Discusses three possible sources of nonrandom but extraneous variance in self-reported attitude data, and demonstrates that these data may be surreptitious measures of verbal intelligence and language proficiency. (Author/AM)

Describes a study designed to measure several variables and their effect on the language achievement of native Mexican children learning Spanish as a second language. (AM)

A description of an exchange between an American high school German class and one in West Germany to explore and compare the interests of German and American teenagers. Items of interest to teenagers were exchanged. Various ways in which student motivation was increased are noted. (Author/AMH)

Suggestopedia is a learning technique which claims to provide students with a better and richer learning experience than is generally found in most educational systems. It also claims to accelerate the learning process by giving access to so-called unused "reserves of the mind." (SW)

A reprint of sections of the Helsinki agreement dealing with foreign languages and civilization, and cooperation and exchanges in the field of education. The agreement supports wider knowledge of foreign languages and promotes exchanges, cooperation, lexicography, and specialized programs in adult education. (AMH)

Second-, fifth-, and eleventh-graders (N=102) trained and tested on recalling the meanings of 64 American Sign Language nouns and verbs performed significantly better on recalling signs of high translucency and signs learned with mnemonic explanations. Fifth graders did better than the other two groups. (CB)

What is notably missing in the teaching of foreign language vocabulary is a systematically elaborated strategy for vocabulary acquisition that is based on the findings of linguistics and learning psychology. The practical implications of such a double anchorage in linguistics and psychology are outlined in a proposed model of a semantization…

Describes the uses for and advantages of a computerized foreign language/ English dictionary. Using Russian as an example, the additional teaching functions such a dictionary could provide include: (1) word frequency; (2) etymological information; (3) word family; (4) tergo listings; (5) synonym listings; (6) thesaurus listings; and (7) literary…

College students (N=180), in first-semester and second-semester Spanish at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, were each given a short text and one of five assessment tasks to determine if comprehension of the subjunctive is necessarily due to prior instruction in its form and use or can be achieved without instruction. Text and…

Since listening comprehension presupposes an orderly conversion of running speech into discrete linguistic units, certain restoration processes must apply. An approach is provided to explain the metamorphosis that language undergoes from dynamic speech representations to citation form strings, under listening conditions. Some performance…

Suggests classroom activities for improving listening comprehension skills in beginning and intermediate students. A passage of connected discourse from a native speaker of Spanish is provided as a model for realistic monologue. Sample test items and suggestions for suitable testing techniques are also given. (LMO)

Considers computer-based technology as a change agent for methodological emphasis in the use of language learning applications; examines the issues of language learning methodology, the relationship of methodology and computer-based technology, and changes in institutional learning environments; and highlights some of the computer-aided language…

Describes a study done to identify those syntactic structures that effectively communicate ideas in written German composition of fourth-semester students. Also identified were grammatical structures that writers can control on a syntactic level, but which they do not employ as a communicative strategy. (Author/SED)

Discusses the case study approach incorporated into a course in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Administration for graduate students at the University of Aston (Birmingham). Authors cite the need for such a course, noting that a good knowledge of course design, methodology, and materials production will not turn an ESP teacher into a future…

Evidence for transfer of prior knowledge across first and second language inputs was shown when 211 kindergarten through sixth grade students, both monolingual English and Spanish/English speakers, were presented Aesop's fables and were tested for retelling the fables, responding to questions about fable character's motives, and extracting lessons…