Describes a pilot study that aimed at gaining insights into how language learners benefit from training in interlingual subtitling. The study showed that students' communication competence in both their first and second language improved while they simultaneously mastered transferable skills. (Author/VWL)

Offers guidelines for eliciting, modeling, and evaluating written-as-if-spoken dialogues for testing learner's oral productive skills prior to interviewing or in place of interviews. (16 references) (GLR)

Suggests instructional methods and communication strategies for second language learning which include the students' need to express themselves in non-pedagogic situations. Elements of basic awareness of face-to-face interaction are also presented. (Author/CB)

Describes the acquisition, frequency, and function of the English articles ("a,""the," and "O"--the zero article). Explains the two types of zero article (zero and null), and shows how these occur in alternation with "a" and "the." Also provides a framework for the presentation of the articles in the classroom at the beginning, intermediate, and…

Reviews use of mixed-code teaching in Hong Kong schools and outlines educators' efforts to persuade the government to accept mixed-code as not only inevitable, but preferable in most Hong Kong schools. Notes that English must be preserved for business purposes, but the Chinese medium of instruction is receiving greater emphasis as Hong Kong nears…

Examines the potential for autonomous learning programs to address the problems of first (minority) language loss. The article outlines personal, political, and practical arguments for preventing such loss during second-language acquisition; describes an autonomous program in Canada addressing these issues; and discusses the implications of these…

Describes three types of computer-assisted language learning programs which have been developed in English and Russian, addressing: (1) complex, cyclical, and generative programs; (2) preparatory to communication programs; and (3) stimulating communication programs. (Author/CB)

Describes the Ontario Test of English as a Second Language Oral Interaction Test and reports on its use in a research project to establish procedures for certifying an advanced level or a bilingual level of proficiency. (3 references) (VWL)

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has developed a five-week summer-intensive course in English to improve students' opportunities for speaking, confidence about, and communicative competence in English. The effect of the program on English teachers' roles and the ways they are perceived by students and administrators is…

Describes the African language program at Michigan State University, which provides (1) supervised, individualized instruction for high-demand languages, on two levels; (2) regular classroom instruction for Swahili and Hausa; and (3) non-credit, self-instructional programs for low-demand languages. Sample forms are appended. (AM)

Describes the teaching methods of the Yazigi Institutes of Brazil, which offer Portuguese instruction to foreigners. (JB)

Discusses the issue of oral communication tests through an account of an oral test administered to nearly 1,000 students at Yarmouk University Language Center. The ways in which the institution attempted to overcome problems in the oral test's feasibility, validity, and reliability are presented. (Author/CB)

Compares children who studied English as a foreign language in Hungary with a communication/content-based approach to similar children who studied English with a form-based traditional approach. Findings reveal that the former were slightly more accurate in their production of grammatical morphemes in an oral interview and were more fluent. (three…

Presents use of dialogs as way of implementing functional/notional approach in second language instruction. Steps in methodology include presentation and discussion, oral practice, questions and answers, examination of structure, transfer to oral or written activity, and summary of lesson's purpose. (BK)

Describes conversational language course of exercises designed to single out mistakes students kept making in language lab and concentrate on exercises to correct them to enrich English with more complex structures not used by students spontaneously. Method can be used to proceed from closed to open conversation exercises. (Author/BK)