The language teaching method presented here is an inter-related set of techniques for teaching target comprehension skills directly to students on both university and high school levels. Three elements of the method are discussed: (1) the basics of a comprehension-based classroom; (2) the expanded speaking component; and (3) the expanded reading…

To assist FLES teachers, language teaching techniques are described and illustrated with sample materials in Spanish and French. These materials usually illustrate techniques for the middle and upper elementary school grades, and would also be pertinent for other languages. There are sections on listening comprehension, pronunciation, dialogs,…

In order to determine whether speed listening practice could improve comprehension of pitch-altered rapid speech, 66 high school students blind since at least age 6 were divided into experimental (E) and control (C) groups, matched on the basis of age (range 15 to 19 years), IQ (range 85 to 130), and pretest comprehension of material presented at…

This guide describes the ways in which sounds are generated, travel, and affect the listener's hearing and well-being. Recommendations are given for controlling noise at the source and along its path of travel, and for protecting the listener. Remedies are given for noise commonly encountered in homes, work environments, schools, while traveling,…

The foreign language instruction in the United States has followed a paradigm commonly called the "audio-lingual" method for almost twenty years. This paradigm is basically response-oriented and based upon structural linguistics and behavioral psychology. It focuses attention on speaking as the primary skill. It has not lived up to expectations.…

Bilingual and monolingual children were presented with experimental conditions where response mode and semantic information was varied. Forty children, 20 in each language-type group, responded in the present progressive and the past tenses to a series of colored drawings of simple activities. Half of the subjects responded to the task under…

Films are becoming recognized as an important medium of foreign language instruction. Although there is a lack of instructional films in German, an abundance of excellent feature films is available through the German Embassy and various consulates. Well-edited scenarios are needed, however, in order to make using these films an effective teaching…

The experiment reported on in this article is an attempt to cope satisfactorily with the problem of introducing writing in an elementary second language course. In the beginners' course set up at the C.R.A.P.E.L., the decision was made not to "introduce" the written language but to enable the learners, from the beginning of the course, to write…

The Inter-American Test of General Abilities (TOGA) for bilingual children has parallel Spanish and English forms which have been used to determine language proficiency and dominance. Generally, there has been little emphasis on measuring such physical test features as size, spacing, color, and typeface. The purpose of this study was to determine…

This research studied the effects of abstract-reasoning ability, degree of bidialectism, and grade level on listening comprehension tasks presented in both Standard English and Black English and on oral reading and oral-reading comprehension tasks presented in Standard English, Black English standard orthography, and Black English nonstandard…

This is a suggested syllabus for English instruction in Grades 10-12 of Israeli schools. Part one states that the main aim of the English Studies program is "to provide the pupil with a means of communication with the non-Hebrew-speaking world." The language skills stressed are reading comprehension, listening comprehension, and speech,…

Two recently developed techniques in programed instruction were designed to offer students genuine communication experiences in a foreign language. In "simulated tutoring," a recording was made of only the tutor's voice as he tutored a live subject in the correct pronunciation of a short dialog. The student subsequently responding to the…

The development of an entry skills behavior package designed as lessons to prepare the culturally divergent children of the Southwestern United States for beginning reading instruction in existing school programs is described. The series of 135 discrete lessons teaches auditory discrimination, associative vocabulary, listening comprehension,…

In this teaching guide, those oral-aural competencies necessary for effective listening and speaking are presented for kindergarten through grade 12, and learning activities are suggested which develop simple to complex proficiencies in the skills. The guide is divided into two sections: (1) the listening process--in which aural comprehension,…

This report summarizes the major features of a 1973 summer conference (at the New York State University at Buffalo) on listening as an essential feature of communication and problems relating to students' listening skills. The conference was held because of an awareness that little attention is being paid to listening comprehension in the…