Current approaches to oral assessment of English in English secondary schools tend to concentrate more on "confidence" and "participation" than on the quality of children's thinking. This undermines the rich possibilities in classroom talk for cognitive development. Behavioural assessment approaches deny the essentially…

In this paper, the authors report the results of a study that compared differences in the linguistic gains made by native English-speaking students from the United States who were studying Spanish in one of two different contexts of learning. One was a regular university classroom situation in Colorado; the other was a study abroad program in…

This study reports a small-scale experiment that was set up to estimate the extent to which (i) the use of formulaic sequences (standardized phrases such as collocations and idiomatic expressions) can help learners come across as proficient L2 speakers and (ii) an instructional method that emphasizes "noticing" of L2 formulaic sequences can help…

The purpose of this study was to investigate two research questions: What literacy learning did preservice teachers experience through a Penpal Project embedded in an early literacy course? What sense did preservice teachers make of the Penpal Project?--with an overarching focus on bridging literacy theory with practice. Data were gathered in a…

Waterford Early Reading Program[TM] is a software-based curriculum for students in Kindergarten through second grade. The curriculum is designed to promote reading, writing, and typing, incorporating literacy skills such as letter mastery, language stories, spelling, basic writing skills, reading and listening development, and comprehension…

"Literacy Express" is a comprehensive preschool curriculum designed for three- to five-year-old children. It is structured around units on oral language, emergent literacy, basic math, science, general knowledge, and socio-emotional development. It can be used in half- or full-day programs with typically developing children and children…

This paper describes the development of a program to test oral and written language skills of students graduating from seven Hong Kong higher education institutions. The program's objective is to provide information for prospective employers concerning graduates' practical communication skills in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English. The 2-year…

This paper discusses a study that sought to design an instrument for assessing the nonverbal ability of foreign language learners. The subjects were 28 educated Japanese non-native speakers (NNS) of English and 20 educated North American native speakers (NS) of English. Materials used were the institutional Test of English as a Foreign Language…

The collection of papers on linguistic experiments includes: "Discourse Functions of Pitch Range in Spontaneous and Read Speech" (Gayle M. Ayers); "When Is a Syllable Not a Syllable?" (Mary E. Beckman); "The Relationship between Syntactic and Semantic Processes in Sentence Comprehension" (Julie E. Boland); "The Influence of Orthography and…

Possible applications of satellite television and interactive video in language teaching are described. Advice is given on how to set up, expand, and effectively exploit these technologies in the classroom. A variety of activities are suggested for developing listening, speaking, and writing skills at different levels. The guide concludes with a…

Concern that Canadian Native illiteracy was being ignored or addressed ineffectively prompted this report, which includes a literature review, findings from a survey in several Native communities, and an overview of innovative practices and illustrative programs. The survey, conducted with 56 potential literacy learners from 8 geographically and…

A study investigated the perceptions of native English-speakers concerning the spoken grammatical and phonetic (accent) errors of non-native speakers. Speech samples were collected from three non-native speakers of English of varied linguistic backgrounds (German, Spanish, and Arabic) and one speaker of North American English. Each of the four…

This study explored two aspects of language expression (defining words and repeating sentences) in samples of 26 Downs Syndrome (DS) and 26 mentally handicapped (MH) adolescents and young adults matched on intelligence and chronological age. Testing included language tests, a comprehensive audiological assessment, and computer-based memory…

A study of the effectiveness of a language proficiency testing method using partial dictation is reported. The study used 60 undergraduate students at a Mexican university studying English as a second language under a traditional four-skills approach. The partial dictation exam was a combination of dictation and cloze procedure. The entire text is…

To determine developmental patterns in emergent reading behaviors of young children, a longitudinal study was conducted of two-, three-, and four-year-old children's language when asked to "read" a favorite storybook. Thirty-two middle and low income children from a daycare center took part in four studies spaced over a year; four children were…