Examines the nature of listening assessment and recent developments of appropriate tests. Shows listenability to be a function of orality in language and offers a summary of discourse characteristics for selecting materials appropriate to listening instruction. (FL)

The author has developed a method for studying the young child in her classroom that is at the same time a new approach to teaching. In this article, she explains how the method evolved and describes its effect in the classroom. (Author/CT)

Describes an assignment for students in content-based classes for English as a second language in which they read, listen, discuss, and write about a current topic in the business world. (DF)

Looks at the findings from studies in educational broadcasting and communication research for data on the effectiveness of video in second language acquisition and foreign language teaching. This study identifies findings which have a bearing on the comprehensibility of video and the relationship between aural and visual channels. (Author/SED)

Describes a method of exposing Chinese students to real spoken English by the use of English language news programs. The students start by reporting the number of items in the day's news program and graduate to being able to discuss the details of the broadcast. (SED)

The first article discusses three types of pair work activities in language classes: (1) role play, (2) "social interaction," and (3) "information gap." The second article describes semiscripted dialogues and dialogues that indicate the structure and direction of the discourse, but allow the speakers to improvise their language as they proceed.…

A recorded interview with a group of teenagers and an article, both concerning Michael Jackson, are used as materials for listening and reading comprehension practice in French. (MSE)

Presents and assesses recent studies on the silent period, that is, the period at the beginning of second language instruction when language learners do not speak the target language. Describes a survey of the silent period of primary school children and its consequences for acquisition theory and for language teaching. (SED)

The study reported here assessed the contribution of short-term memory to differences in standardized listening scores for each of five types of auditory input. Memory for syntactically arranged words proved to be the best predictor of listening skill in this battery of tests. (SED)

Promotes the use of international broadcasting as a rich source of spoken text for foreign language learning. A basic knowledge of this technology is stressed, including types of broadcasts, times, frequency/wavelength, transmission modes, propagation variation, reception techniques, and program schedules. In addition, choice and use of equipment…

Encourages use of filmstrip stories as a teaching aid in the English as a second language classroom. Filmstrips require little teacher preparation, and they generate new ideas and activities for use in the classroom. In addition, filmstrips can be used at any ability level, drawing on the students' abilities to respond on a wide range of levels of…

The use of radio material for foreign language study is not new, but it has largely been limited to students at the advanced level. The concept of listening to authentic material at a very early stage of language learning is promoted, and using radio commercials effectively as supplementary materials in language classes is discussed. (SL)

Among findings from a comparison of 13 preschool hyperactive and control males assessed on receptive-communications tasks that required listening and delayed response were that Ss did not differ in task-related movements or verbalizations, but that hyperactive Ss verbalized impulsively during transitions and tasks requiring response delay. (DB)

Electronic music can be used to give nonmusic majors an appreciation of musical culture. As final projects, students complete compositions and make the same musical decisions that composers make. Emphasis is on understanding of the electronic medium and on aural analysis. (CS)

Examines first- and third-grade children and college adults' ability to make excuse inferences about a speaker's use of an utterance and to modify those inferences appropriately upon receiving later information. Possible reasons for children's inflexibility were examined by varying the difficulty of relating the excuse interpretation and…