Language impairment is a condition of impaired ability in expressing ideas, information, needs and in understanding what others say. In the teaching and learning of English as a second language, this disability poses a lot of difficulties for impaired students as well as the teacher in the pedagogic process. Pathologies and other speech/language…

Drawing on the rhetorical/relational goal theory, this study examined the role of instructor clarity and non-verbal immediacy in affective learning through the mediation of instructor understanding. Data were gathered through close-ended questionnaires from 756 Chinese and 715 Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) students, the factor…

Becoming a professional worker involves a wide range of cognitive, social, and cultural processes that have received extensive attention over the past decades amongst various disciplines. It is also not external to language use and communication. Novices in any occupation have to learn technical terms and are expected to master specific discourse…

Courses: Any introductory undergraduate public-speaking course, in particular in ESL/EFL contexts. Objectives: This single-class activity is intended to (1) build students' ability to communicate orally "off the cuff;" (2) foster students' understanding of the major organizational formats used in organizing speeches; and (3) increase…

This is a step-by-step guide to offering role plays that give learners practice in describing a problem, asking for advice, giving advice--and giving and receiving feedback from peers. The article includes numerous sample prompts.

A classroom exercise in the importance of mimicry or imitation and individual characteristics (age, status, profession, etc.) in face-to-face communication uses photographs to which the students must ascribe characteristics, statements, attitudes, and situations. (MSE)

Findings of sociolinguistic research that can be used by language teachers to elicit meaningful and authentic communication from their students are reviewed, including such factors as nonverbal cues, situation, intent, mood, and cultural norms. (MSE)

A discussion of the use of drama in the foreign language classroom looks at the three common ways it is used: (1) the dramatic teacher, or methods in which the teacher's dramatic behavior involves the students in interesting communicative situations; (2) creative drama, in which activities focus on the students' involvement in spontaneous dramatic…

To accomplish successful communicative foreign language teaching, a teacher needs more than a sound command of the language and thorough training in communicative methodology. He or she also needs training in self-presentation, exposure to situations in which the importance of non-verbal behavior is made clear, and discussion of the fundamental…

This report describes an instructional material development project designed to promote a more holistic concept of second language instruction, embracing nonverbal as well as verbal communication. Initially designed for French instruction and later produced for German, the project had as a concrete goal to produce a distributable version of a…

Based on a native English-speaking teacher's perception that Chinese university students of English as a Second Language have greater skill in vocabulary than in the communication of ideas, a survey of students in one class investigated attitudes about the role of nonverbal communication in the communication process. Responses indicate a lack of…

This workplace skills course on communicating effectively in a business setting is designed to help the non-native English speaker to communicate more effectively with clients, colleagues, superiors, and subordinates. Introductory material includes a course outline and objectives. The course consists of six sessions, each of which has these…

A bibliography on intercultural nonverbal communication contains citations of interest primarily to Japanese teachers of English as a second language. Citations are organized in these categories: general information; chronemics; proxemics; personal space and territory; physical appearance and clothes; kinesics (posture and gestures); tactile…