Twenty-two junior-year college students were tested at a college language, speech and hearing clinic. A statistical analysis was performed on their scores on the Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery and on oral and written language samples. Results were compared with those of a group of 25 normal college students in their junior year.…

This paper discusses criteria for evaluating foreign language textbooks. First, common textbook dislikes, concerning both content and format, are outlined. Then three desirable characteristics--authenticity, communication, and integration--are discussed at length, divided into subcriteria, and arranged as a rating scale for textbook evaluation.…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 17 titles deal with the following topics: (1) the symbolic processing of continuity and change using the case of Carl F. H. Henry, (2) rhetorical strategies and image projection in John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign, (3) the…

Intended for teachers and administrators who wish to assess student oral communication needs before designing an appropriate program, this guide provides a review of tests for measuring acts of speaking and listening. The guide surveys and discusses procedures for assessing speaking and listening skills among school children and focuses on…

Recently there has been an increasing interest in the development of children's impressions of stories, partially due to the work of theorists who have proposed formal grammars representing structural characteristics of stories. In order to learn more about children's narrative competence, stories they produced were analyzed in three experiments.…

One teacher's experience with traditional language tests suggested that the tests did not reflect the kind of communicative language learning going on in the classroom and might be counterproductive. As a result, an experiment in oral testing was undertaken in which examinees were required to process natural discourse and to relate language to…

This handbook describes Los Angeles Pierce College's (LAPC's) English Skills Tutorial Package, which seeks to identify specific areas of strength and weakness in students' language proficiency and to strengthen those specific areas through discrete and holistic approaches and, sometimes, conscious coaching. Following introductory comments about…

A course in French-derived Kreol is designed for language learning among Peace Corps volunteers assigned to the Seychelles. The materials consist of 36 lessons on topics of daily communication needs. Lessons contain a story, dialogue, and/or list of expressions, exercises, and vocabulary and grammar notes and translations in the margin. Some…

Evidence from the language use of young children is used to question accepted notions of language development and instruction in the three papers in this compilation. The first paper, "Young Children Challenge the Belief That Language Needs to be Taught Sequentially," challenges the notion of sequential development in which oral language…

Because research data indicate a positive correlation between verbal disabilities and reading retardation, a study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of an integrative approach to language development through the reading curriculum over more traditional therapy approaches. Students from three third grade elementary school classrooms were…

To learn more about the kind of learning that occurs when students read and receive response to their writing, a study was designed to develop an analytical system by which to describe the language of writing groups. Nine writing groups were examined, two from grade 5, four from grade 8, and three from grades 10 through 12. The data collected…

A variety of classroom activities and techniques are available to motivate students, engage them, and give immediate positive feedback on oral communication, including: having students give each other elementary arithmetical exercises; circulation of vocabulary cards for immediate use on conversation, with later review; having a system of rewards…

Developed by teachers to provide a district-wide description of English course content, this curriculum guide is intended for use as a basis for planning instructional activities in a number of areas. The guide consists of four main sections: (1) an introduction, which provides a statement of philosophy, a scope and sequence of skills within…

Within the purview of a Chapter One Basic Program, this practicum initiated a 3-month intervention in oral language development for minority group first grade students with language differences and delayed speech who attended Gove Elementary School, Belle Glade, Florida, Goals for students included extension of mean length of utterance (MLU), and…

This paper reports a study that investigated the development of second language (L2) communication strategies (code-switching, all-purpose words, word coinage, approximation, and circumlocution) over time. In the study, 8 adult learners in a full-time English as a second language program provided oral narrations of an eight-frame picture story at…