Presents a business communication scenario for students to role-play and analyze, using a systematic process for identifying communication roadblocks occurring on the job, especially when communicating with people from diverse backgrounds and other countries. Discusses ways to improve the communication process to enable students to develop…

Proposes a technique of developing conversational, expressive competence based on a discourse model. Exercises to develop an understanding of commercial negotiation illustrate the technique. (MSE)

A study analyzed the discourse of four pairs of students participating in dyadic interactive communicative tasks (ICTs) to discover if and how their discourse styles influenced the dynamics of interaction. Students were paired according to their teacher's evaluation of their discourse style as active or non-active, and were designated sender or…

Four French classroom activities are described, including an introductory exercise in French for special purposes (business administration), a cultural exploration activity using a commercial audiotape, holiday card-writing, and an exercise in interpreting an art or other exhibition. (MSE)

An instructional module designed to help prepare college-level teaching assistants (TAs) for their duties in second language instruction is presented. The module focuses on the teaching of oral language skills in a beginning or intermediate language course. The first section examines features of spoken language, including the range of uses of…

This study analyzed the discourse of electronic mail (e-mail) exchanges between students of English as a second language (ESL) and other ESL learners from other cultures and at varying proficiency levels (keypals), focusing on what these exchanges may reveal about learners' progress through the "Zone of Proximal Development," a…