Apprehension is the immediate reaction of some students when faced with multisyllabic words. Lacking strategies for decoding longer words, these students stop reading and seek help from an adult or a more accomplished peer rather than tackle the mysterious words themselves. Explicit strategy instruction is often recommended for students who have…

Implications of the "new grammar" approach to teaching French are examined, including the issues of nomenclature, definition, rules and generalizations, and native language use in the second language class. Grammar itself has not changed, and the principal concern is still good usage. (MSE)

New thinking is needed in the field of English language teaching as the Bullock Committee's report has shown. This article advances the idea that something could be learned from the approaches adopted by teachers of English as a foreign language. (Editor)

Paper presented to the staff of the English Language Branch--Defense Language Institute, Lockland Air Force Base, Lockland, Texas, 1973. (HW)

A review of research on second-language speaking and its instruction focuses on (1) methodological issues concerning the form/function dichotomy and their implications for teacher and learner interaction; (2) the nature and scope of current teaching materials, particularly with regard to their representations of speaking interaction; and (3)…

The Concept Attainment Model is a teaching strategy based on analysis of the nature of concepts and how they are acquired. Using this theory, three strategies for second language instruction have been developed: the reception, selection, and unorganized materials strategies. In the reception strategy, the most structured, students must be guided…

Metrical phonology, a linguistic process of phonological stress assessment and diagrammatic simplification of sentence and word stress, is discussed as it is found in the English language with the intention that it may be used in second language instruction. Stress is defined by its physical and acoustical correlates, and the principles of…

Since the emergence of the concept of communicative competence, the language teaching field has focused on teaching appropriate language use in addition to general linguistic elements. Speech act studies have contributed to providing appropriate models for second and foreign language learners. In this paper, the effort toward the creation and use…

A SEQUENTIAL, INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY WAS PRESENTED FOR DECODING LETTERS INTO SOUND. THE STRATEGY WAS INTENDED TO COMPLEMENT INSTRUCTIONAL PROGRAMS IN BEGINNING READING. LETTER-SOUND CORRESPONDENCES AND CONCEPTS WERE PROVIDED FOR ALL LETTERS OF THE ALPHABET AS THEY MIGHT OCCUR IN VARYING POSITIONS TO FORM ENGLISH WORDS. OF THE VOWELS, ONLY TWO…

Issues in the teaching of grammar in a second language are explored, and classroom presentation methods are discussed. The first chapter introduces four views of grammar and its use: as description; terminology; rules; and pattern. Each is illustrated with examples from instructional materials in several languages. In the second chapter, the…

The phenomenon of language is discussed and suggestions are made for using its unique aspects to enhance classroom second language teaching and learning. Five main points are made about language: (1) it differs in kind, not simply in degree, from other species' communicative behaviors; (2) the wonder of human language is rivaled by only one other…

Both aural-oral practice with the sounds of English and formal rules are important in pronunciation instruction, and have a role to play in interlanguage development. Formal rules provide self-evaluation for purposes of self-correction, a process which allows learners to judge or self-correct their own utterances against rule-generated predictions…

The comparison of languages can be an effective instructional technique if used well. The comparison of isolated elements is less effective than the examination of languages at several levels: system, norm, and usage. (MSE)

An approach to English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) teaching that helps students prepare for intercultural communication is described, drawing on the literature of second language learning and intercultural communication. First, potential barriers to intercultural understanding are examined, including the culture-bound nature of communication,…

The use of rhetorical voice in literature and news reporting is examined and its implications for classroom study of literature are discussed. Analysis is based on Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of the novel and the definition of "voice" as an identifiable social role or position that a character enacts, and "ventriloquation" as the…