Listening to podcasts or watching videocasts in the classroom couldn't be easier--or cheaper. But if one has a computer and an Internet connection, he or she already has all the equipment he or she needs. This article lists ten podcasts for teachers and students.

This paper outlines a clear rationale for developing speaking and listening as part of the curriculum for young children and highlights several approaches which teachers can adopt to promote effective talk: dialogic teaching (an interactive approach to developing learning through talk) will be explored as a way to counter the initiation, response,…

In this article, the author reports the results of a national survey taken by state assessment directors on the impact of No Child Left Behind on nonassessed subjects between the years 2001-5. Results indicate that during this time, statewide assessment of science and writing increased whereas it decreased in the social studies, arts and…

This paper considers the process by which humans are able to select from the complex string of sounds impinging on the ear and understand certain frequency combinations to be linguistic signals while other combinations are not. A brief review of the complex subcortical region, particularly the known but seldom studied reticular system, indicates…

Sometimes good teachers may mistakenly assume that teaching strategies that worked with other children will work well with all students. This paper argues that educators must listen and communicate collaboratively with the student, the family, and other educators to discover the right combination of learning styles and instructional techniques…

With "adventure-based" learning, instructors present activities in a way that allows the group to develop its own abilities, with guidance from the instructor when appropriate. Adventure-based learning activities (which emphasize the importance of play) lend themselves to inclusion in the basic speech communication course, particularly…

Delineating the content that must be covered in the secondary schools of the State of Idaho, this guide presents a course of study for a full-semester course designed to help students better understand the complexities of the communication process and succeed in a world of interaction. Although educators sometimes use the terms interchangeably,…

In considering academic success, equal emphasis should be given to oracy and literacy competencies. The view that oracy is achieved naturally while literacy requires taught methods needs to be revised, since both areas demand a framework to support their mutual development. The giving and receiving of spoken information is an area that has been…

This study evaluated the validity of using an earplug so that information is presented to only one ear of children (N=34) in Alberta, Canada, with learning disabilities as a means of improving listening comprehension. Children were asked to recall stories from the Auditory Comprehension Test (ACT) immediately after hearing the story. The children…

In response to the need for intentional, organized education in speaking, listening, and media literacy, the National Communication Association provides the Standards and Competency Statements in this document. The Standards and Competency Statements are not designed to be used as a curriculum; rather, they are designed to enhance and support…

The speech introduces a colloquium on the teaching of listening comprehension to students of English for academic purposes (EAP). The colloquium's aim is to address ways that EAP instructors can improve students' lecture listening skills by discussing the types of background discourse knowledge and listening strategies that…

This curriculum guide, designed for use with migrant students, provides oral language activities in listening comprehension, critical listening, oral expression, and vocabulary development. The activities within the four broad categories are divided into the following specific skills: (1) simple directions; (2) complex directions; (3) main idea;…

Upper-level elementary classroom teachers can integrate wordless picture books (usually used only in the lower elementary grades) with the Jigsaw approach to cooperative learning. Students are first assigned to heterogeneously-balanced "home teams." Members of the home team write a story to accompany a picture book, usually in about 15…

This guide may be used as a text for peer helper, lay leadership, or volunteer worker training programs. The first chapter describes the facilitative model as it applies to peer helping, and presents an overview of the guide. The second chapter examines the nature of people. Eight basic principles of human behavior are outlined. The third chapter…

A study investigated factors in design of oral language comprehension tests and their relevance in determining actual language proficiency, focusing on the tests' decoding requirements. Task-based, interactive oral language tests were designed: (1) to elicit information about integration of first (L1) and second languages (L2) in the learner's…