This guide addresses issues facing the parents, teachers and caregivers of children who are unable to use normal speech as a means of communication. It focuses on people who are intellectually disabled or children who are starting to use augmentative communication. The guide includes the following topics: the nature of communication; an overview…

Discusses a Belfast, Northern Ireland, secondary school's efforts to expand its age 16+ curriculum and investigates how internal communications and external negotiations were (mis)managed. The head teacher's lack of communication with his staff led to reluctant acceptance of a policy he was formulating and attempting to execute. More staff…

An investigation of the process of language teaching as communication in a cross-cultural context shows that there is potential for misunderstanding. Examples of types of errors that are pragmatic rather than grammatical are discussed. A model is presented to help understand the pragmatic error. (DF)

A discussion of cognates in second language teaching, particularly in English as a Second Language (ESL), looks at reasons and methods for teaching both true and false cognates ("friends"). A definition of cognates is offered, and a distinction is made between a cognate and a borrowed word, with examples from several languages.…

Taboo or forbidden topics of conversation are compared for Taiwan, the Republic of China, and United States. Emphasis is on the conveyance of conversational conventions in second language teaching. First, the concept of conversational taboos is examined, noting the non-transferability of taboos across cultures and languages. Four kinds of taboos…

This study was conducted to identify problems teachers face in using English as the language of instruction in the early grades of Zambian primary school, and to investigate the difficulties young pupils meet because of learning through English rather than through their mother tongue. The first chapter sets forth the historical background of the…

The Cleartalk project was developed in New South Wales (Australia) to help police respond to the communication needs of people with intellectual disabilities. Section 1 presents "The View from the Street: A Working Knowledge of Intellectual Disability," which discusses how individuals with intellectual disabilities are denied their right…

A paper discusses inservice teacher training in the context of regionalized education, with reference to recent Latin American efforts to regionalize, decentralize, and de-concentrate educational systems in order to provide relavant and adequate regional educational systems and so make equal education possible. Basic concepts in regionalized…

The materials comprise a 30-hour training package designed to assist workplace supervisors in Australia in understanding the issues and strategies for managing and training a multicultural workforce, particularly when it includes refugees or immigrants of non-English-speaking backgrounds. The course is to be taught by, and these materials are…

This report is based on an in-depth study of early education in five multicultural primary schools in England's West Midlands. The aim of the study was to identify developments and features of organization that facilitate communication between teachers and children and among the children themselves. Specifically examined were the abilities of 247…