Many of the foreign language teachers and professors I have encountered throughout my EFL teaching career say that speaking is the most difficult skill to teach in a foreign language class. Classes usually focus on teaching points (e.g. grammar or listening related lessons) that can satisfy larger classroom situations. Speaking requires adequate…

Although not a new discussion in the Irish context, the value of oral language development has recently gained prominence again in Irish Post-Primary English classrooms. In this article we present how the recent introduction of Junior Cycle English, which now includes an Oral Communication Classroom Based Assessment () is renewing efforts to…

Examines some problems in designing a course in oral business communication. Suggests some viable solutions, and provides examples of assignments and a tentative course schedule. (RL)

The research reported in this book was based on the belief that Australian schools should develop the speech communication as well as the reading and writing skills of their students. The book is designed to provide educators and researchers with guidelines for future work on oral language assessment and on curriculum development. The first…

As communication/English curricula pass from a period of great diversity to one of greater centrality, educators need to find a more reasoned direction to guide curricular decision making. Many of the current reports on the state of education refer to the importance of oral communication skills, but such skills have not received their rightful…

Once speech educators turn their attention to the "ideational" function of oral language--that portion pertaining to thinking--rather than the relational function, they will see that speech can and should be incorporated into every discipline. The psychologist Lev S. Vygotsky envisions the ways in which humans use speech to reorder their…

Since the traditional information-based curriculum does not adequately meet contemporary needs, it should be replaced by a process-oriented curriculum that fosters skills in information processing, concept formation, problem solving, and other higher order cognitive processes in conjunction with the development of language skills. There are many…

This publication includes five papers that were presented at a language communications conference that emphasized integrating the language arts at elementary and secondary school levels. Walter Loban stresses the importance of classroom language activities that involve children in genuine purposes and that link language to thinking. Charles R.…

This speech communication curriculum guide is designed to provide a comprehensive oral language curriculum, to suggest ways for integrating oral activities into other curriculum areas, and to stimulate ideas for using oral language in a holistic rather than a fragmentary learning environment. Following an introductory chapter on "creating the…

The Technology Enhanced Accent Modification (TEAM) project created multimedia software to improve the oral proficiency of international teaching assistants (ITAs). Objectives were to: (1) develop reliable accent modification software that would operate on computers found at most colleges; (2) determine how TEAM-based accent modification…

Intended to serve as a model to aid school districts in developing and reviewing their language arts curricula, this curriculum guide for the elementary grades lists in parallel columns topics/concepts, learning outcomes, and sample learning objectives for language skills in the areas of oral communication, reading, and writing. Topics and…