This study examined the relationship between initial and final consonants on two equivalent forms of the Wepman Auditory Discrimination Test (WADT). Subjects were 128 first grade, English-speaking, Negro, disadvantaged children. The two WADT forms each contained 40 different word-pairs. Thirteen word-pairs differed in initial consonant (IPT); 13…

To examine the relationship between the vocabulary teachers use in the classroom and the percentage of that vocabulary understood by the students, 16 volunteer teachers were tape recorded for an hour and a half during a normal day's activities. Half the teachers were from lower or lower middle class families; the other half were from middle and…

This module provides theoretical aspects of listening comprehension and practical teaching suggestions. Learning activities are designed to achieve the following objectives: (a) explain briefly a theory of the speech process; (b) define redundancy, semantic encoding, phonic patterning, and phonological decoding; (c) enumerate and explain the…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a seven-week reading improvement course for Upward Bound students and to analyze select correlates of reading achievement. Sixty Upward Bound students attending a summer session at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky, served as the sample. The subjects were randomly assigned to an experimental…

The competencies established for the language arts program for kindergarten through sixth grade in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, are listed in this document, which indicates grade levels for introducing particular skills, developing skills, and mastering skills. Tests to assist teachers in measuring students' progress in listening comprehension,…

Recent interest may indicate increasing use of radio in foreign language learning despite some of the very realistic obstacles that face the beginner. Shortwave radio can be used imaginatively in a variety of ways, including: (1) increasing the reality, currency, and accuracy of listening comprehension skills; (2) actual communication with…

The effects of an instructional program in active listening upon reading comprehension were investigated in a sample of 60 black, inner-city children in two Title I elementary schools. The Durrell Listening Reading Test and the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Achievement Test were administered before and after the experimental program. Comparisons with…

Maintains that aural comprehension does not develop automatically in FL teaching, but must and can be systematically trained and improved. The inner processes in aural comprehension are set forth. Suggestions are given for the actual teaching situation. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Two detection experiments were conducted with short lists of synthetic speech stimuli where phoneme targets were compared to syllable targets. Results suggest that phonemes and syllables are equally basic to speech perception. (Author/RM)

Investigates the language comprehension of elementary school children and the factors that affected acquisition of knowledge from connected discourse. Factors examined included oral and written language, message structure, characteristics of the learner, and conditions of the learning situation. (AA)

Compares competence of the "native hearer" with that of the foreign learner. Refers to research in auditory comprehension, particularly to the "motor theory of speech perception" and sequential psycholinguistics. Presents exercises on various components and on the complex development of auditory competence. (IFS/WGA)

Four groups of 10- to 16-year-old educable mental retardates listened to a 20-sentence story; subjects (1) viewed pictures; (2) generated mental pictures; (3) heard each sentence twice; or (4) listened to the story once. Recall of story information was highest for those who viewed pictures. (Author/GDC)

Teachers and testers should encourage children to repeat or restate verbal stimuli in order to enhance their comprehension. Changing the administration of a language comprehension test to include such restatement significantly raised the mean test scores of four- and five-year old Head Start children. (CTM)

The relationship between children's temporal ability and their comprehension of spoken prose as measured by a story recall test was studied using an incidental sample of 36 eleven-year-old subjects. The tests of temporal ability consisted of interval reproduction, interval division and pause perception. The nature of temporal ability and its role…

A paper reviewing the psychology and physiology of listening, the importance of attention to the listening skill in the foreign language curriculum, and strategies intended to engender in the learner the ability to listen with comprehension. Many sample exercises and a lengthy bibliography are included. (AMH)