Four classroom exercises for second language instruction are described. In the first exercise, the teacher tells a story from a skeleton outline. Then the teacher pairs the students, provides them with a series of questions about the story, and invites them to cross out the ones they do not like and then to ask their preferred questions of another…

To determine whether story mapping would improve reading comprehension, five intermediate grade students with mild learning handicaps and poor comprehension were prepared to use story mapping procedures as a schema-building technique. As they were reading, students learned to identify the setting, problem, goal, action, and outcome of narrative…

Scholars and consultants have offered a multitude of definitions of listening. One group defines listening as an ongoing, nonstatic process by which spoken language is converted into meanings in the mind. The other group, the sequentialists, view listening as a linear sequence of events in which one aspect is dependent upon a preceding aspect.…

Two experiments investigated preschoolers' acquisition of spatial words in Mandarin Chinese. In one experiment, 5 groups of 10 children at 34, 39, 46, 52, and 57 months were tested for comprehension and production of 14 pairs of Chinese spatial words. In the comprehension test the children were asked to point to pictures corresponding to the words…

The relationship between ease of comprehension and the syntactic form used to convey indirect requests was investigated among intermediate and advanced learners of English as a second language (ESL). The results were compared to those of native English speaking children and adults. Subjects were 82 college students enrolled in intensive ESL…

A study examined cognitive processing differences between metaphoric and literal sentences. Thirty-three undergraduate students listened to 96 test sentences (including 48 fillers) that expressed 1 meaning in either a novel or frozen metaphorical or literal form: "The old couch was in love with its new slipcover" (novel), "The old couch was at…

This text is aimed at those interested in learning the Wolof language, the most widely used language in Senegal, spoken by more than 80% of the Senegalese and Gambian people. This manual can be best used under the following conditions: (1) the instructor is Wolof born or speaks the language fluently, (2) the course is taught in intensive or…

The techniques for effective listening can be identified by the acronym PAT, which stands for three sets of techniques--physical, attitude, and thinking. Four kinds of physical techniques promote effective listening: appropriate eye contact and normal blinking rate, facial feedback, appropriate body language, and appropriate verbal feedback. Two…

Sketches vocabulary work for improving performance, especially in hearing and understanding television lessons in carrying on conversations. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Compares accuracy of comprehension and communication of a set of relational concepts by urban black children, determines effects of age and previous exposure to concepts in this experimental situation on ability to communicate these concepts, and obtains descriptive data on styles and types of speaker instructions and listener questions.…

Investigates the cues beginning readers use in recognizing verbal stimuli. (Author/DEP)

The instructor's manual is designed for a 2 hour inservice training workshop on improving listening and auditory perception skills in mainstreamed special needs students. Listening is considered in terms of stages, influential factors, and the effects of language disorders. Auditory perception deficits are noted and suggestions for dealing with…

This issue of "TESL Reporter" presents a summary of U.S.O.E. Project HE-084 by Gerald Dykstra; a sample listening comprehension exercise; a linear diagram of the English noun phrase designed for English as a Second Language students, developed by Alice C. Pack; an article on Japanese groups in summer session; and an article by Betty Crethar on…