Recent literature on individual differences in verbal ability indicates that people demonstrating high verbal comprehension are quicker and more accurate in identifying lexical items, as well as more rapid in parsing sentences. They are not, however, more sensitive to the general gist of a passage, and thus do not respond to priming from context…

Although theories on developmental writing assume that basic writers do not write well because of cognitive deficits, recent research and classroom experience suggest that poor writers lack skill because they have not had sufficient contextually meaningful practice. Writing research indicates that the unskilled writer's tendency to write as if…

This collection of classroom ideas for the elementary school teacher contains learning activities, teaching methods, and suggestions on a wide variety of topics. The 22 teacher-submitted articles include ideas on writing, art, getting acquainted, vocabulary, self-esteem, open house, Halloween, mathematics, drama, hobbies, Valentine's Day, oral…

Two research studies conducted at the bilingual Hostos Community College of the City University of New York suggest that the classroom performance of adult, advanced, and post English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students benefits from the students' participation in tutor-led groups that focus on a particular course's content and employ talk and…

The IDEA Oral Language Proficiency Test (IPT II), an individually-administered measure of speaking and listening proficiency in English as a Second Language designed for secondary school students, is described and discussed. The test consists of 91 items and requires 5-25 minutes to administer. Raw scores are converted to one of seven proficiency…

A classroom technique called "ubertragung," used for exercise and evaluation of oral communication, is explained as it is applied in a course in business German for native speakers of Norwegian. Learners read a text in Norwegian containing information relevant to the study of German for international trade. Later, students use the…

Initial general discussion of reading and writing is followed by discussions focusing on the process of learning to read, methods and texts, and ways to promote reading. The topic of the way one learns to read is addressed in terms of: (1) a definition of "knowing how to read"; (2) the distinction between teaching and learning; and (3) basic…

A study of vowel substitution in Finnish learners of English as a second language looked at the quantitative characteristics of qualitatively similar vowels under different tempo conditions. Specifically, it compared the effects of rate of speech and vowel duration on the eleven stressed monophthongal English vowels and their Finnish counterparts.…

Impromptu speech is heard only once, at a rate of perception that depends on the speaker's delivery, and is specifically adapted to the listeners. These features trigger cognitive activities that facilitate translation. Impromptu speech is characterized by a constant interconnection between cognitive competence and language competence and between…

Conference interpreting is an oral impromptu activity. Since texts delivered at conferences range from unprepared oral texts to prepared written texts, there can be clashes between the impromptu features of conference interpreting and features of prepared written texts. Knowledge of the field of discourse and of the predictability of text…

A study investigated the relatively greater frequency of negation in conversation than in written language. It discovered that rejections and explicit denials of previously asserted propositions, two categories of negation postulated to be speech-specific, accounted for only about 16 percent of all negatives. Use of negatives as supports, in…

A study examined the interrelationship among print-related skills developed prior to formal reading instruction and social class differences in these skills in 33 middle-class and working-class children attending one of two high quality, reading-oriented kindergarten classes. Two hypotheses were generated: (1) that correlations would emerge among…

Language minority students can be served effectively by schools that are organized to develop educational structures and processes that take into consideration both the broader attributes of effective schooling practices and the specific attributes relevant to language minority students. Effective classrooms exemplify instructional strategies that…

One of a series of Parallel Alternative Strategies for Students (PASS) packages developed to provide Florida teachers with modified approaches for presenting content courses to mainstreamed exceptional students, this guide was designed as a supplementary text and workbook for a high school English course. The guide is divided into seven units of…

This report is a review of findings and recommendations following a study by the Migrant Student Record Transfer System (MSRTS) Committee of the National Association of State Directors of Migrant Education (NASDME). The assessment of NASDME's Skills Information System (SIS) was initiated in September 1984 and completed in December 1985. Section 1…