By relating research on cognition, child development, and teaching, the author describes the theoretical background of the language experience approach to teaching reading. The close relationship between spoken language and reading and writing skills is discussed. The author lists and describes specific practices for teaching and learning in a…

A model for helping classroom teachers understand and evaluate the growth of children in oral and written compositions is presented. The recommended procedure is centered around T-unit analysis. The following sequence is one possible way the T-unit analysis procedure might be used by an elementary school teacher: (1) Divide all the sentences of a…

The properties of written, textual language with which children deal in school can be distinguished from those of oral language by examining the manner in which interpersonal and logical functions are stressed and by assessing the degree to which interpretation is confined by meaning explicitly stated in textual matter. The developmental process…

It is the contention of this project that the process of effective communication can be taught through the use of rhetoric. Classical aspects of rhetoric are incorporated into a practical course application that also involves the use of effective teaching strategies and nontraditional materials to provide for an alternative approach to teaching…

The program outlined in this guide provides course objectives, organized for three grade levels, under the following five major language arts strands: nonverbal communication, oral communication, literature, written communication, and language. Objectives are presented in a logical teaching sequence for each of the language arts strands, with…

Among Mexican-Americans today, not only native speakers of Spanish but also many native speakers of English speak the language with a notable influence from Spanish phonology. This paper reviews a series of studies concerning reactions of Anglos and Mexican-Americans toward accented English. The unifying goal of these investigations has been the…

The need to find which social contexts elicit children's fullest language repertoire generated this study of the effects of three social distance variables on language production, as measured by mean length of communication unit, vocabulary diversity, and use of black English. The social distance variables investigated included race and sex of…

The 12 articles in this issue of "Indiana English Journal" are concerned with drama and oral interpretation in the classroom. Titles of articles are: "Up in the Tree, Down in the Cave, and Back to Reading: Creative Dramatics"; "Pantomime: The Stepping Stone to Drama"; "The Living Literature of Readers' Theatre"; "Do-It-Yourself Drama"; "Drama for…

Articles collected in this journal examine the phenomenon of listening, and define listening skills essential for teachers and students in the fields of speech and theater. Included are "Your Subject--My Business," an examination of teaching priorities in the area of oral communication; "Swing Your Spirit to Sound: Listening Assertively in the…

This study examined the usefulness of an evaluation procedure designed to measure performance in spoken English. Rating involved assessment of the prose reading and conversation skills of 57 first-year students at Wellington Teachers' College, New Zealand. Specific topics of investigation included the consistency of "general impression" ratings…

A suggestion is made for solving the problem of testing spoken English. The students were from the Economics Department of a university in Finland. Their needs (practical ones), their courses in spoken English, the form of the test--oral, reading, and writing--and the marking system are considered. (SCC)

The article shows six ways in which communicative competence can be increased. The six sections show how the foreign language student can acquire competence in expressing (as an example) the concept "irritation". For each definition of "irritation," many examples are given. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Proposes an approach to effective communication instruction which avoids the use of techniques and instead emphasizes the linguistic, logical, psychological, and sociological analysis of discourse. (AM)

A discussion of the merits of using pictures, particularly authentic ones, as a component of the evaluation process in foreign language classes. Three reasons are given: pictures provide a setting for testing communication skills; they give a sociocultural context; their use can be student-centered. (Text is in French.) (AMH)