If the study of foreign languages cannot be begun at the elementary level, it should be delayed until after adolescence, because adolescents between the ages of 10 and 18 have the greatest difficulty learning languages. At the tertiary level, emphasis should be on the reading skill. (CFM)

The many dimensions of individual differences that make each learner a challenge to the foreign language teacher are discussed. The teacher must interpret the information and provide differentiated environments to "match" these differences. Emphasis is placed upon learning styles and learning strategies. An historical perspective of adapting…

Charles A. Curran has developed a radically different type of language learning by dealing with the learners as a group rather than as a class. The social learning relationships of a class differ from a group in the contract, the social milieu, in the relationships between the teacher and students, and among the students themselves. Curran called…

This article describes a Cognitive Preference Inventory, which translates a compilation of test data into a "cognitive style map" of an individual's learning preferences. A study noted here demonstrates how learning preferences and styles can be coordinated with teaching method for highest language learning achievement. (CHK)

Situational Reinforcement, a teaching methodology developed out of the cognitive-field theory of learning, is described. It combines many techniques and methods developed over the years. This discussion of it considers common learning problems: (1) boredom, apathy and passivity on the part of the student, (2) the teacher's preoccupation with…

This revision of a previous edition discusses an approach to language teaching called the Silent Way. This method is based on the notion that learning a foreign language is in many respects radically different from learning the mother tongue. It can be learned in the schools by artificial methods and with materials designed for the purpose. The…

Suggestopedia is a learning technique which claims to provide students with a better and richer learning experience than is generally found in most educational systems. It also claims to accelerate the learning process by giving access to so-called unused "reserves of the mind." (SW)

The major approaches to language teaching (audiolingual method, generative grammar, Community Language Learning and Silent Way) are investigated to discover whether or not they are compatible in structure with an information-processing model of memory (IPM). The model of memory used was described by Roberta Klatzky in "Human Memory:…

In the university French program discussed here, students paraphrase literary passages. The analysis of their errors is used to measure their language competence and to indicate the level of language instruction needed. (Text is in French.) (MS)

Suggestopaedia seems to be the only pedagogical approach using music as an integral part or essential component of the teaching process, in spite of the fact that the contribution of music to pedagogy and successful learning has been recognized for some time. In a suggestopaedic course, music plays a large part in creating a pleasant suggestive…

This volume consists of the following papers selected from those presented at the 1977 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages: (1) "Educational Cognitive Style: A Basis for Personalizing Foreign Language Instruction," by Derek N. Nunney; (2) "Discovering Student Learning Styles through Cognitive Style Mapping," by Helen S.…

This article describes a course in listening comprehension methodology in a College of Education in Holland. The main concern of the article is to examine the teacher-trainer's organization of the students' learning process. The course is divided into three sections: (1) group discussion of the concept of listening comprehension; (2) discussion of…

The value of language learning theory and research is discussed, and the need for content-related linguistic, sociolinguistic and cultural research, as well as treatment-related research on language teaching and learning, is emphasized. It has been only gradually, from about the mid-sixties and increasingly from the early seventies, that second…

The language teaching method presented here is an inter-related set of techniques for teaching target comprehension skills directly to students on both university and high school levels. Three elements of the method are discussed: (1) the basics of a comprehension-based classroom; (2) the expanded speaking component; and (3) the expanded reading…