Offers suggestions for teaching precis writing; advocates stressing the value of the activity as language manipulation, its meaningfulness, the language techniques required, its link with composition, and its appropriateness to the advanced level. (MSE)

Gives the format of a listening exercise in which students perform two tasks while listening to a dialog: they answer 15 true-false questions and they label the rooms of a house on a plan provided. The dialog was selected for naturalness, predictability, and distribution of reference words. (PJM)

An oral situational structural test developed for ESL students is discussed. This article proposes that tests can be used as motivational instruments and as teaching instruments. Properly used, tests enable students to see a link between ultimate language proficiency and immediate exam passage. (CHK)

Recounts trends and classroom techniques noted in several schools visited by a University of Toronto delegation in 1972. Techniques include use of recordings, role-playing, discussion, songs, and recitation; speaker confidence was noted by the visitors. (MSE)

Describes second language testing methods including discrete-point tests, integrative tests, criterion-referenced testing, FSI test of oral proficiency, tests of functional ability. No way has yet been found to reliably measure communicative competence in second languages. (BK)

While proficiency tests make a positive statement about the language ability of those who pass, it says nothing about those who don't. Since the proficiency test's questions are too general, a "sufficiency" test was developed to determine if students had "enough" English to meet the needs that motivated their study. (PJM)

Conversation classes have three goals: (1) to introduce and practice elements of spoken language; (2) to bring passive knowledge of the language into active use; and (3) to create a situation in which the two other goals may be realized. The place, the material, and the topic are important in achieving these goals. (CFM)

Error analysis has been presented as a means of "finding a shorter way" in the analysis of learners' difficulties in foreign languages. The alternative starts with a comparison of the native and foreign languages in order to predict such difficulties. The two types are complementary rather than mutually exclusive. (Author/MSE)

Presents a re-evaluation of the data given by Oller in the June 1971 issue of ELT. (RM)

Research at Queens College involving 116 English as a second language students revealed that proficiency in English, measured by a variety of tests, is more closely related to amount of formal instruction than to years spent in an English-speaking country, although a significant relationship exists between proficiency and each factor. (CFM)

The attitude of the target-language community toward the foreign language learner has been overlooked in language teaching. The teacher should consider the native speaker's attitude toward the language learner's command of the language, whether the native speaker views the learner's proficiency as an intrusion, and whether situations dictate…

Concerns research in the use of cloze tests to measure a particular language skill when a standardized paper-and-pencil test is not an obviously appropriate validating instrument. The conversational cloze test proved to be superior to a written or prose cloze test in measuring the students' oral ability. Statistical tables are given. (Author/PJM)

A test instrument which can be economically administered and scored is described here. The test was used for research purposes in Nigeria to measure proficiency in English of Yoruba-speaking students. (CHK)

Based primarily on observation of university English courses in Ethiopia, this article concludes that service courses in English are ineffective. ESL courses in Hawaii and California are compared with Ethiopian programs for learning time and results. (CHK)

Points out that the emphasis in English language teaching should shift from spoken to written English since international communication today generally means gaining access to written information. (CFM)