To discover why students ask so few questions in class, a questionnaire was distributed to 166 student teachers in university education courses. Of the three major reasons they cited for failing to ask a question, the most common was fear based on negative past experiences. Implications for teaching are drawn. (Author/SJL)

Reports the development of a 14-item index of teachers' affective communication designed to avoid the shortcomings associated with currently available measurement strategies. Recognizes the relationship between the teacher's style of affective communication in the classroom and teacher effectiveness. (JMF)

States that a major source of frustration for the second language teacher is the difficulty of bridging the gap between the formal aspects of language and the exploitation of the language in authentic situations. Suggests steps that can be taken to overcome the problem and to meet students' expectations. (MES)

Describes five videotapes drawn from a conference on teacher education. The tapes discuss alternative ways of viewing current problems in reading and language development, the "Breakthrough to Literacy" program developed in Great Britain, language codes, language as a resource, and language as a part of human behavior. (FL)

This approach utilizes a communications model, individual and group problem-solving activities and class discussion for mastering communication skills. Understanding communications principles and feeling secure in the classroom are essential. Students also deliver short informative and demonstration talks to prepare them for content area class…

The author, a tutor and adoptive mother of non-English-speaking children, warns teachers against unconsciously talking down to non-English-speaking students or treating them as stupid. Stressing the importance of cultural respect and nonverbal communication, she gives tips for acclimatizing the foreign child to the American classroom. (SJL)

Classrooms in two schools were observed to assess opportunities for language learning in the total classroom environment. Observers found that most classroom language is neither spontaneous nor purposeful. (Author/MLF)

A questionnaire was distributed to faculty members to determine which of the four basic language skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking) were most essential to nonnative speaker success in university classes. The receptive skills of reading and listening were ranked first. Implications for teaching and curriculum development are given.…

Reports a survey of elementary and middle school teachers regarding behaviors they perceived as signalling a lack of communicative competence on the part of students. Results indicate, that from a teacher's point of view, communication competence involves a complex of behaviors including attitudinal/motivational, as well as cognitive dimensions.…

Reviews classroom procedures for dealing with Chicano children that are particularly designed for monolingual/monocultural Anglo classroom teachers. (MM)

This study sought to supply evidence that educationally disadvantaged children learn more when the socio-emotional climate in the classroom is nonthreatening. (MM)

College teachers must take care not to treat students as a homogeneous, passive mass audience and equate lecturing with classroom control. Rather, they should judge teaching success by what students can do at course's end, reinforce desired intellectual behavior, test in ways that allow students to show abilities, and learn to interpret student…

In a classroom research project, one college teacher experimented with a variation on conventional lecture method to improve student understanding of content. At logical points in the lecture, approximately 15-20 minutes apart, the lecturer pauses and directs students to review the material and paraphrase it in writing. Analysis of student notes…

Examines the dynamic common to the English-as-a-Second-Language classroom in which the teacher takes from the student the burden of the next step in solving a problem, identifies four reasons this is inappropriate, looks at why teachers do it, and offers techniques for handling such situations. (MSE)

Argues for abundant classroom talk in helping students to shape their writing so that it accomplishes the desired academic and social purposes. Describes four eighth-grade students' informal talk during writing classes and how it supported and influenced the students' writing. Concludes by identifying ways in which teachers might work with…