Gabonese students who speak French as a second language and are educated through French, learn English using textbooks designed for students in France. Article discusses pedagogical issues, goals that Gabonese students have in learning English, and the linguistic and sociolinguistic context in which learning of English takes place. Materials used…

CD-ROM storybooks can support the development of the five essential elements of reading instruction identified by The National Reading Panel: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Specific features inherent in these texts, audio pronunciation of text, embedded vocabulary definitions and animated graphics can be used…

This annotated bibliography lists computer software and other media materials that support acquisition of basic and literacy skills and familiarize adult learners with new technologies. It cites products chosen by five St. Paul (Minnesota) area United Way agencies for the Empowering Learners Project. Listings of computer software include…

Four issues of "Volunteer Voice," a newsletter of the Tacoma, Washington Community House Training Project, are presented. The project provides English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction and support to refugees. Contents of Number 1 (Summer 1992) include an account of one volunteer's initial encounter; a game for teaching adverbs; instructions…

The grammar is designed to be used as a reference for addressing structural problems in Czech. The guide is organized into 11 chapters. The first describes the pronunciation of written Czech and explains spelling conventions. Aspects of the language covered here include the alphabet, arrangement of words in the dictionary, vowels, diphthongs,…

Recent research on language learning and its implications for language teachers and others interested in language pedagogy and practice is summarized. The review takes the form of the following pedagogical questions: In what ways does knowing one language help and hinder the learning of a second?; What is "comprehensible input," and is it really…

In a study of the detection of test item bias, Chinese speakers and Spanish speakers were administered a measure of pronunciation accuracy for the (d) and (z) morphemes. Six indices were calculated for each item: item difficulty, point biserial correlation coefficient, item variance, chi-square, Rasch logit of difficulty, and the average…

Teaching grammar for its own sake is largely counterproductive when the goal of instruction is to have students communicate spontaneously, fluently, and accurately in the target language. The ideal foreign language program is one providing the best possible environment for language acquisition to take place. Explicit teaching about the language…

An experiment exploring the use of a single phonological variable in standard French by advanced American speakers of French who teach beginning college-level French classes is reported. Seven graduate instructors' use of the variable was examined in directed interviews with a native speaker and in the reading of sentences containing instances of…

A set of instructional materials for introductory Solomon Islands Pidgin, an English-based pidgin, is designed for Peace Corps volunteer language instruction. It consists of 12 units that contain dialogues, grammar and pronunciation notes, pattern and substitution drills, lists of vocabulary and useful expressions, and exercises based on the…

Four major categories are included in this annotated bibliography of materials for adult English as a Second Language (ESL) courses. The categories are: (1) general purpose ESL; (2) special purpose ESL; (3) teacher resources; and (4) ESL administrator resources. The criteria used in selecting the materials are that the materials are frequently…

Instructional materials for beginning Sanaani Arabic, a dialect used predominantly for oral communication, include 40 units consisting of text derived from recordings of spontanous conversations of native speakers in various communication situations. Some of the lesson topics are: greetings, getting acquainted, appointments, telephone…

This volume is designed to introduce students to spoken Italian. It covers virtually the entire sound system of the language and introduces the basic grammatical categories (gender, number, unit noun markers, person, tense). Although verb forms are for the most part limited to the present tense, a few other forms, including past and future tense,…

This guide deals with the subject in two parts: (1) background materials, and (2) classroom activities for teaching English to Spanish speakers. The first part discusses the general characteristics of the Spanish-speaking population in the United States, with particular attention to the diversity among them, some group profiles, and dialects and…

This introduction to elementary Yoruba is divided into two parts. The first section is on sound drills, and the second section concerns Yoruba greetings. The first part includes exercises to enable the student to master the Yoruba sound system. Emphasis is on pronunciation and recognition of the sounds and tones, but not memorization. A tape is…