade boys were assigned to two teachers, four groups for each. Two hypotheses were under examination: (1) A task-oriented teacher will be…

Concepts currently used in conveying technical information about the operation and maintenance of equipment in the U.S. Army were investigated. The objective was to develop a more cost effective maintenance program by reducing personnel costs through a more effective software link between the hardware and maintenance personnel. The study…

Four moderately to severely mentally retarded adolescents used a cassette player to self-administer auditory prompts in two of three task areas: vocational assembly, use of a washing machine, and food preparation. The procedure included acquisition, faded assistance, and maintenance phases. All four students learned and maintained performance of…

Research showed that vocational agriculture teachers, state supervisors, and teacher educators all ranked the following tasks as high priority: involvement with family, teaching in the classroom, providing on-farm instruction, involvement with discipline problems, determining curriculum, and advising meetings and activities of the Future Farmers…

Task performance of 35 first graders was analyzed in relation to their third-grade reading and arithmetic test scores. The visual-auditory task, requiring the child to select the correct auditory representation of a visually presented consonant-vowel-consonant, accounted for 48 percent of the variance in third-grade reading scores. (Author/PN)

"Shadowing," an inservice teacher education technique, requires a teacher-participant to follow a worker on the job in order to learn about current roles, tasks, and job conditions. This experiential method helps vocational teachers upgrade their knowledge of business and industry in order to train students for current employment…

Examines a task that can be applied in a uniform fashion across different languages to compare levels of vocabulary development in foreign-language learning. Results indicate that the lexical decision task can be a useful tool for the assessment and cross-linguistic comparison of lexical development in foreign-language learning. (37 references)…

Examines language in an initial teacher training course and shows how trainees' awareness can be raised by looking at samples of the way they use it themselves. (five references) (Author/CK)

Reports findings of a three-part research project that examined the information seeking behavior and success of 22 seventh-grade science students in using the Web. Discusses problems encountered, including inadequate knowledge of how to use the search engine and poor level of research skills; and considers implications for Web training and system…

Investigates the influence of the familiarity of the setting/interlocuter factors on the oral task performance of adult intermediate second-language learners. Findings indicate that the unfamiliar setting elicited a significant proportion of language transfer errors than the same task performed in a familiar environment. (23 references) (Author/CK)

Twelve children (mean age 4;1) interacted with their mothers in 2 conversational settings to explore the percentage of topic incorporation and collaboration processes used by mothers and children in play and help settings. Although the help setting appeared to support collaborative action, the play setting permitted the dyads to be informative…

This methodology for teaching basic meal preparation skills to students with mental retardation uses convenience foods and involves learning meal preparation reading vocabulary and common procedures. Instructional techniques include sight word development, use of rebus symbols, and graduated prompts (verbal, modeling, or physical guidance). A list…

Analysis of a large corpus (80 pairs of speakers) of 7-12 year olds suggests that 2 principles underlie the development of dialogue coordination skills. The seven to eight year olds establish a limited common dialogue lexicon, whereas older speakers show evidence of deep coordination processes aimed at establishing mutual intelligibility of a…

Two studies investigated the effects of modified interaction on comprehension and vocabulary acquisition among Japanese high school students learning English as a Second Language. The studies found that interactionally modified input resulted in better comprehension and the acquisition of more new words than premodified input. (MDM)

Issues involved in classroom assessment training for teachers are discussed. Six dimensions of classroom assessment competence were identified via task analysis. A 10-session workshop is described, and relevant evaluation data are reported. (TJH)