Noting that in different disciplines the study of communicative competence has focused to varying degrees on referential, social, and directive functions of communication, this paper reviews the three major traditions using the term. The first section of the paper reviews the sociolinguistic tradition, which views communicative competence as…

To determine what recent research indicates about similarities and differences between reading and listening and current classroom practices in listening at the junior high level, and to discover whether teachers consciously and systematically provide a bridge between informal oral language and formal text language, a study was completed by…

Designed to provide an introduction to study skills for students in the eighth, ninth, and tenth grades, this teacher's guide provides a series of 12 activity-oriented units, most of which require one period of class time. The units in the guide cover the following topics: (1) learning to listen, (2) vocabulary (getting meaning from context), (3)…

The conferencee discussions and papers presented in this volume reflect the opinions and research of 20 authorities in the field of communication development. These authorities offer new perspectives on nonverbal communication, speech reception and production, and the development of language and thought. To provide a better understanding of…

A series of experiments investigated infants' perception of inherent structural organization in the prosody of utterances. The experiments used a listening preference procedure to test: perceptions of appropriate pauses in child-directed and adult-directed speech; perceptions of appropriate pauses in speech filtered for most segmental features but…

Addressing the increasing importance of listening skills in the business world, this annotated bibliography contains 22 items from the ERIC database from 1979 to 1988. The sources cited in the first section of the bibliography are primarily concerned with teaching techniques and strategies for teachers of secondary and higher education business…

A study was conducted to explore the process of learning from television news and the relationship between audio and visual channels. The subjects, 82 undergraduate journalism majors enrolled in five newswriting classes, were randomly assigned to experimental conditions. Newscasts were recorded from evening newscasts aired by networks, and scripts…

Asking questions in class can be a routine effort for some students, but many find this particular act to be an extraordinary task. Research demonstrates that at least 15 to 20% of all students suffer from debilitating apprehension when speaking. The number who experience moderate nervousness may be even higher. As a result of not asking…

The feedback lecture represents an attempt to address problems affecting traditional classroom lecture techniques. Typical complaints associated with the latter include boredom, one-way communication, problems with notetaking, pacing problems, lack of guidelines and outlines, lack of enthusiasm and student involvement, and an overload of detail to…

This book describes specific ways for teachers to assist their students in mastering skills needed for success in school. It is based upon the belief that thinking can be improved, human intellect sharpened, and academic ability increased. A case for study skills is made in Chapter I. Chapter II provides guidelines for the immediate improvement of…

Prediction of academic success in introductory psychology courses is useful for both students and teachers. Although scores on the major intellectually oriented standardized aptitude tests are often useful predictors of introductory psychology grades, these scores are frequently unavailable. When major standardized measures of general intellectual…

Six practical components of listening comprehension and sources of listening materials are considered. Listening comprehension depends on: (1) the sonic realization or actual physical hearing of language, (2) the segmental/suprasegmental form (phoneme distinction), (3) the musical pitch and rhythm, (4) lexical phrasing, (5) the purpose of the…

A study compared the listening retention of third grade pupils when a literature passage was presented via the teacher showing a film, showing a sound filmstrip, and reading from a book. The words and pictures in each presentation of a children's fantasy story were identical in each case. Subjects were 30 randomly selected pupils in each of the 20…

Recent studies show that training in oral communication skills is one of the primary needs of industry. Among those skills are listening, persuading, and instructing. One reason that oral communication skills are becoming increasingly important is that business, industrial, and government organizations are larger and more complicated than they…

It is generally believed that the reason some children do not have satisfactory peer relationships is that they lack or will not use the interpersonal skills necessary to initiate and/or maintain such relationships. On the basis of this belief, a study was conducted to examine the conversational behavior of accepted and rejected children in a…