Direct listening instruction is a frequent component of basic communication courses. Research has found changes in self-perceived listening competence during a basic communication course and only a minimal relationship between self-perceived and performance-based measures of listening and other communication behaviors. Results of the present study…

Songs convey emotion by means of expressive performance cues (e.g. pitch level, tempo, vocal tone) and lyrics. Although children can interpret both types of cues, it is unclear whether they would focus on performance cues or salient verbal cues when judging the feelings of a singer. To investigate this question, we had 5- to 10-year-old children…

In this paper I examine the citations in recent review articles in applied linguistics to point out that there appears to be a distinct lack of overlap between references to work in four inter-related areas--reading, writing, speaking, and listening. I then point to areas of research where I think it particularly important to consider these…

Good listeners generally produce back-channel feedback, that is, short utterances such as "uh-huh" which signal active listening. As the rules governing back-channeling vary from language to language, second-language learners may need help acquiring this skill. This paper is an initial exploration of how to provide this. It presents a training…

This paper discusses the use of oral examinations to assess student understanding in a general chemistry course and in an advanced inorganic chemistry course. Examination design, administration, and grading are explored, as well as the benefits to both instructors and students. Students react positively to the oral examination format and generally…

Proponents of the cognitive approach to language teaching list linguistic competence as the primary instructional objective and attribute considerable importance to listening comprehension. For the student, linguistic competence would be knowledge of grammatical components of the language and its vocabulary. Understanding oral messages is an…

The present study investigated the referential communication skills of children with imaginary companions (ICs). Twenty-two children with ICs aged between 4 and 6 years were compared to 22 children without ICs (NICs). The children were matched for age, gender, birth order, number of siblings, and parental education. All children completed the Test…

To segment continuous speech into its component words, listeners make use of language rhythm; because rhythm differs across languages, so do the segmentation procedures which listeners use. For each of stress-, syllable-and mora-based rhythmic structure, perceptual experiments have led to the discovery of corresponding segmentation procedures. In…

This study investigated how listener experience (extent of previous exposure to non-native speech) and semantic context (degree and type of semantic information available) influence measures of intelligibility, comprehensibility, and accentedness of non-native (L2) speech. Participants were 24 native English-speaking listeners, half experienced…

The main aim of the Bridging the Gap project was to encourage Indigenous families to use a home book-reading program to minimise the disadvantage often experienced by their children when learning to read. The project was implemented in Western Sydney by Aboriginal Education Assistants (AEAs) from the Indigenous Catholic Education Unit within the…

This paper explores methodological issues related to research into second language listening strategies. We argue that a number of central questions regarding research methodology in this line of enquiry are underexamined, and we engage in the discussion of three key methodological questions: (1) To what extent is a verbal report a valid and…

Recognizing the profound relationship between thinking and language, the authors have developed the traditional Paideia seminar into a literacy cycle of instruction that involves students in reading, speaking, listening, writing, and thinking. As staff members of the National Paideia Center, they have observed that learning to think requires…

This paper reports a quasi-experimental study that was carried out in listening classes to address the following questions: What control do students expect in the listening classroom? What are the effects of the "zero class hour" way of teaching listening when more control is given to the students? The study was conducted at Huaiyin…

This is a small scale, inductive, ethnographic study whose objective is to explore the language learning strategies used by the students of different languages at a language program at the university level. Students of English, French, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Italian, and German participate in the study. Three instruments are used…

Problem behaviors early in the preschool year have been negatively linked to a variety of school readiness outcomes, including language, literacy and mathematics, both at the end of preschool and later on as children transition to elementary school. In order to inform preschool intervention efforts, the current study extends this research by…