The organization of this book is based upon the principle -- generally accepted in schools today -- that every situation in the school requiring or stimulating social intercommunication or individual self-expression affords significant opportunity for developing language ability. These situations, which are vital and meaningful to the pupils, are…

This Manual provides the foundation for a reading and spelling course which avoids use of the phonic method. Instead of teaching the word as a whole and afterward subjecting it to phonic analysis, this Synthetic Method takes the sounds of the letters for the starting point, and with these sounds lay a foundation firm and broad, upon which is built…

Since the mastery of any subject matter depends on learning its key concepts--its language--content area teachers should use innovative vocabulary development exercises to help their students master the language of the subject area. Teachers should try to coordinate vocabulary study with other learning tasks instead of depending on dull,…

This is one in a series of eight discussion pamphlets produced by the Writing Across the Curriculum Project dealing with some of the issues connected with writing in the schools and their relation to learning. This pamphlet explores differences between students' talk and their writing in school contexts. It notes the value of expressive…

This workbook, intended to supplement courses in the development of the English language, is based on the belief that knowledge of a language's development is best obtained by working with samples of the language in its various historical stages and linguistic branches. Material covered includes (1) facts, assumptions, and misconceptions about…

Designed as a synthesis of concepts familiar to students having studied the earlier Minnesota Project English units or as an introduction for other students, this unit for grade 12 treats the role of language in the social and psychological development of man. Alternative introductions to the unit are provided: one concentrating on definitions of…

When children begin formal schooling, their fundamental communication skills, speaking and listening, are well developed but limited in scope and range; it becomes the teacher's task to assist the children in achieving communicative competence. A developmental project called "Developing Communicative Competence in Children" identifies four…

It is not sufficient for students in foreign language classes to simply internalize the sound system and grammatical structure of the target language or to memorize the vocabulary. Speaking is not merely a linguistic event, but rather involves an extensive system of norms for the social interaction. The relationship between speaking and social…

The meaning of a word often cannot be formulated by conscious rules, because it is unconscious. Evidence on the verb "break" demonstrates this. The consequence for teaching is that teachers cannot supply meanings in words, but should present a wide range of uses of a word, so that students can intuit the unconscious generalization. (Author)

The second volume in this series on Serbo-Croatian-English contrastive analysis contains seven articles. They are: "The Use of Contrastive and Error Analysis to Practicing Teachers," by Rudolf Filipovic; "Some Problems in Teaching English Noun Phrases as Subject to Serbo-Croatian Speakers,""Problems in Teaching the Structure of Some English Noun…

The majority of the 24 essays in this book describe successful units, classes, or courses on the misuse of public language, while others suggest specific techniques for studying doublespeak or discuss theoretical frameworks for approaching the study of doublespeak. The first section of the book deals with the theory behind the study of…

Improvement of communication skills for junior college students is a valid goal, but traditional methods defeat it. A sociolinguistic approach maintains the goal but alters the methods, choosing to teach the skills in the context of relevant material: language against the backdrop of society, Teaching language sociolinguistically means including…

Discusses pedagogical implications of recent theory and research on response to literature. Contends that now teachers must be aware of readers, the text, and the context in which a text is read and discussed. (MS)

Describes a variety of English as a second language programs currently available in Canada that offer language training in situations other than the traditional classroom--specifically for those studying in isolation. These programs include: bilingual telephone programs, all-English radio programs, and a four-phase, interprovincial project which…

Describes an in-house writing workshop for plant supervisors that built on participants' strengths in organization, ability to establish an effective tone, and familiarity with company products and procedures. (MM)