Whether a second language is learned as a child, teenager, or as an adult, second language acquisition research has noted certain patterns that can help ESL/EFL teachers prepare their lessons. This book explains these issues including the three essential components of ESL/EFL students' learning: input, output, and interaction. Learn how material…

A teacher devised an activity based on the game show "Wheel of Fortune" to spark her deaf students' interest in fingerspelling. "Fingerspelling Fortune" spells out puzzles using cards with handshapes. As the cards are turned and the students try to guess the phrases, they increase proficiency in recognizing handshapes. (VW)

Discusses an approach to teaching Russian which addresses the problem from the perspective of the reader or listener. Students are taught first to identify the nuclear construction of sentences--the subject and predicate--and then to isolate the remaining noun phrases and relate them with one of the two core elements. (SED)

Sees word formation as an economical, important means of building vocabulary. Gives examples showing several different word-building patterns. Sees as a reasonable teaching goal the gaining of competence only in "receptive" word formation, i.e., recognition. The student can learn to build new words only from simple, frequently recurring…

Describes a teaching method for vocabulary development based on word formation by means of affixes. Discusses inflectional and derivational suffixes, prefixes, and their meaning. Offers examples of practice materials and of receptive and productive tests. (MES)

The Indochinese student brings a unique set of linguistic, cultural, and psychological problems to the English as a second language (ESL) classroom. Indochinese refugees may be illiterate in their first language, lack the prior education needed to cope with a formalized learning situation, have traditional learning and study patterns that…

Discusses the "less-able" student via a description of the strategies used by the good language learner. Such strategies include a positive, active, and tolerant approach to learning the language, with a willingness to practice the language. The less-able needs a constant sense of achievement to continue. (PJM)

An instructional manual for reference use in college and university teaching is presented, based on a 2-year study of the specific difficulties that students have in receptive communication (listening and reading) in introductory courses. Although the investigation focused primarily on the disciplines of psychology, physics, and philosophy, many…

The two part presentation presents information on specific conditions of developmental delay and suggests intervention approaches. Three causes of mental retardation (Down's syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and cerebral palsy) are identified and described in terms of definition, incidence, characteristics, and educational implications. Part II is…

Language acquisition theory and classroom applications are discussed, with a focus on the role of speaking and grammar in the early stages of English acquisition in the English-speaking elementary school setting (kindergarten and first grade). Three stages of natural language acquisition are: (1) the comprehension stage…

Designed for instruction of mainstreamed educable mentally retarded (EMR) students in kindergarten through grade 12, the resource guide covers quantitative and communication subject areas. Minimal skill sequences are listed for primary, elementary, middle, and secondary age levels for the following quantitative topic areas: clock time, calendar…

This module on effective communication is one of a series of modules designed to help teach students to become more self-sufficient in their personal and professional lives. This module contains teacher and student materials that are planned to help students become more relaxed, prepared, and confident when using written and verbal communications.…