This study investigated the English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) listening needs of college students in Taiwan, examining the ESL conversational and academic listening abilities required by college students and differences in listening needs between effective and ineffective ESL listeners. Study participants were 296 Taiwanese college freshmen. The…

This brief paper focuses on where the Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) field has been and where it is going regarding the studying and teaching of listening comprehension. It reviews in some detail a few of the leading texts in the field: "Building Strategies" by Abbs and Freebairn (1979); "English Firsthand: Gold…

Paper presented to the staff of the English Language Branch--Defense Language Institute, Lockland Air Force Base, Lockland, Texas, 1973. (HW)

Presented at the 4th symposium of the Canadian Association of Applied Linguistics, Quebec, Canada, May 18, 1973. (HW)

Abridged version of the original Swedish article. (DD)

The separate and interactive effects of three kinds of background knowledge (content area, context of materials presentation, and lexical items in the text) on reading comprehension were studied. Unlike native readers, nonnatives neither show significant effects of background knowledge nor appear to have a good sense of the text's difficulty. (MSE)

It was found that those who read English as a second language (ESL), like L1 individuals, use their knowledge of the world and contribute to information found in the text. However, ESL readers' contributions to the text may be marred by language interference, lack of background knowledge, faulty inferencing, and certain data- and…

Misinterpretations of the logical subject of infinitives by second language learners and prelingually deaf adults are compared with children's extension of the minimal distance principle during acquisition of infinitive complement structures and other research studies. Later acquisition of certain structure is explained in terms of the sentences'…

Presents study of Japanese- and German-speaking children who were tested on the Sentence Comprehension Test to investigate understanding of various English grammatical structures. Concludes that learning of English as a second language in a natural milieu seems to pass through stages similar to those exhibited by monolingual English children.…

School radio is useful if it has motivating power and can be understood and acted out by the students. The series "English for Juniors" is recommended as an example. Methodological points for the teaching of weaker students are presented. (IFS/WGA)

Answering critics of language laboratory effectiveness, this article presents a methodology for laboratory work which includes working in partnership. Necessary technical equipment is described. Learning goals are proposed, and possible further developments in the method are suggested. (IFS/WGA)

Provides a model for teaching listening comprehension through the use of soap operas. (AM)

Describes the use of the "micrologue," a brief narrative on cultural topics, to develop linguistic and cultural skills in the language classroom. (AM)