Notes that students new to technical writing frequently have difficulty grasping the essentiality of technical definitions and learning how to create appropriate definitions. Suggests that exercises centered around a term that is lapsing into obsolescence offer some productive solutions to this common instructional problem. (RS)

Most students today have been reared on television and have had only slight brushes with the parts of grammar. Nevertheless, a variety of sentence pattern exercises and sentence combining lessons based on the students' own writing can be used to augment, challenge and improve students' writing skills and vocabulary. In the first exercise, students…

Reading, vocabulary enlargement, and the cause and effect essay are stressed as activities students can pursue on their own to improve their writing. (HTH)

The most important consideration with regard to classroom use of films in an English as a second language (ESL) class is that it should be previewed by the teacher and selected according to criteria such as those suggested here. In example, short silent films that are uncluttered in appearance are good vehicles for teaching vocabulary. Some…

Contains four articles concerning: the semantic opposition "Intense-Intesif"; vocabulary enrichment based on authentic documents; descriptions of personal characteristics and group activities; word-games promoting linguistic creativity; and various aspects of the expressions of quantity. (MES)

As both draw upon language and experience, and both deal with meaning, writing and reading can be learned concurrently. Writing activities having a positive effect on reading skills include notetaking and sentence combining exercises. A more productive way of improving reading comprehension through writing is to have students base their writing on…

Describes how news magazines were used successfully as supplements to teach civic literacy, vocabulary, and writing to college level reluctant readers. Contains two sample exercises. (HOD)

An intermediate level course in a university French program, entitled "Problems in Language and Style," is intended to develop students' skills in reading, writing, and speaking French through extensive work in building vocabulary and idioms. After a thorough and methodical reading of one novel and one play, the students are expected to read most…

This report defines and describes audiotaped dialogue journals produced by fourth year, Chilean university students in their English class. The taped journals were used as a way for students to obtain additional practice in reading, writing, listening, and speaking in an environment where school was the only place they practiced their English. The…

Numbers 1 through 5 of the 1982 TECFORS newsletter include these articles: "A Comprehensive ESL Reading Program" (Carol Qazi); "The Purpose of the Passive" (Virginia French Allen); "'Standards' Seconded" (Timothy H. Robinson); "Vocabulary and the College-Bound International Student" (Parts 1-3) (Kerry Segel); "Using Invention Heuristics to Teach…

The 31 articles presented in this book illustrate the success of initiating structure in English classrooms, at both the secondary and the college levels. Reflecting the notion that clear guidelines and explicit expectations--greater structure--will help both teacher and student work toward common educational goals, the articles are arranged in…

This regular feature contains five lesson outlines on: (1) Vitrac, a small French village; (2) structural and lexical exercises using automobile advertisements; (3) a radioplay done by student teachers; (4) the autobiography of a French peasant; and (5) nasal sounds including description, examples, and exercises. (AMH)

Composition instruction in Japan's two-year colleges must build on the English learned in earlier education and undo the problems created by the grammar-translation method. In addition, it must often develop creativity and critical-thinking skills not commonly taught in the Japanese educational system. One teacher's approach is to stress…

Art English is a combination of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL)/English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) and art content. As a new instructional area, it faces several challenges: as with all English for Special Purposes (ESP), exchange of information among programs; development of a suitable combination of art content and ESL, due to lack of…

This issue contains five articles on teaching English as a second language. "Predictive Validity of the CELT" by R. T. Moran and J. G. Erion discusses use of the Comprehensive English Language Test for Speakers of English as a Second Language to predict later success in a setting where nearly all students speak English as their second…