Presents the rationale behind a model for the use of the computer in the development of reading comprehension. Basic assumptions concerning reading are delineated. The model has three basic components: intake (text processing and text comprehension), personalization, and extension. (Author/SED)

Suggests that an analysis of spontaneous speech collected in a simulation can provide insight into the way messages are produced and understood. Describes an experiment which used this technique to study the linguistic performance and communication strategies in anglophone children learning French. (SED)

Reports on a study which attempted to discover what types of experience former English-an-a-second-language students perceived as having contributed most to their language learning in intensive language programs; what qualities of teacher behavior contributed most; and what types of language use predominated in their academic work. (SED)

Reports on a study of the influence of cognitive/affective variables on the second language learning ability of adults. Two variables, field independence and ambiguity tolerance, were found to be significant predictors of English as a second language proficiency for international students studying in the United States. (SED)

Assesses the performance of bilingual children on two language tasks in both the children's languages in order to determine whether the profile of skills in the first language was replicated in the second language. (HOD)

Describes a study of home language use patterns of urban Hispanic families to determine the differences between academic achievement, language development, and psychosocial adjustment of children whose families have maintained Spanish as the main home language and those whose families have switched to English. The results challenge the assumption…

Discusses four major outcomes of studies on language acquisition and the dimensions of the concept of communicative competence that need to be substantiated empirically. Warns that classroom teachers may go further than theoreticians in condemning the teaching of grammar, as if communication were something to be acquired in spite of grammatical…

Discusses the following questions: (1) What is the nature of the reading process? (2) How does one bring meaning to print? (3) What sort of knowledge does the reader bring to bear on the text to make sense of it? and (4) What are the implications of these issues for teaching? (SED)

A study was done to identify the cultural or linguistic bias present in an English as a second language placement examination at the university level. Test items exhibiting bias in their respective skill domains were identified by comparing 34 native Spanish speakers and 77 native Chinese speakers. (SED)

Presents a psycholinguistic analysis of young children's performance in Japanese before, during, and after a two-month stay in Japan from the perspective of Vygotsky and the Soviet school of psycholinguistics. Looks at the social function of their utterances, the types of regulation involved, and strategic functions that may be intended. (SED)

This essay addresses the effect of introducing a foreign language into the formal education of oral-traditional societies. Highlights include the nature of such societies, language in formal education, reading and language acquisition, developing a theory of high retention and recall, and overall implications for national development and…

A technique for teaching dialog is outlined that provides considerable preproduction input and acquisition experiences through which students create dialog lines. The technique uses these steps: prenarrative activities, narrative, contextual expansion of new vocabulary, reading input, dialog construction from visual cues, dialog recreation, and…

Defines "listening comprehension" and discusses both its role in the process of first and second language acquisition and the modes of language processing presumed to operate in listening comprehension. Presents specific teaching strategies and material incorporating listening comprehension in the foreign language classroom at all levels. (SED)

The development of an advanced English course emphasizing communication skills for adult students is described. The course was intended to foster a broad range of conceptual and interpersonal abilities. (RM)

A program of the University of the Pacific established a cluster college to integrate a non-Western perspective into the curriculum of a liberal arts education. Study in India, Japan or Taiwan includes intensive language courses and working internships. (CHK)