This article addresses the questions: why is the development of conversational competence important within higher education? And how might this goal be pursued? We offer answers that may aid a broad range of stakeholders (language learners, course designers, lecturers, language development managers, and policy makers) in thinking through these…

Tasks can vary in terms of difficulty and implementation conditions, and these in turn may affect the nature of the language produced by the learner. There have been a large number of studies which have investigated the effects of these task properties and implementation conditions on the language the learner produces. To date, results have been…

Suggests activities in a foreign language classroom to develop language skills and listening comprehension through conversations. (DS)

Discusses research in listening comprehension and proposes model for listening comprehension activities in college French conversation courses. (BK)

Discusses the use of French mail-order catalogues as pedagogical aids, specifically in teaching French culture, vocabulary, and conversation. (AM)

Describes and gives examples of "chatter chain," a method of teaching pupils to develop their French oral skills from a single question and answer that lead to a short conversation. This method combines the main linguistic structures to be learned with enought new grammar to allow a fair degree of pupil choice. (SED)

Describes the undergraduate internship in conversation at New Mexico State University, a course which attempts to improve the oral communication of basic language classes. The course offers undergraduates opportunities to hold conversations with more advanced undergraduates in weekly meetings. In order to make the class nonthreatening, neither…

An activity intended to foster authentic conversation in the foreign language classroom--a hypothetical situation involving a choice of people who are to survive--is reported. French, German, and Spanish versions of the material are provided. (RM)

Part 1 of a two-part series on teaching spoken and written French as a communication tool. Part 2 will appear in the April-May issue of "Le Francais dans le Monde". (DS)

An excerpt from "La classe de conversation" ("The Conversation Class") by Pierre Burney which has appeared at regular intervals in various issues of "Le Francais dans le Monde." (DS)

Examines the differences between explicit and implicit methods of teaching grammar in a university's advanced French conversation classes. Students taught explicitly performed better overall (in writing and orally) than students who were exposed to an implicit presentation of the same grammar content. (CB)

A collection of four short articles giving detailed lesson plans using magazines, editorials and recipes to teach grammar. "A" is used as the example in these lesson plans. The first article deals with avoir and the past participle. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

Some of the methods used in teaching a French class composed of about 20 children classified as slow learners with an average reading age of 6 plus are described. Emphasis was on listening skills and background knowledge. (RM)

The principle of oral fluency instruction concerns the teacher's role, which is to monitor the spread, balance, and flow of the conversation. Techniques have to do with the constituents and mode of oral activity, material resources, and the year abroad. (SED)

Special issue devoted to teaching Level II French. (DS)