Turn-taking in language classroom discourse is analyzed in order to discover patterns of instructional teacher-pupil exchange. It is concluded that traditional modes of second language instruction (especially in English as a second language) tend to stifle student initiative. Since students rarely have the opportunity to open an exchange, it is…

Describes a one-semester conversational course taught at Harvard University designed to teach basic oral communication skills in French with the main emphasis on teaching students to pause while speaking. (AM)

Communication as a language-learning goal is legitimate, but it is claimed that some of the situational and functional techniques in pursuit of that goal are not. The value of most of the practice techniques generally used in second language classes is also questioned. In their place, a process of learner-centered analyses and communication…

Talk is proposed as the subject matter of foreign language courses. The key to acquiring liberated expression lies in the assimilation of the learner to the target culture. Once he/she is assimilated, the learner's involvement in a situation matches the involvement of natives of the target culture. For example, faced with some life circumstance…

The objective of this course is to enable students to negotiate a business transaction directly in English. The proposed setting is a conference room and the interlocutors are upper middle class professional people. The learners are students of business administration in France who already possess some knowledge of English vocabulary and grammar.…