Discusses the changes in foreign language instructional strategies regarding error avoidance and correction that have emerged from the emphasis on communicative competence. Considering this trend away from audiolingualism and consistent oral accuracy, urges teachers to reevaluate procedures for conducting class activities and correcting students'…

Studied contract grading, which emphasizes greater investment of time and effort by student and instructor, but provides benefits to students difficult to develop through conventional methods. Desirable student outcomes are examined and a sample contract is included. (Author/JAC)

A study of the impact of two methods of pelvic examination instruction on student performance and anxiety revealed no significant difference between the group that used professional patients and the control group that used clinic patients. However, a second anxiety instrument did reveal differences, and the instructional costs for the control…

Describes a French language program based on the concept of language for survival. Students took trips to Quebec and were asked to carry out tasks, such as asking for directions and buying items in a store, exclusively in French. (AM)

Subjects were classified as external or internal. About half of the externals (internals) were given a traditional method of instruction. The remaining subjects were involved in a contract grading plan. Using an achievement posttest, a strong disordinal interaction was found, with internals performing better under the contract grading plan and…

Ten conclusions about childrens' learning are presented from 15 years of research by the Educational Research Council of America. These include effectiveness of short textbooks, interest in learning technical words, need for social science curriculum to challenge, and detrimental effect of ingrained teacher attitudes to teach social studies by…

Describes an investigation of the associations between students' perceptions of laboratory environment and their attitudinal, cognitive, and practical performance outcomes. Assesses student outcomes in three distinct areas: (1) student attitudes; (2) achievement on a written examination; and (3) practical performance, specifically in the biology…

The use of predictable and unpredictable trial sequences during small-group instruction was evaluated in teaching word and abbreviation identification to 4 students (age 8-10) with learning disabilities. No consistent effects of the trial presentation methods were found across 3 investigations, which involved progressive time-delay procedures and…

There is strong evidence that massed practice depresses performance and learning when learning is assessed by absolute retention measures. This finding is discussed relative to other literature on distribution of practice as well as recent issues in motor learning. (JD)

The instructor's preparation and organization, clarity and understandableness, stimulation of interest, motivation of students to reach high standards, encouragement of discussion and openness to others' opinions, and elocutionary skills consistently explain 10 percent or more of the variance in student achievement regardless of the method of…

Twenty prelingually deaf students, aged six-eight, were able to identify words better when presented in a print-plus-graphic-sign condition compared to a print-only condition. The initial use of the graphic representation of signs with the printed words also facilitated the children's immediate retention when reading the printed word only.…

Discusses changes to the Victoria, Australia, senior secondary school system curriculum. With a focus on information technology, elements of the Victorian Education Ministry program are defended, including the use of checklists to evaluate student work, authentication/verification of student work, external evaluators, and support of nontraditional…

The intuitions and reasoned judgments of second-language learners of English were compared on a number of semantic and syntactic phenomena in the language. Because scores on the semantic tasks were higher than on syntactic tasks, it is assumed that classroom instruction should follow the same route. (24 references) (Author/LB)

Proposes offering college students an optional performance contract that requires full class participation and resubmission of incorrect test items to alleviate mathematics anxiety. A comparison of students opting or not opting for the contract indicated that contracted students outperformed their counterparts in the latter stages of the course.…

This paper defines precision teaching; describes its monitoring methods by displaying a standard celeration chart and explaining charting conventions; points out precision teaching's roots in laboratory free-operant conditioning; discusses its learning tactics and performance principles; and describes its effectiveness in producing learning gains.…