Four approaches to second language classroom teaching methods (audiolingual, cognitive code, communicative, and pragmaticist) are compared on their ability to promote oral communication in English as a second language. Six categories of analysis are used: classroom communicative activities, communicative goals reflecting the teacher's perceptions…

This paper contains a comparison of descriptive information based on analyses of pilot and live administrations of the Alabama High School Graduation Examination (AHSGE). The test is composed of three subject tests: Reading, Mathematics, and Language. The study was intended to validate the test development procedure by comparing difficulty levels…

This 3-year research project sought to determine whether language differences between Gullah-influenced and English speaking students in Charleston County (South Carolina) influenced test performance and subsequent interpretation of test results. A sample population of 503 educable mentally handicapped, learning disabled, and regular students…

The curriculum guide for Latin outlines the general and specific objectives and content of the courses to be offered in the Jefferson County (Colorado) public junior and senior high schools. An introductory section describes the district's comprehensive and second language education goals and philosophy, summarizes the findings of the President's…

It was found that the seemingly greatly increased oral fluency of Middlebury College seniors who had studied in college-sponsored junior year abroad programs did not carry over to written skills or to comprehensive grammatical knowledge. In the oral proficiency interview for Spanish, many returning students had no control of the subjunctive, a key…

Parallel studies at universities in Israel, Finland, Canada, and the United States used a "selected deletion gap-filling test," a variation on the cloze procedure designed to measure reading comprehension by testing the reader's familiarity with cohesive links and grasp of text coherence. The test design responded to the growing demand for a more…

A panel of classroom teachers and a Department of Education inspector respond to questions from participants in a conference on methodological advances in modern language teaching held in Ireland. The questions and answers address the following topics: (1) the usefulness and selection of cloze tests; (2) maintenance of high written language…

This report documents the 1985-86 Title VII Program of the Austin (Texas) Independent School District. Major findings indicated the following: (1) three program components--staff training, tutoring, and curriculum development--were implemented as planned; (2) the staff training component included a series of English as a Second Language…

Los Angeles Pierce College (LAPC) serves many Extended Opportunity Programs and Services (EOPS) students, most of them refugees, for whom English is a second language. In the past, LAPC provided limited English tutoring based on a conversational approach to supplement the more academically oriented ESL instruction available on campus. In response…

Arranged alphabetically by title, the bibliography lists 92 tests, designed for use with students ranging from preschoolers to adults, that are measures of proficiency in English as a second language. Each citation provides title, author, copyright date, age level suitability, publisher, and a brief annotation describing the purpose of the test.…

A report on the results of changes in the introductory core French program summarizes three reports evaluating the effects of increasing the total amount of instructional time in French in grades 7 and 8 on students' acquisition of French language skills, attitudes, and cultural awareness. Random samples of students in four academic year grade 8…

These guidelines provide information about a program implementing State of Illinois legislation whereby school boards are empowered to grant one unit of foreign language credit to students exhibiting proficiency in a language other than English. The guide describes the types of students who are eligible for the program and the procedures for…

An experimental bilingual bicultural French language program for kindergarten students in a former French-speaking area of Western Newfoundland was initiated in an integrated primary school in September 1975. The experimental class of thirty students was taught entirely in French while the control group received twenty minutes of French per day…

A study was carried out to test the hypothesis that a difference exists between the results of a paradigmatic/syntagmatic word association test given in an individual's native language and in his second language. The sample used in this study consists of 23 Iranian officers attending a course at Air University in Alabama. Their primary language is…

The experiment reported measured the degree to which cloze tests deliberately biased on the basis of contrastive analysis would actually be harder for Vietnamese than for speakers of other languages. The experiment tested the approach to ESL (English as a second language) for Vietnamese described in a guide for teachers of Vietnamese refugees…