Fifteen listeners using the Listener Comfort Scale rated videos of 10 adults before and after stuttering treatment and videos of 10 controls. Results were compared with those of 15 listeners who used the Speech Naturalness Scale. Reliability of the Speech Naturalness Scale was superior; however, the Listener Comfort Scale captured different…

Proposes that cultural understanding and communication skills provide frameworks for developing tolerance and understanding. Analyzes the influence of listening/nonverbal communication training on an individual's level of multicultural sensitivity with applications for business and education. Notes that a statistically significant relationship was…

This auditory training program used an analytic distinctive feature approach to attempt to improve consonant recognition in single syllable words through listening and speechreading practice. Two hundred exercises addressed 3 auditory features: voicing, nasality, and sibilancy. The Phoneme Identification Test showed no statistical change in 26…

Summarizes and critiques Berberich's dissertation on cognitive effects on music perception. Comments on the study's unusual data analysis and presentation. States that the main arguments are presented elegantly and clearly, but the study overlooked other issues such as a chapter on related literature. (LS)

Examines the relative effects of the five practice conditions of modeling, singing, silent analysis, free practice, and control on instrumentalists' performance. Finds significant differences in subjects' performance of correct rhythms, phrasing or dynamics, and tempo, and insignificant differences among performances of correct notes and…

Adding German subtitles to German videos that are specifically aimed at aural comprehension development assists learners in acquiring new vocabulary and developing listening comprehension, and also facilitates the transition from reading to comprehending the spoken language. (Author/CB)

Five experiments examined the extent and nature of the referential source errors of 5- to 10-year-old children who listened to stories containing a referential utterance. The results supported five conclusions about children's confusion of different sources of information in referential communication. (SW)

Over the past decade, Brigham Young University has developed many interactive videodisc programs for personalized foreign language instruction, from early prototypal projects to current HyperCard and Toolbook packages. A broad description of the different models, their variations, and their implementation is provided. (Contains seven references.)…

This report describes the design and instructional contingencies of a computer-based system for auditory and visual consonant recognition training. Individual training sequences are developed as students interact with the system. The system is being used at the University of Illinois with adults who require hearing aids or cochlear implants to…

This case study examined the development of language skills in a bonobo and a chimpanzee raised by human caregivers since infancy, focusing on the primates' ability to comprehend simple speech, understand referential symbol use, and engage in intentionally communicative routines. It is argued that comparative results from these primates can…

Two groups of 10 adult aphasics received auditory-verbal "yes-no" questions, including egocentric, environmental, pictorial, and relationship items, either in a consistent order or random order. Support was found for the existence of a hierarchy of difficulty among the types of questions, but there was no significant difference between…

This study explores the role that gesture plays in the earliest stages of language learning. A description is provided of how one-word speakers use gesture in combination in combination with speech in their spontaneous communications and interpret gesture presented in combination with speech in an experimental situation. (JL)

Examined children's monitoring of TV programs for visual content and processing of program content through language. Narration enhanced visual attention and comprehension. Auditory comprehension did not depend on looking. Auditory attention did not differ with the presence or absence of narration. (BC)

Word comprehension tests were given to 24 infants at 2-month intervals. Parents of 18 of the infants kept a diary of the children's verbal production. Comprehension scores revealed a vocabulary spurt for some children. The presence of a comprehension spurt was associated with a word production spurt. (BC)

Discusses findings of a research project to determine whether the teacher's reading aloud to listeners of English as a foreign language leads to a significantly higher level of comprehension than when the learners read silently on their own. Results showed a positive effect on learner comprehension. (10 references) (GLR)