Black children and White children were equally intelligible to Black adult listeners, while White adult listeners found White children significantly more intelligible than Black children. Noise deteriorated word discrimination scores of the Black and White listeners differently. (Author/RL)

Describes a method, used in intermediate French classes on the university level, which uses films to improve listening comprehension skills. (AM)

The ability to listen attentively and critically is crucial. Describes two techniques for improving listening skills. (Editor/RK)

This article focuses on two elements of the dialogue: the "real-life" quality of the language (where to find "real-life" language, how to check its authenticity, how to record it) and the element of unpredictability (how to create "real-life" dialogues with unexpected responses which necessitate well-developed listening skills). (CFM)

Suggests twelve listening exercises and their applications to writing, speaking, language and literature. (DD)

Compared student performance in listening comprehension in German as a second language classes when three advance organizers plus video- and audiotapes were used, as opposed to when neither advance organizers nor video- and audiotapes were used. Findings indicate that students in the group using the organizers and tapes developed superior…

Studied effects of three conditions on fourth-grade students' vocabulary acquisition: (1) listening to stories, with brief explanation of unfamiliar words; (2) listening to stories with no explanation of unfamiliar words; and (3) having no exposure to stories or to word explanations. Found that simple word explanations in the context of an…

Notes that speech intelligibility has traditionally been measured by presenting words mixed in noise to listeners for identification at different signal-to-noise ratios. The words are produced in isolation or in sequence contexts where the predictability of specific items can be varied. Emphasizes that the technique provides valuable data about…

Focuses on listening activities in the second-language classroom. After discussing problems related to listening and listening as a test versus listening as a learning experience, the article suggests that the teacher exploit what is known about the language and the world to make listening part of a learning whole as opposed to a distinct…

Investigates validity evidence for the usefulness of a videotape formatted listening test (VFLT) as a measure of academic lecture listening ability. Provides support of the validity evidence of the VFLT. Concludes that the strong relationship between test performance and aspects of authentic and interactive tasks in the VFLT provides a…

An evaluation of the sentence verification technique (an experimental test of listening and reading comprehension) found that 19 seventh grade poor comprehenders' performances on subtests of the experimental test were significantly below those of 41 good comprehenders, and 94.6 percent of the good and poor comprehenders were classified correctly.…

Reading-disabled children (n=36) in grades four through eight were matched for reading comprehension and placed into two groups based on listening comprehension. Poor readers with normal listening comprehension had average or above intelligence quotients, conforming to the traditional definition of dyslexia and contrasting with poor readers with…

A sample of 2,232 children, aged three-five years, was administered the Preschool Reading Attitudes Scale to assess the developmental aspects of reading attitudes. Factor analysis on test-retest results for 360 subjects indicated stable and interpretable factors distinguishing three-, four-, and five-year-old students. (TJH)

The use of self-questioning strategies with orally presented materials was studied for 32 college students (30 females and 2 males). Results suggest that practice in a self-questioning information-processing procedure can effectively improve college students' comprehension of lectures. (SLD)

Outlines a one- to six-week listening skills unit for use in a business communication class. Provides resources for listening instruction, including: films, listening exercises, pretests, and listening training programs. (MM)