This newsletter contains a series of brief reports concerning methods of individualizing language learning and describes several ongoing experiments. The first article illustrates how individualized achievement charts aid in determining students' instructional needs. Group work and oral testing are discussed as a means of individualizing a course…

This report compares several educational programs for non-English-speaking students in Toronto, Canada. The Main Street program, initiated in 1965, is a full-time program of "cultural immersion" for students 12 years of age and older. The Givens Public School presented a similar program at the same time within a regular school. This…

An intensive elementary-level language course for college students, seeking to provide meaningful application of language skills and to improve student attitudes toward second language learning, is described in this report. The three-term course in which students work extensively with undergraduate apprentice teachers while living in language…

The Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) organization is at a stage in its development when it must actively solicit contributions from a variety of disciplines: linguistics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and education. While such an interdisciplinary approach to problems has its dangers, particularly when allied to…

Marked incongruity exists between the present language teaching system in Australia and the nation's social structure. Few of the languages spoken in the community by major ethnic groups are taught in the schools and little effect of the society's pluralism is evident in objectives and methods. Three causes of this situation are examined, and new…

Reexamines the question of why pattern practice fails by hypothesizing about the information processing activities that they entail. (Author/CFM)

Discusses reasons for enrollment growth at institutions of higher learning, including instructional quality, departmental diversification, instructional innovation, and publicity and recruitment. (AM)

A step-by-step description is presented of how the teacher of English as a foreign language can add a question-and-answer period to the oral report. The technique allows for the participation of all students and brings the exercise closer to real conversation. (SW)

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)

This bibliography on psycholinguistics and teaching English as a second or foreign language includes checklists, bibliographies, anthologies, readers, collections, books, monographs, and articles. (CFM)

Conversation cards are a basis for guided role play and are used for reviewing a foreign language unit. After two or more units, conversation cards are combined into extended conversations (conversations libres). Two detailed examples are given of conversations libres and some sample conversation cards are appended. (LMO)

Discusses recognition of cognates used in teaching materials prepared by the English for Specific Purposes Project for academic courses. Presents suggestions based on theoretical considerations of cognate recognition. Examines, by way of protocol studies, how foreign students of English make use of cognate recognition. Suggests that strategies for…

A need exists for appropriate curricula for students who are both limited English proficient (LEP) and learning disabled (LD). This paper reviews learning strategy approaches for LEP and LD students, compares two models (the Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach and the Strategies Intervention Model), and proposes a merging of the two…

Describes spatial and sequential learning strategies and how they affect student performance and progress in second-language learning. Briefly describes a test identifying preferred style. Suggests how instructors can then individualize instruction. Outlines the way VOCAL, a multilingual authoring system, can be used in a language laboratory for…

The connection between rhythm, motion, intonation, and meaning in second language learning is explored in a series of classroom activities and games. (MSE)