This digest discusses the simulated oral proficiency interview (SOPI), a performance-based, tape-mediated speaking test. The SOPI follows the general structure of the oral proficiency interview (OPI) used by government agencies and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) to measure speaking proficiency. Whereas the OPI is…

A discussion of the faculty and administrator selection process looks at the function of search committees, the issue of confidentiality in records, and societal issues that need to be addressed. A number of factors in the effective use of search committees are outlined, including breadth of committee membership, quality of communication within…

Online counseling is a growing means of interaction for counselors and clients. This paper presents an interview among three counselors who simultaneously describe and demonstrate skills they use in their e-mail counseling practices. The interviewer and the interviewees all have been involved in the development of online counseling. The skills…

This bibliography contains 25 annotations of resources in the ERIC database (ranging from 1977 to 1988) concerning communications strategies for both teachers who are preparing students for the interviewing process and students who foresee an interview in the near future. The citations in the first section present teaching techniques and…

Lists and annotates 13 books and articles in the ERIC database on job searching and interviewing, and on performance-appraisal interviews. (PRA)

The main purpose of this paper is to delineate methods of data collection and coding currently being used in a longitudinal observational study of toddlers in 25 black families in Oakland, California. Data collection activities, accomplished through monthly three-hour visits to each home, focused on five types of data: (1) videotaped and…

This digest in Spanish presents steps that school boards and district officials can take to find qualified applicants for vacant school-leadership positions. It discusses various long-term strategies, such as increasing the candidate pool through career ladders and recruiting teachers through internships and training programs, that districts can…

This digest presents steps that school boards and district officials can take to find qualified applicants for vacant school-leadership positions. It discusses various long-term strategies, such as increasing the candidate pool through career ladders and recruiting teachers through internships and training programs, that districts can enact…

Intended to help prepare individuals for job seeking, this digest suggests some resources to consult to help improve basic communication skills needed for the interview process. The digest reviews research on teaching interview skills in the classroom, discussing role playing, videotapes, and techniques workshops. The digest also lists practical…

This digest focuses on the American Council on the Speaking of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Speaking Proficiency Guidelines. The history and development of the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines (originally, the ACTFL Provisional Proficiency Guidelines) are reviewed, the generic characteristics of each level of the speaking guidelines are presented in…

Annotations of 12 articles and a research report discuss procedures for selecting principals and other school administrators and examine the hiring process from the viewpoints of both the candidates and those doing the hiring. Three articles describe model selection processes and note the problems involved in job interviews, letters of…

The oral interview (OI) is a testing procedure that measures a wide range of speaking abilities in a foreign language. Although somewhat different versions are used in different testing situations, the OI always consists of a structured, face-to-face conversation on a variety of topics between a student and one or two testers. The resulting speech…

The Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) was born in the mid-1960s and is today the world's largest and most popular educational database. The history of ERIC's early development has been told in Del Trester's 1981 narrative, "ERIC--The First Fifteen Years: 1964-1979, A History of the Educational Resources Information Center."…

The Simulated Oral Proficiency Interview (SOPI) is a semi-direct performance-based speaking test that emulates the face-to-face Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) as closely as practical, using a tape recording and printed test booklet. The prototypical SOPI contains simple personal background questions typical of an initial encounter (warm-up) and…

Steps in preparing and conducting a job search include the following: (1) developing a resume; (2) locating prospective employers; (3) applying for the job; (4) interviewing; and (5) following through. The two types of resumes are the chronological and the functional. Most application forms require some basic information: name, address, and…