Two areas in which language laboratory programs can be improved--training teachers in nonverbal aspects of communication and maintenance of an adequate supply of taped materials--are discussed. (RM)

Stresses that learning to understand and speak a foreign language is the acquisition of a skill, not of a system of abstract knowledge. Primary objective is understanding through a receptive, semantic approach, which incorporates rising expectancy level, discrepency feedback levels, and confidence in later speech production. Suggests incorporating…

Suggests that an analysis of spontaneous speech collected in a simulation can provide insight into the way messages are produced and understood. Describes an experiment which used this technique to study the linguistic performance and communication strategies in anglophone children learning French. (SED)

Describes preception-oriented foreign language teaching strategies by listing the characteristic features of the perception of social processes and the methods for putting the principles of perception orientation into practice through such techniques as dialogues, roleplays, and simulation. Includes extensive bibliographic references. (PMJ)

Possibilities opened by video in the theory and practice of foreign language teaching are suggested. Among the advantages are: observation of mouth movements is important to articulation; gestures and facial expressions are an important part of communication; and language presented in social contexts can show socio-linguistic conventions. (SW)