Some of the major reading and writing practices currently in use in adult English-as-a-Second-Language programs are described in this digest. Reading activities for such learners are similar to those used in adult basic education classes. At the beginning level, students dictate stories to the teacher or give an oral account of an experience.…

Originating from a concern with the quality of teachers' guides that accompanying English language course books, this report examines the amount of importance they are accorded and the type of information they contain. The first section discusses the demands that the guides' assumptions make on the teacher in terms of the teacher's knowledge, the…

These four issues of the bibliography, entirely in German, contain 860 citations of journal articles, books, monographs, and reports of research on all aspects of second language teaching and learning. Many of the works cited are in English, French, and Spanish. An introductory section describes the citation format and contains lists of journals,…

In order to become empowered and autonomous writers, students need to learn self-evaluation techniques to help them revise their writing instead of simply editing it. Basic writers and English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writers especially need concrete aids that can guide them, at least in the initial stages of learning, to write in a mode in…

In choosing to have students use the computer in unstructured writing activities, the instructor may prefer to cover basics during classroom sessions and have students use technological aids to expand on these basics in outside assignments. Out-of-class composition assignments force students to create with these basics on their own. Students use…

It is suggested that contrastive linguistics, the systematic comparison of two languages, be considered in the preparation of instructional materials and as a choice of teaching methods and techniques for training tranlators and interpreters. The contrastive analysis hypothesis suggests that the major source of errors committed by learners of a…

This article summarizes four journal articles on language teaching appearing in the American pedagogical language journals, "The Modern Language Journal,""English Language Teaching Journal," and "TESOL Quarterly." The purpose is to give an indication of what kinds of articles can be found in journals outside Japan.…

Exercises are linguistically or content-oriented. There are three levels of silent reading: orienting, cursory and total. In designing exercises, emphasis should be placed on cursory reading. (Beginners have to concentrate on "total" reading.) Hints are given in acquiring skill in summarizing and excerpting. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

A language proficiency survey showed the inability of French students to be creative in a second language learned in high school. The article reviews current foreign language teaching methods in the French national school system and suggests that narration might be an effective exercise and that language instruction should begin at the elementary…

Clues provided by redundancy in composition forms can help ESL students recognize and relate ideas in advanced reading. Points to cover in teaching are reading for ideas, clues in the formal environment and clues in idea development. Rules, examples and suggestions for application are discussed. (CHK)

This article describes a university language and research program which focuses on the instruction of modern languages to non-language majors. The facility, personnel, teaching methods, and evaluation procedures are described. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

This article proposes a method for teaching quick and accurate reading in English to French university students majoring in fields other than language. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

Language learning is more than linguistic interaction and knowing vocabulary; it involves social interaction and knowledge of mores. This communicative competence is the topic of this paper, which also discusses implications for classroom teaching. (CK)

An exercise developed to aid an aphasia patient in relearning rules governing phonological changes in English was later used in a pilot study attempting to teach English pronunciation to French speakers by rule rather than by rote. The method used and the results obtained are reported. (RM)

Four factors are outlined as necessary for individualized learning and teaching programs. The implementation of these factors in the media-aided language programs, and particularly the German program, at the University of Minnesota is described. (RM)