Despite teachers' best intentions, traditional whole-class discussions sometimes end up sounding like the monotonous drone of Charlie Brown's teacher. But with careful planning, teachers can structure discussions that encourage meaningful student interaction and collaborative thinking, write Laura Billings and Terry Roberts of the…

The paper presents a program for increasing spontaneous functional speech to autistic like children. The program, applicable to individual and group settings, emphasizes the use of language skills beyond the classroom. (Author/CL)

Describes the Ten-Schools Program (TSP) in Los Angeles (California). Among the features described are academic goals, staff development, an extended school year, parental involvement, extensive attention to oral and written language, and special counseling services. (EVL)

Discusses the reluctance of gifted students to present their work orally and describes a school program that taught the principles of presentation to 10 of the least confident students in a public-speaking class. The program improved the confidence and speaking ability of most of the students. (CR)

Discusses one first-grade teacher's use of collections in the classroom for the purpose of enhancing children's vocabulary, questioning, and oral presentation skills. (BB)

This paper describes the components of the interdisciplinary, kindergarten through grade twelve communication skills program developed by educators in the Lincoln, Nebraska, public schools. The paper contains (1) a brief discussion of the background of the communication skills program; (2) an overview of its characteristics; (3) statements of the…

Describes DePauw University's program of speaking and listening across the curriculum. (MS)

Described is an interesting attempt by one university to require of students demonstrated competencies in writing as freshmen, quantitative reasoning as sophomores and juniors, and oral communication as juniors or seniors. Quantitative measures of the effectiveness of the program are not provided. (Author/RM)

Tells English teachers how to develop a speech program using skills that are similar to those used in essay writing. Shows how the following steps in the speech-making process can be divisions in the course: purpose, audience, content, delivery, and evaluation. (EL)

The special issue with 21 articles reports a study by the Central Institute of the Deaf (Missouri) to design a small, "ideal" program for elementary age deaf children, given the condition that cost, staff, materials, and space were no problems. (SB)

This report describes one segment of the Federal Language Testing Board's Unified Language Testing Plan (ULTP), the validation of speaking proficiency tests in Spanish and English. The ULTP is a project to increase standardization of foreign language proficiency measurement and promote sharing of resources among testing programs in the federal…

The purpose of this booklet is to provide information on what is known about standards for effective basic skills improvement programs to persons developing such programs, philosophies, standards, and strategies. It also provides access to current thinking by practicing professionals on standards for building effective programs to eligible…

The national Language Development Project in Australia, an undertaking concerned with informing teachers on matters to do with language, language development, and language and learning, is described in this report. The various sections of the report establish the project's purposes; offer discussions of developments in thinking and research of the…

The Young Historians project provides abundant opportunities for students in grades one through six to apply basic reading, writing, listening, speaking, and computing skills learned during reading and math and to learn firsthand about their own heritage and the many resources in their own community. (RM)

This paper describes a unified effort at Central College (Pella, Iowa) to insure that graduates in all content areas achieve competency in the communication skills of reading, writing, and speaking. The discussion focuses on how the program was set up, what its components are, how all the faculty contribute, the positive impact of the…