Discusses the theoretical foundations of discourse analysis and intonation and emphasizes that intonation has received little attention in the communicative competence or proficiency movements, despite the fact that intonation is a powerful tool for negotiating meaning, managing interaction, and achieving discourse coherence. (CB)

A review of Hunt's research to find ways of measuring the growth of syntactic proficiency in American school children explores the possibilities of applying these measures to groups of British native and non-native speakers of English and developing them for use in teaching and testing. (Author/CB)

Tests empirically the model of second-language reading proficiency promoted by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL). Reader developmental levels are not consistent with the ACTFL hierarchy of text types and reading skills. Graphs compare hypothesized and obtainable results. (LMO)

Probes the relation between speech perception and reading ability of children who were good or poor readers. Results indicate that reading-related perception differences were especially marked in a comparison of actual and predicted discrimination scores. Identification slope and phoneme boundary differences between reader groups were found as…

A discussion of the role of goals and objectives in proficiency-oriented second language instruction looks at goals and objectives within audiolingual language learning, a procedure for goal design, the close link between goals, objectives, and classroom objectives, and several activities derived from objectives. (MSE)

Critically examines the notion of a "natural" acquisition of language, explores current language theories regarding second-language acquisition theories and language education, and argues that the "naturalization" of achievement as ability works to deny certain students access to the evaluation criteria on which their access to further education…

Narrative abilities of 24 learning disabled (LD) and 27 nondisabled children (ages 7-12.5 years) were compared. Although LD students were able to reconstruct stories as well as were nondisabled students, narrative analysis of both original and retold stories can provide useful information on language skills beyond the sentence level. (Author/DB)

Results of an administration of the Language Proficiency Measure indicated that the interrater reliability was adequate, internal-consistency reliability estimates were high, concurrent validity coefficients were adequate, and the classification validity was acceptable. (Author/LMO)

Discusses the national trend toward full-day kindergarten scheduling and a 2-year experiment involving alternate-day and half-day programs in Pasco, Washington. Early findings show no significant differences in children's achievement, classroom study habits, or social skills. Poor and minority children benefit from increased conversational…

Maintains that recent developments in the teaching English as a second or other language (TESOL) have shifted the emphasis from the teacher as a good communicator to teaching the learner to communicate. Provides guidelines for ensuring successful TESOL instruction. (JDH)

Discusses authenticity in language testing in relation to the language proficiency movement. Looks at both sociolinguistic and psychometric principles as they are concerned with authenticity and validity as well as the inferential distance that separates face validity from techical validities. Criticizes the belief that some test type possess…

Research on native speakers' reactions to learners' speech has used an interpersonal (speaker/learner) perspective, and the broader social psychological research on language attitudes has taken an intergroup perspective. The two perspectives provide complementary interpretations of native speakers' evaluations of nonnatives' speech. (MSE)

Studies of native speakers' linguistic adjustment for communication with nonnative speakers indicate that, although the modifications sometimes result in ungrammatical speech, more often they provide well-formed and appropriate input for the listener. Several reasons for these adjustments are identified. It appears nonnative speakers cannot…

Discusses the relationship between subjective evaluation and objective measures of ESL writing proficiency. Objective measures used in this study accounted for 84 percent of the variance of subjective grades assigned to a sample of compositions. Author suggests that training readers can be important to the reliability and the validity of the…

Outlines the main testing needs, problems, and recommendations formulated by Michael Canale and by the four authors who reacted to his paper, "Considerations in the Testing of Reading and Listening Proficiency." Discusses three major and interrelated needs and two key problems found in receptive skills testing and makes recommendations.…