Discusses use of authentic listening experiences in second language classroom so that students will become involved in listening process demanded in authentic listening situations. Gives examples of sample classroom activities. (BK)

Discusses the theoretical foundation for Ferguson's correlation between speed in detecting syntactic errors in written English and acquisition of the listening comprehension skill. A detailed analysis of Ferguson's procedure is given along with references to other pertinent literature. The original conclusions are questioned. (AMH)

Forty-eight physically handicapped students in grades 1 through 6 were compared on the basis of their comprehension of talking book materials played at three rates. An analysis of covariance with repeated measures found a significant difference in favor of expanded speed over compressed speed; but neither resulted in comprehension significantly…

Discusses the significance of communication in the present-day world and the various factors affecting the comprehensibility of spoken English. Warns aqainst stressing fluency at the cost of correct pronunciation and against dogmatic preference for certain varieties of English. (IFS/WGA)

Delineates five developmental listening comprehension stages second language learners pass through: (1) streams of sound, with no comprehension; (2) word recognition within the stream; (3) phrase/formula recognition; (4) clause/sentence recognition; and (5) extended speech recognition, or general comprehension. The discussion illustrates the…

Describes four basic methods for developing aural comprhension, namely, guided and independent comprehension of details and of the whole. For each of these, appropriate classroom procedures are described, with examples. Suggestions are given for the teacher for preparing his/her own taped texts. (IFS/WGA)

During oral and silent reading, retention was related to segment length and existence of sentence boundary. Next limits on retention were tested by increasing segment length and difficulty. Performance of less skilled readers was uniformly low; performance of skilled and older readers was again affected by length and sentence boundary. (Author/CP)

Students with good listening skills in selected areas may gravitate to particular fields. Listening may be a very crucial factor in terms of grades earned by students and how students evaluate their faculty. (Author)

Reaction time to detect a phoneme target in a sentence was faster when the target-containing word formed part of the semantic focus of the sentence. Sentence understanding was facilitated by rapid identification of focused information. Active search for accented words can be interpreted as a search for semantic focus. (Author/RD)

Findings from a study of Black third grade children in Washington, D.C., show that the production of certain Black English and standard English features in a school setting were minimally associated with the oral reading, silent reading, and listening comprehension levels of these students. (Author/EB)

This article affirms the pedagogical validity of using radio commercials in English as second language listening classes and offers suggestions on how to introduce this type of material. (CFM)

This article discusses a study designed to obtain some information regarding the nature of the awareness children have of their own articulatory activity and the level of mental development at which this awareness appears. (Author/CFM)

An adult seeking to increase his listening comprehension in French complains about the lack of adequate materials. This situation is compared to that of learning Chinese, where materials are plentiful and geared to independent study. (AM)

Presents a list of vocabulary items peculiar to French Canadian news broadcasts, intended for developing listening comprehension skills. (AM)

Discusses the use of structured exercises and the media to develop both selective and global listening skills in second language students. (AM)