"Fast Track" is a pseudonym for an accelerated, advanced language arts program for verbally gifted and high potential students in grades 6-8. The critical thinking model used for "Fast Track" was gleaned from Coalition of Essential Schools founder Ted Sizer's Habits of Mind: significance, evidence, connections, perspective, and supposition, as…

This guide is a collection of practical ideas for teaching listening skills to learners of a second language. Most are contributed by teachers of English as a Second Language, but the activities may be appropriate for other languages. Each idea is described briefly, with information given about appropriate proficiency level(s), specific aims,…

A unit of instruction used with limited English proficient (LEP) students in kindergarten through grade 3 who are being screened for placement in special education programs is described. The unit can be adapted for use with LEP students receiving special education services. Lessons teach and reinforce directional vocabulary (up/down, right/left,…

The compendium of articles in this journal issue deal with the diverse components of the language arts, communication, and critical thinking curricula. The titles and authors of the articles are as follows: (1) "What to Do until the Doctor Comes: Speech in the Language Arts Classroom" (John Fortier); (2) "Teaching and Thinking…

This handbook is a compendium of communication testing techniques submitted by French teachers from the United States, France, and Canada. The majority of the handbook consists of sample oral communication tests. The introductory section defines communication, outlines communications testing, and discusses listening comprehension, oral expression,…

Teachers of English as a second language need classroom communication activities to help students develop communicative competence. A procedure which uses a group-learning approach and which ensures real communication is the "Strip Story," an adaptation of scrambled story exercises in which each student is given one sentence of a story…

The idea of reducing the redundancy of a verbal message in a statistical way is presented as a practiced technique of language testing. Considering the temporality of speech comprehension, and the necessarily sequential intake of information, these cues may include the serial order of elements and transitional probability. To give the background…

An instructional module designed to help prepare college-level teaching assistants (TAs) for their duties in second language instruction is presented. The module focuses on helping learners become skilled at second language listening. The first part provides background information about this language skill. It introduces the process of listening…

Argues music educators must holistically address the subjective side of music listening as well as objective properties. States individual perceptions are neglected and students must experience the balance between subjective and objective realities to fully educate the senses. Advocates critical thinking and moving beyond a technical vocabulary to…

A study investigated the extent to which American university student interviewers perceived differences in certain nonverbal cues (conversational space and hand gestures) in interviews with persons from another culture and whether the American students perceived such observations affected their ability to listen to the interviewee. Subjects were…

Students in an honors section of a basic public speaking course asked for a final examination which was not multiple choice. Taught from a multicultural perspective, the course emphasized dialogue, excitement, and democratic principles, as well as issues regarding group differences and how power relations function to structure racial and ethnic…

A study identified the verbal and nonverbal behaviors that people associate with flirting as opposed to sexual harassment, determined whether people could successfully distinguish between flirting and sexual harassment, and examined the relationship between variables that might affect the first two objectives. Subjects, 57 females and 32 males…

Designed to be used before and after attending a storytelling performance by Dylan Pritchett, this cue sheet presents information about the performance and suggests activities that can be done with classmates, friends, or family members. The cue sheet discusses where and why people tell stories, what makes a story good for telling, what makes a…

This paper reviews the literature on the effects of training with time compressed speech (TCS) plus text on reading speed, vocabulary, and comprehension. The first section of the paper presents an introduction and outline of the findings. The second section summarizes and critiques 15 studies on training with TCS published from 1954 to 1985. The…

A study examined the relationship of the respondent and averaged associate ratings on the Listening Practices Feedback Report (LPFR). As part of LPFR listening training sessions, LPFR respondent and associate(s) scores were gathered from several major companies and organizations. Each subject completed an LPFR on his/her own listening behavior and…