Describes a psycholinguistic investigation of children's competence in the production of extended discourse, concentrating on discourse form (narrative versus expository) and production modality (written versus spoken). (SKC)

When lexical availability was manipulated through discourse support and word frequency for 40 target nouns, measurement of effects on length, complexity, order of mention, and fluency of 4- to 8-year-olds' utterances showed that the number and length of responses containing the target word varied with age, word frequency, and discourse support…

Attempts to prove that users of American Sign Language (ASL) do perform within a closed system of manual and nonmanual sign production features (phonemes and distinctive features). Deaf signers are quite capable of creating nonsense words as well as communicating with signers of other languages through pantomime and other paralinguistic features.…

This article provides a number of oral communication-based learning activities which focus on the social, religious, and political history of the Middle East. (JDH)

Enumerates the value and benefits of the black oral tradition, and describes the typical organization and identifying characteristics of American black folktales. Stresses the importance of "telling the tell," or storytelling, for children and adults to maintain family traditions and remember shared heritage. (SKC)

Reviews key issues in the debate over the role of grammar in the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Oral Proficiency Interview and in corresponding proficiency guidelines as well as the debate's potential impact on foreign language curricula. Data describing the grammatical accuracy of 40 interviews at various proficiency…

A summer seminar at Northern State College brought together German teachers from South Dakota to sharpen oral skills by speaking only German for three weeks and to revitalize teaching skills through classroom videotaping, all while earning academic credits. (MSE)

Reports on a study unit designed by a group of high school English teachers in the rural deep South, using Broadcast English to prepare students for job interviews. Emphasizes Broadcast English as a register to be used in certain speech situations (rather than an attempt to "fix" students' language). (SR)

Analysis of the spontaneous speech of English- and Italian-speaking children with specific language impairment indicated that word-final consonants adversely influenced Italian subjects' tendency to use articles. There was no evidence of syntactic differences between the language groups. (Author/CB)

A review of research concerning bilingual (English and Spanish) Chicanos' use of code-switching during spontaneous oral narrative indicates that such code-switching may be organized to achieve more dramatic effects through personalizing (as opposed to objectionalizing) certain parts of the narrative and through techniques of foregrounding and…

A cognitive-developmental view of reading was tested with 100 four-year-olds by examining the relationship between conceptual reading (multiple seriation and perceptual regulations), oral language (vocabulary and grammatic production), and reading (word recognition and comprehension). Findings suggest that language-learning explanations of reading…

Shows that sixth-grade students did not use as much oral language for forecasting and reasoning as did third-grade students or students in kindergarten when their language was recorded under similar conditions. Suggests that perhaps the very process of schooling inhibits students' need to think creatively and to reason. (FL)

The introduction to the monograph on auditory learning summarizes the responses of 13 authorities on the education of the hearing impaired to the question: "What is unique about an auditory approach to spoken language development?" Responses are organized into categories (e.g., use of sense modalities, benefits, integration, parent involvement).…

Conversations with six twelfth graders who had been in French immersion since kindergarten found a high rate of incorrect sentences, suggesting a faulty interlanguage fossilized at grade six and a need for immersion program revision. (MSE)

Compares the language generated by different kinds of oral communication activities. Areas of comparison include: speed of speaking, frequency of turns taken, and frequency of self-correction. Results indicate that the relative degree to which a student draws on his communicative and linguistic resources seems to be related to the communication…