Evaluates the validity of the test used to place students in the comprehension-based courses offered by the Second Language Institute of the University of Ottawa. The test is described in the context of the target student population and the comprehension-based courses. Different factors of evaluating the concurrent and predictive validity were…

Presents an experiment supporting the thesis that visual languages are well-suited for computer programmers whose native languages are not English, analyzing the particular problems of Arabic speakers in comprehending Pascal program structures. A visual programming environment is presented in which all syntactic and nearly all semantic information…

This article describes techniques used to teach English to a 16-year-old Hispanic who is deaf. The educational plan involved vocabulary development, noting similarities and differences between Spanish and English, use of a language experience approach with principles of Sheltered English, and respect for the student's native language and culture.…

This article addresses issues in internationalizing the highly diverse higher education systems of the European Community nations, noting such problems as lack of standard degree equivalencies, lack of common definition of course credits, and language issues. Lessons for the United States, such as the need for increased foreign language learning…

Looks at the large-scale experiments on the testing of oral proficiency in English, French, and German that have been carried out over the last five years in the Swedish gymnasium. Various kinds of tasks and different grading criteria have been used, and the practical problems of scheduling and of teacher training have been discussed. (nine…

A second-language teaching strategy in which students are active in the selection of a unit theme and objective is discussed. In this approach, the teacher assumes the role of monitor in student development of the unit. A sample unit on language for daily living in France illustrates the process. (MSE)

In a discussion of the limitations of reading tests to assess literacy, Street's "autonomous model of literacy" is critiqued and an alternative approach, described as a pragmatic model, is proposed. The alternative approach reflects the social dimension of literacy activities and views reading and writing as inseparable. (32 references) (Author/LB)

Some personal observations are offered about second-language teaching where nonnative speakers of Portuguese participated in class discussions via real time computer networks. Preliminary observations suggest that computer-assisted class discussions may promote student participation, reduce anxiety, and increase identification of language errors.…

This article examines four sets of factors that may potentially affect the incidental vocabulary acquisition from oral input of second-language (L2) learners. These include the intrinsic properties of L2 words; the nature of the input; the role of interaction; and individual learner factors. (Contains 85 references.) (MDM)

This article examines how children and adolescents learn language and literacy, arguing that the crux of learning occurs through social interaction in which content is being discussed and negotiated. It also reviewed emerging issues related to the improvement of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction in elementary and secondary schools.…

Priority goals and objectives of 1,373 intermediate-level college students of French and Spanish and their instructors were examined. Results show students' goal priorities to be related to oral/aural skills of speaking, listening, and pronunciation; instructors ranked speaking high but pronunciation low. The survey instrument is appended.…

Examined the comprehension of English restrictive relative clauses containing three universal factors (interruption, word order rearrangement, and parallel function) by Chinese, Japanese, and Korean students at American universities studying English as a Second Language. The findings support the dominance of language universals in the course of…

A corpus-based approach is used to describe types of spelling errors, concluding that there are a variety of sources for the differences in the sound system of English and the first language of the students in the study. The teaching of spelling and the inclusion of a contrastive analysis approach in English courses are advocated. (20 references)…

In this paper, an attempt to apply the synthesized results from previous research on theories of actual development of courseware is demonstrated in an interactive videodisc project that aims to promote English-as-a-foreign-language learning at Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. Instructional design and practical considerations for implementation of…

Studies the role played by native language transfer and task formality in the second-language acquisition of the Spanish voiced stop phonemes /b d g/ and their spirantized variants to identify specific problems affecting learners. Results indicate that native language transfer markedly inhibits acquisition of the voiced spirants. (21 references)…