Six conference papers, presented first in Italian and then in English, are collected in this booklet. They are: "International Comprehension through Education" by H.R. Light, "The Prelingual Period in Foreign Language Learning" by Djoraje Kostic, "Reconciling Old and New Methods of Language Teaching" by Derrick Plant, "The Use of the Language…

This study, based on interviews with North American students and Peace Corps trainees in Bogota, and their host families, professors, and other Colombians in contact with the students, attempts to define the non-linguistic barriers to cross-cultural communication between North Americans and Colombians. The purpose of the study is to gather data…

A survey of the substance of linguistics and of the activities of linguists is presented in an attempt to acquaint ordinary readers with the various aspects of la"guage. A discussion of the human tendency toward speech, of the traits of language, and of phonetic elements prepares the way for an analysis of the structure of languag e in terms of…

This brief review of research in foreign language instruction during 1961-63 summarizes, compares, and interprets related studies dealing withsuch topics as (1) the effects and value of foreign language instruction at different educational levels, (2) methods and materials, (3) testing, and (4) electromechanical aids, such as the language…

This history of the language laboratory and the factors influencing its growth are briefly traced. Materials and equipment are described, and the problems involved in a laboratory operation are indicated. Also considered is the use of the language laboratory as a teaching machine and as a research device for education in general. A bibliography…

An introductory statement notes the increased interest in the fields of communication theory, linguistics, and psycholinguistics during the period 1953-57 and suggests reasons for this attention. The body of the article summarizes and comments upon some of the relevant literature published since 1953 in these three interrelated areas, limiting the…

The five papers collected in this booklet present an overall view of language development from the early 1950's to the present. Joshua A. Fishman discusses language and the problems of social and national development and indicates how sociolinguistic research may illuminate these problems. Albert H. Marckwardt considers the teaching of English as…

This address to school counselors discusses the role of aptitude and attitudes in learning French as a second language with attention to the senior elementary and high school levels. The Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) and the Attitude Motivation Inventory (ATI) were administered to students. The MLAT and abilities it is designed to assess…

Previous research has shown how macro-structures can affect children's verbalizations. This study focuses on whether conversational contexts of forms are learned along with syntax, on what makes syntax, and on how to predict speech. Transcripts of videotapes of young children provided a matrix of function or act against actual utterance, wherein…

This newsletter contains five articles. The first, "Discourse Structure in Reading," by Ron Shook, suggests that reading materials for the beginning ESL (English as a second language) reader often have three defects: (1) profusion of detail as question fodder; (2) an oversimplified syntax; and (3) an artificial construction that violates…

This publication reports on research which has investigated phoneme acquisition and carry-over in a programmatic fashion. This research began with investigations of the effect of an extension of stimulus control of new phoneme responses through a systematic operant procedure. After quantifying the effect of such procedures in terms of stimulus…

This report contains an extensive discussion of an approach to the study of discourse. Initial remarks concern arguments for studying discourse and approaches for discourse study that have been used; the author then discusses the relationship of discourse analysis and generative semantics. Language is considered on two issues: the decisions that a…

This investigation of high school and college language programs in the 1940's presents information on the objectives of language teaching and the measurement of language proficiency. An aural-oral testing program is described, and the aural-oral experimental groups are compared with conventionally taught classes. Advanced levels of language skill…

This two-phase experiment was conducted to determine: (1) whether foreign language aptitude as measured by standard aptitude tests (Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery, Carroll-Sapon Modern Language Aptitude Test) can be significantly increased by training, and (2) whether increases in language aptitude so obtained would result in better language…

This study examines ways in which children verbalize emotional experiences at successive age levels. Four groups of 16 boys and girls each drawn from the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth grades of a middle class private school in New York City were asked to describe happiness, sadness, love, anger, and fear. Raw protocols were scored according to…