An approach to teaching the paradigmatic and reciprocal uses of the "se" construction in Spanish is presented. A system of eight basic categories of the paradigmatic reflexives is outlined, including "do-it-yourself," reciprocal, reflexive of change, consumer, reflexive of interest, optional, change of meaning, and reflexive-only classifications.…

This document provides summaries of the conference organization, opening speeches, election of the chairperson, 4 presented papers and 11 contributions, conclusions, and recommendations. The following papers are presented in full in the appendix: (1) "Design and Production of Educational Materials for the Modernization of Teacher Training in…

Use factors comprise those characteristics or elements present in evaluation settings that potentially affect use. This paper focuses on one such use factor, termed "written requirements for the evaluation." This factor includes the evaluation requirements accompanying federally-funded programs. Two questions are dealt with: how does…

The Center for the Study of Evaluation (CSE) has developed expository and narrative rating scales to meet the need for instructionally-relevant methods for assessing students' writing competence. The scales employ analytic rating procedures to meet the assessment needs of identifying specific areas of strength and weakness for individual students,…

The overall objective of the "Making Changes" program, which is the subject of this facilitator handbook, is to help immigrant women in Canada establish more meaningful lives, specifically in terms of employment. After briefly describing the content of the program (career planning, information sharing and getting, job search skills, the…

Effective informational writing assignments show students that creativity and imagination are essential to the generation of new ideas in all content areas. A collection of these assignments has been arranged into five categories of increasing complexity based on the following criteria: whether the point of view is assigned as self-selected;…

The purpose of teacher feedback in the speech classroom is to inform the speaker of the audience's reaction to the speech, to make suggestions for improvement on future speeches, and to motivate the speaker to speak again or to enjoy speaking. To provide appropriate criticism, teachers need to understand the nature and the relative merits of…

Through instruction in synaptic linking--the process of relating ideas and information to produce expanded interpretations and new constructs--teachers provide students with a model for answering higher level questions about their reading material. Presenting a carefully planned sequence of reading comprehension questions that require skills…

An approach to teaching literary point of view to high school and college composition classes is described in this brief article. AUTHOR'S COMMENT (excerpt): My students demonstrate little understanding of the concept of point of view. They seem unaware that selecting a point of view is an important decision for a writer, because it controls the…

The Primary Trait System (PTS) of scoring was devised by the National Assessment of Educational Progress to score large numbers of natural writing samples. Essentially, PTS permits evaluation of writing in an objective way, but one that does not rely on scoring surface features such as mechanics, grammar, or spelling. While the assessment value of…

Instructors' knowledge of linguistics can affect the way they teach writing. For example, in traditional linguistics, O. Jespersen's important contribution is his descriptive rather than prescriptive study of English in a historical context. Writing teachers influenced by Jespersen will place students in writing situations where they do not rely…

An approach to generating enthusiasm for writing through a writing contest is described in this brief article. AUTHOR'S COMMENT (excerpt): Why would a librarian sponsor a writing contest for more than eleven hundred students in an elementary school? I wanted to provide a writing experience for my students that would be a positive one; I hoped to…

A study investigated the relationship between students' communication apprehension levels and their attitudes toward the use of video recording in a basic speech course. A communication apprehension measure and a questionnaire on perceptions of videotape use in class were completed by 230 undergraduate basic speech students. The findings…

A principal cause of the seeming "foreignness" in the compositions of English as a second language (ESL) university students is discussed, and an approach to correcting the problem is suggested. It is asserted that the English language compositions of ESL students reflect native language rhetorical norms which are culturally based. Discourse bloc…

In teaching introductory English as a second language to nonliterate adult refugees, the focus should initially be on oral skills. The literature on characteristics of recent Southeast Asian refugees and suggested curriculum strategies is reviewed in order to determine the appropriate curriculum and methods for this group. A curriculum for…