A study evaluated how well autistic and non-autistic Japanese primary children (N=35) were able to describe the events in a five-frame cartoon. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive ability and linguistic skills. Discussion focuses on how to help autistic individuals improve their language once they have acquired its rudiments. (DJD)

A college faculty member points out that allowing students to write and perform their own foreign language plays improves listening, speaking, and writing skills and exposes the students to new idiomatic expressions and conversational patterns used in contextually relevant and culturally specific situations. (Author/CB)

Listening is an important part of presenting. An optimum learning environment is one in which individuals participate fully without pretense in the presentation experience. The article explores why listening is so important, offers tips for the best ways to listen to audience members, and examines how not to listen. (SM)

Analysis of language production skills of French immersion students in grades 1-6 over 3 years revealed rapid growth of oral competence in the first three years of acquisition, followed by a much slower annual rate of progress. Lexical and syntactic structures most difficult to acquire emerge in five distinct patterns. (50 references) (Author/MSE)

Reviews the resurgence in the use of literature in the English-as-a-Second-Language classroom and reports on a writing class at a technical university in Singapore. The course included both reading and oral report components. Only general guidelines were given on principles of organization and presentation. Results indicate improvement in student…

Investigated overextensions in comprehension and production, using the preferential-looking model, in 99 children (ages 1;9 to 2;3) who were asked to find the referent that matched the label they were given in real and anomalous trials. Results confirm that overextensions in production are not diagnostic of children's underlying semantic…

Examines the influence of conversational interaction on language change. Described two experiments that contrast language coordination between speakers who interacted with the same partner and speakers who interacted with different partners in a maze game context. Suggests that the experiments illustrate how a community affects language change as…

This study examined adult and child word-initial voice onset time productions in English and Hindi to determine the age of acquisition of the phonemic voice contrast. Cross-linguistic differences in patterns of acquisition were found, but these were not necessarily traced to the different phonological systems. (JL)

Examines the ability of monolingual English-speaking subjects to judge whether two spoken samples are from the same or different unknown foreign language. Performance of subjects was only a small degree above chance, while at the same time giving reliable information about recognition and identification skills. Further studies are needed. (16…

Examines what should be the oral component of a foreign language course. Structural, interactive, generic, and contextual constraints are discussed in terms of their implications for teaching. (32 references) (Author/CK)

Reports on a study investigating whether a field-specific oral proficiency test would be a better predictor of field-specific performance than a general purpose oral proficiency test. A theoretical discussion is presented on field-specific language testing and guidelines for the construction of oral proficiency tests in specific purpose contexts.…

Four class activities for French language instruction are described, including a crossword puzzle exercise emphasizing French culture, use of films for developing a variety of language skills, techniques for helping students discuss others' ideas, and an exercise promoting discussion through photographs of older adults engaged in various…

Describes the use of short stories to promote written and oral language skill development in college-level students in an English-as-a-Second-Language writing and oral fluency class. (GLR)

This article explores ways to enhance oral discussions to increase the written language abilities of students with learning disabilities. It discusses oral and written language differences, and offers specific strategies for improving oral narrative skills within the Language Experience Approach (LEA), such as using semantic maps and teaching…

Two studies examined Anglo-Australians attitudes toward male and female Australian and immigrant speakers using English. Results support view that foreign or ethnic accent is sufficient cue to elicit ethnic stereotypes, that such stereotypes are salient to Anglo-Australians, and that accent can combine with other vocal cues to social group…