The idea of reducing the redundancy of a verbal message in a statistical way is presented as a practiced technique of language testing. Considering the temporality of speech comprehension, and the necessarily sequential intake of information, these cues may include the serial order of elements and transitional probability. To give the background…

Controlling the rate of oral delivery in the second language classroom has been demonstrated as beneficial to the learner, whose information-processing capacity is an important factor in listening comprehension. Rate of information delivery can be controlled by limiting the actual rate of words per unit of time, or by maintaining content…

Discusses research supporting the contention that listening fluency should be taught first and oral response delayed because languaqe acquisition takes place without any overt performance. Includes extensive bibliographic references. (PMJ)

Proponents of the cognitive approach to language teaching list linguistic competence as the primary instructional objective and attribute considerable importance to listening comprehension. For the student, linguistic competence would be knowledge of grammatical components of the language and its vocabulary. Understanding oral messages is an…

This paper attempts to enact Rivers' (1971 and 1972) urgings to base ESL listening instruction on both psychological and linguistic findings and contends that advanced ESL students' listening needs call for improvement in processing spoken English discourse. Psychological data on memory span is cited to demonstrate that advanced ESL students…

The development of a method for teaching oral comprehension in a second language depends on an understanding of the nature of comprehension and on an analysis of the problems that arise in the learning process. These issues can be approached by a theoretical investigation of comprehension from a psycholinguistic point of view and by the…

This paper reviews some of the strategies the receiver uses in the process of comprehending a message in a foreign language and discusses some of the ways in which the listener/reader goes beyond the actual physical form of the message during this process. The role of guessing is discussed in the context of the following theories: the…

The 19 papers in this collection cover diversified topics in the general area of psychology and second language learning. No single method of language teaching emerges, but the complexity of second language behavior and the importance of psychology in the field are underlined. Several trends seem to be most prevalent. There is a new focus on the…

Comprehension for the foreign language learner is discussed, and it is claimed that comprehension is not a by-product of the other skills but should be taught and tested throughout a course of study. The channel or medium used in communication will influence the understanding of the message. Differences involved in reading and listening…

Various sources of learner problems are identified and specific remedial activities are suggested for difficulties in speaking, listening, reading, writing, vocabulary acquisition, and grammar tasks. Some of the more common sources of learner difficulties that are discussed are: poor memory, lack of flexibility, too impulsive, too reflective,…

Language Assessment Scales, Level 2 (LAS II) are used to assess the linguistic proficiency of limited-English-speaking or non-English-speaking adolescents. LAS II, like its predecessor, LAS I, provides a picture of oral linguistic proficiency based on a student's performance across four linguistic subsystems: phonemic, lexical, syntactic and…