Communicative competence, the ability to use a language effectively in unrehearsed transactions with native speakers, must be the ultimate goal of language teaching. Drills and repetition of patterned phrases do not, in and of themselves, lead to real language use. We should begin giving students opportunities to use language in unrehearsed,…

The Materials Acquisition Project was created by the Bilingual Education Programs Branch of the U.S. Office of Education to make available information concerning instructional materials currently published in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries to teachers of elementary and secondary bilingual-bicultural education classes in the United…

This preliminary report describes an ongoing investigation begun in September 1970 of how Anglophone children with language-learning disabilities fare in French immersion programs. Their progress has been followed from Kindergarten to Grade 3, with positive preliminary results. The children have learned to read in both English and French; their…

This survival English text is written for Indochinese, sixteen years old and over, who do not have the very basic listening and speaking skills needed for living in America. The lessons are designed to develop a functional listening and speaking vocabulary of approximately 900 words, over an instructional span of nine weeks or less. Reading and…

Part 1 of this reader consists of transcriptions of five Tamil radio plays, with exercises, notes, and discussion. Part 2 is a synopsis grammar and a glossary. Both are intended for advanced students of Tamil who have had at least two years of instruction in the spoken language at the college level. The materials have been tested in classroom use…

Though the need for a language or languages to describe teacher behavior has been recognized for some time, few systems of analysis exist. A conceptual framework and a set of terms have been developed to describe the messages students and teachers send and receive in second language classrooms. This system is called FOCUS (an acronym for Foci for…

This speech emphasizes the significance of living literatures and living cultures which owe a direct debt to the Romans and the Greeks from whom they can trace their origins. After commenting on typical rejoinders to the question "Why study classical languages?" and poking fun at those who advance jaded, esoteric responses, the author dispels the…

The major hypothesis of this study is that a significant relationship exists between English language ability (as measured by the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA) Full-Scale score) and language-modeling by the mother (as measured by the Mother-Child Interaction score on the Language Model Matrix), and between English language…

Noting the drastic, sudden increase in enrollment in the post-Sputnik period in Russian language courses and the resultant difficulty of finding qualified instructors, the author describes a rapid-reading methodology which concentrates on forms and expressions prevalent in technical writing. Description of suggested teaching techniques…

This paper describes two techniques designed to offer students genuine communication experiences in a foreign language. In "simulated tutoring," a recording of the tutor's voice is made while he tutors a live subject in the correct pronunciation of a short dialogue. Students subsequently responding to the prerecorded utterances experience the…

This language program guide is designed for teachers of first grade children whose native language is Spanish or for children who are limited in their command of standard English, the oral language necessary for success in the usual school environment. The conceptual content for the 40 lessons is drawn principally from three areas: (1) social…

This fifth in a series of such catalogs lists 324 items pertaining to foreign language instruction that were accessioned by all Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) Clearinghouses from November 1969 through April 1970. Entries are organized alphabetically, and a 13-category user index assists in pinpointing items relevant to particular…

The acquisition of Standard English by speakers of other languages and by speakers of non-standard dialects seems to differ (1) in motivation, (2) in the perception of Standard English, (3) in the social significance of Standard English, (4) in the cultural heritage and its influence on man's identity and self-respect, (5) in the source…

Responses to selected questions concerning high school language instruction in foreign languages, teacher and chairman attitudinal factors toward selected articulation proposals, and teacher preparation serve as the basis for this report. The major problem of articulation of high school foreign language students into college programs is central to…

Four units on the French economy, designed for classroom use at the intermediate level, are related in their educational objectives: to shed light on French culture and strengthen second language skills. Each unit describes its specific objectives, materials, texts, instructional procedures, and student evaluation methods. Sample tests and…