This study discusses the effect of early instruction in French in eight elementary schools on subsequent student achievement at the end of grades 7, 8, and 9. The Common Concepts Foreign Language Test in French was the criterion of achievement for the seventh-grade students. Results give averages, differences, and significance of the differences…

This document describes an educational experiment designed to test the proposition that language learning can best be carried on through a program of maximum exposure in the least possible time. An experimental class of 19 average students participated in an eight-week intensive course consisting of four half-hour laboratory sessions; there were…

An experiment measuring the effectiveness of two procedures for presenting pattern drills was devised in order to show that pattern drills are most useful as a learning device if deliberately related to situational or meaningful content. Criteria for the selection of subjects are presented here, as are sample test items and a table of results.…

The experiments outlined in this paper assess the relative effectiveness of two approaches to teaching foreign language grammar to adults. One approach, called the "Implicit Method," is based on the audiolingual habit theory of language learning. Grammar is taught inductively through the reading of dialogues and practice with carefully…

This newsletter provides a summary of the documentation available on the activities connected with the Unterrichtsmethode English (UME) Project, an investigation of methods for teaching English as a second language, conducted from 1965 to 1970. The documents listed and described cover general reports; details of the material-method system;…

The reading laboratory has been developed to supplement intensive reading work for adult foreign students developing English-as-a-second-language skills at the American Language Institute. The laboratory is designed to suggest to students that there is a variety of reading tasks and a variety of reading strategies related to the tasks, to offer…

Beginning with a brief review of the growth of the audiolingual method of foreign language instruction in the United States of America, this paper examines implications and lessons drawn from an educational experiment in language instruction known as the Pennsylvania Report. The text of a memorandum to school administrators in Pennsylvania by the…

In order to gain some insight into the issue of optimum age for second language learning, the experiment described in this report was based on the negative hypothesis that there is no significant difference in the ability of randomly selected subjects, kindergarten through grade six, to imitate critical sounds and sound clusters embedded in words…

This experiment continues the GUME experiments investigating methods for teaching English to Swedish school pupils. The aims of this particular study are twofold: (1) to analyze and classify the errors made by Swedish pupils in an oral English test in an effort to establish error patterns; and (2) to describe how the twelve most frequent errors in…

This study explores the relationships between a child's discriminatory abilities in the areas of pitch, intensity, rhythm, timbre, and tonal memory and his capacity to comprehend and speak the Spanish language. The Spanish accent is analyzed on the basis of intonation, stress, sinalepha, and phone production. These factors were tested both in…

This document discusses in detail the development and operation of a language program implemented in the Philippines, beginning in 1957, with the assistance of the University of California, Los Angeles, through the Rockefeller Foundation. The program faced a number of difficulties including a school system in the process of post-war rebuilding, a…

This paper presents a discussion of the theory of bilingual education, including ideas developed by several linguistic researchers. Various aspects of bilingual education are discussed including objectives, definition, raison d'etre, dominance and balance, learning, types, and barriers. Second language learning is considered along with reasons for…

This interim report on an experimental program to increase student motivation to learn French at the Cultural Centre of Intensive French (CCIF) examines objectives, evaluation procedures, and results of the experiment. Part 1 contains sections on: (1) French achievement in Ottawa, Canada, grade 8 classes, (2) Pimsleur listening comprehension test,…

This experiment examines a new psychological approach to foreign language study at the elementary school level. A principal objective is to determine the nature and importance of second language learning motivation in monolingual societies devoid of the daily living example of the target language and culture. A five-year French language sequence,…