Describes how an English as a second language teacher of pharmacy students developed authentic dialogues specifically dealing with interchanges the students could expect in the retail pharmacy situation. The authentic materials covered such areas as self-service, pharmaceutical services in different countries, server- or customer-initiated…

Examines beginning readers' story dictation processes and products over a 16-month period. Investigates level of story structure, conventional expressions, internal responses, spatial-temporal setting, verb tenses, variety of tenses, connectives, anaphora, and dictation process adapting to a scribe. Finds overall development in ability to…

The findings from research on written and oral summarization are discussed under three headings: summarizers' strategies, improving summarizers' performance, and the assessment of summary quality. Objective measures of summary quality used by researchers are described, and ways these measures could be adapted for use in higher education assessment…

An analysis of Brazilian learners' errors in English word stress revealed a difficulty hierarchy of stress pattern rules and six stress prediction strategies: (1) cognate stress patterns; (2) predominant stress patterns of English; (3) initial vowels and consonants; (4) verbs with a tense vowel in the final syllable; (5) tertiary stress; and (6)…

Analyzes the use of directives by a nonnative English-speaking demonstrator in a university electrical engineering laboratory. Findings show that the demonstrator placed heavy reliance on one directive form ("you" plus verb), which native speakers would more likely express as imperatives. Applications include materials development in…

A study of kindergarten children used three language-eliciting situations to obtain stories. The stories were compared for fluency, vocabulary, descriptive nature, and story structure. Results indicated that stories elicited without the use of a prop were more fluent and reflected a more sophisticated story structure than those elicited by a…

Development of four one-credit oral communication English courses designed to fit students' schedules at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez is reported. The courses emphasize cooperative communication skills and specialized skills. Simulation and pair/group activities are described. (eight references) (LB)

Studied the grammatical knowledge that undergraduates specializing in bilingual education have of their mother tongue. Data collected from an entrance exam, dialog journals and a simulated oral proficiency exam indicate that these students do not have a formal knowledge of grammatical rules but do have a high level of functional grammar. (24…

It is proposed that early introduction to basic French phonetic features and systematic emphasis on phonics allows students to learn to speak French clearly understandable to native speakers and relatively accent-free. In addition, this approach tends to improve listening skills. Important phonetic features to include in classwork are detailed.…

Examines the difficulty foreign language learners of Spanish experience in distinguishing between indicative and subjunctive moods after four semesters of study. An analysis of two oral production tasks suggests that, at this intermediate level, they are unlikely to possess enough linguistic foundation to fully benefit from instruction in mood…

Middle school students (n=39) with learning disabilities completed written and oral science composition tasks. Results indicated better overall oral than written performance, use of more sentences (though shorter) in written than oral presentations, and no significant differences between oral and written word count or thought units. Little…

The oral proficiency interview (OPI) has been submitted to external scrutiny and has been accepted by many foreign language educators as an accurate method of assessing speaking competence of foreign language learners. An OPI is herein examined in the context of evaluating native speakers. (seven references) (JL)

This study investigated specific processing strengths and weaknesses among 75 readers, ages 6-10, with no oral language deficits. Unsuccessful readers of different ages showed similar information processing patterns, and differed from successful first-grade readers on short-term auditory/working memory and decoding/encoding. Three potential…

Different models of spoken word production make different predictions regarding the extent of effects of certain word properties on the output of that model. This article examines these predictions with regard to the effect of these variables on the production of semantic and phonological errors by aphasic subjects. (60 references) (Author/CK)

Discusses the development of a foreign language (Spanish) test battery that was designed for two purposes: to place students in study-abroad programs appropriate to their language ability and to provide information on designing useful instruction for prospective study-abroad students. Results are presented into task and rater variability in the…