Second language pragmatics are not easily acquired by second language learners for a variety of reasons including negative first language transfer, insufficient grammatical competence, and inadequate instruction. For adult learners living in the second language environment, adequate pragmatic knowledge is essential even for beginning level…

The author is responsible for teaching reading classes and overseeing the reading curriculum at an intensive English program in the United States. The institution strives to make reading fluency a priority in the classroom, but after conducting a basic overview of the literature on the topic, the author realized that the approach could be improved…

This book is unique in bringing together studies on instructed second language acquisition that focus on a common question: "What renders this research particularly relevant to classroom applications, and what are the advantages, challenges, and potential pitfalls of the methodology adopted?" The empirical studies feature experimental,…

In the comprehension approach to second language instruction, the major procedure is to provide students with comprehensible input, which it is the students' responsibility to understand. The aim is to encourage nucleation of the target language, that is the crystallization of the rule system. Teaching procedures focus on strategies for implicit…

Curriculum innovations succeed or fail according to the extent to which teachers, and to some extent students, feel that they are meaningfully involved in the process of change. For change to be effective, it cannot be simply imposed from above; rather it depends absolutely on the people who implement it. The innovations described in this book…

An overview of how reading has been used in the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writing classroom is offered, example of changes in reading and writing models are examined, current views of the connections between reading and writing are discussed, and application of these connections in one advanced ESL writing class is reported. (85…

Situational leadership can be used in the English-as-a-Second-Language classroom to help students accept and adapt to instructional innovation. Leadership style is determined by the leader's task (directive) and relationship (supportive) behavior and by the classroom environment. Follower readiness is both job-related and psychological. Case…

This article gives the perspectives of three teachers of intensive French (IF) as they adjusted their thinking to teaching in a French as a second language (FSL) classroom that was very different from the core French classroom and developed teaching strategies to facilitate effective learning of communication skills by the students. Four major…

An intensive college-level French language course, based on the principles of immersion and designed to aid students in the transition between intermediate and advanced proficiency levels, is described. Focus is on three course aspects: teacher contacts; meetings with native-speaking students; and use of audiovisual aids. (21 references) (MSE)

Teachers of academic English cannot teach content directly, prepare students for all academic tasks, eradicate error, or teach the full range of academic vocabulary. However, they can teach task and genre awareness, encourage use of all skills and higher-order thinking, require exploitation of resources, and encourage self-evaluation. (11…

Contrastive rhetoric theory, an extension of contrastive grammar, holds that the rhetorical predispositions of a student's native language will interfere with attempts to learn the rhetoric of a second language; and that because speakers of different languages think differently, they organize paragraphs differently, a situation which influences…

Four reports describing aspects of a summer English course, designed for foreign students from a variety of backgrounds, focus on learning English through classroom lessons and extra-curricular activities. Sue Swaffield, the course director, outlines the background, organization, and staffing of the course, looking at its broad aims and role in…

The foreign language faculty at College of Saint Scholastica Minnesota) developed and implemented 10-day Spanish and French immersion programs based on Peace Corps methodology as a means of affording students time for intensive study of those languages, improving students' fluency, and instituting a change in teaching methodology. The first…

The spring-summer and fall-winter 1983 numbers of the journal include these articles: "Body-Mind Integration Through Yoga" (Marie Paulyn); "The Effectiveness of Three Classroom Teaching Methods: Programmed Instruction, Simulation, and Guided Fantasy" (Elizabeth B. Groff, Gary F. Render); "Teaching Relaxation in School: A…

The Strategic Interaction method has been found to be effective in developing oral skills among students in an intensive English language program at the University of Jordan, and holds promise for language instruction in other contexts. The method, which is predominantly communicative in nature, stresses language use and interaction in discourse…