This article addresses the questions: why is the development of conversational competence important within higher education? And how might this goal be pursued? We offer answers that may aid a broad range of stakeholders (language learners, course designers, lecturers, language development managers, and policy makers) in thinking through these…

Describes conversational language course of exercises designed to single out mistakes students kept making in language lab and concentrate on exercises to correct them to enrich English with more complex structures not used by students spontaneously. Method can be used to proceed from closed to open conversation exercises. (Author/BK)

Discusses research in listening comprehension and proposes model for listening comprehension activities in college French conversation courses. (BK)

Describes an approach to Russian conversation courses at the undergraduate level. (PMP)

Reports on a pilot project which used an imaginary tour of an Italian city as the basis for conversation exercises. (AM)

Describes the undergraduate internship in conversation at New Mexico State University, a course which attempts to improve the oral communication of basic language classes. The course offers undergraduates opportunities to hold conversations with more advanced undergraduates in weekly meetings. In order to make the class nonthreatening, neither…

Five directions foreign language departments should explore in the 1980s in order to revitalize their programs include uniting foreign language and international studies, cross-cultural studies, teaching process of communication, career preparation, and language for humanistic studies. (BK)

Describes the suggestopedic method and an experiment using it in an American college elementary language class. The class organization, the way suggestopedia works, the classroom program, and results of suggestopedic courses are discussed. (AMH)

Examines the differences between explicit and implicit methods of teaching grammar in a university's advanced French conversation classes. Students taught explicitly performed better overall (in writing and orally) than students who were exposed to an implicit presentation of the same grammar content. (CB)

One of the current approaches to teaching second languages is the communicative approach. To improve the use of this approach in Shimane, Japan, it is necessary to discover the extent to which it is being used and what is hindering its use. This study examined the situation by asking native and non-native English postsecondary instructors to…

Discusses an introductory course in basic conversational Spanish that raised enrollment. It is noted that the course interested students who desired a basic knowledge of spoken Spanish and those students who feared failure in regular courses. It was found that some students later enrolled in regular courses. (Author/AMH)

Associative speaking as a method of making oral communication the central activity in foreign language classes as early as the second semester is described. (Author/RM)

Describes a method which uses popular French songs to stimulate discussion in a high school level conversational course. (AM)

In order to ensure personal involvement in and eagerness for verbal communication, the German intermediate conversational course at Clemson University centers on love, marriage, and family life. Student proficiency in German improves, and the course generates enthusiasm as well as self-awareness and awareness of others. (Author/SW)

A system for developing students' conversational skills is described. The conversational practice is regular and systematic and can be handled by aides, substitutes or advanced foreign language students. It can also include humanistic or psychological techniques after the elementary phases. (KM)