Stressing that advanced foreign learners of English must be exposed to spontaneous speech if they are to develop their powers to speak and comprehend under conversational conditions, the author presents suggestions for preparing tape recordings which will give students the chance to hear natural conversation in the language laboratory. (FB)

Discusses the importance of listening skills, levels of listening, and the history of interest in teaching listening. Bibliography. (MD)

Results of the study seem to suggest the presence of general deficits in the auditory receptive and vocal expressive abilities of poor reading disadvantaged children, who learned to read using the initial teaching alphabet series rather than the traditional orthography approach. (Author)

The history of computer assisted language instruction is briefly reviewed, highlighting several major projects. Computer functions compatible with language instruction include information storage and retrieval capacities, ability to analyze input, and interactiveness. Language skills that can be developed by computer include grammar, vocabulary,…

Describes language laboratory program designed to help learners to move from comprehension of a spoken text through definite phases to their own utterance. Material used is an off-air recording from French radio. (Author/BK)

It is argued that dictation is a neglected technique for second-language training. Students' error patterns at three levels are presented to show how the technique can be used effectively for both teaching and testing, and to develop integrative skills and accuracy in both listening and writing. (Author/MSE)

Demonstrates that imagery instruction improves comprehension of what is heard and read and provides a means of encoding and organizing prose in a student's working memory. (FL)

Reports on a study of the relationship of English phonological variation to intelligibility for adult second language learners of English. Indicates that learners tested on their ability to understand working-class (New Yorkese), educated (Standard English), and Foreign-accented speakers of English found the standard more intelligible than the…

The perception of syllable-initial stop consonants as voiced or voiceless was shown to depend on prevailing rate of articulation. Reducing articulatory rate of a precursor phrase causes a greater proportion of test consonants to be identified as voiced. Timing should be regarded as intrinsic to the acoustical specifications of phonetic events.…