Contains remarks on the advantages and limitations of work with filmstrips, methodological procedures in the introduction of these, e.g. in vocabulary work, the treatment of grammatical points, and speaking both in monologue and in dialogue. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Stressing that building vocabulary knowledge is a continuously developing skill, acquired over a lifetime and in a variety of ways, this concept paper suggests instructional strategies that lead to word knowledge. Following a research summary and a section on implications for instructions, the paper focuses on the various instructional strategies…

To determine the usefulness of two commonly taught phonics rules concerning the pronounciation of two-syllable words, a study analyzed more than 138,000 words in the "New Grolier Webster International Dictionary of the English Language." The rules state that (1) a vowel is short when the only vowel in a syllable is not the last letter in…

This study was designed to answer the following three questions: (1) Are infants' first words always context-bound when they are initially acquired? (2) Do mothers use infants' first words in a context-bound manner when interacting with their infants? (3) What relationship, if any, exists between infants' initial use of early words and mothers'…

German second language instructional materials include a summary of German folk dance terminology and 11 folk dances with music, lyrics, and dance instructions. Specific folk songs and dances (arranged in order of difficulty) include "Schusterpolka,""Polka zu Dreien,""Jagermarsch,""Lang Englisch," and "Schuhplattler." (MSE)

A study investigated the distribution and specific use of adjectives and related expressions in the naturally acquired German of one Turkish and two Italian migrant workers in West Germany. The research was part of a larger study of untutored language acquisition by migrant workers in Europe. Specifically, this study examined the learning of…

A study examined whether children increased their vocabularies as a result of hearing unfamiliar words within the oral context of a story and observed the oral strategies the children employed as they attempted to define a new word. Subjects, 64 males and 64 females, were from self-contained third-grade classrooms in public schools in a small town…

Most freshman composition textbooks are inadequate in giving information to students on how to interpret dictionaries: instead of presenting them as aids in exploring word usage, textbooks foster a naive trust in dictionaries as arbiters of all usage questions. Rather than treating words as discrete items to be mastered without knowledge of…

The ability to retain many songs in memory makes them an important tool for language learning, but one that is often underused. A commercially-produced set of materials called "Singlingual" puts everyday German words and phrases to well-known tunes, a technique students can use to develop their own songs. In addition to readily-available…

The relation definition theory proposed in this paper is explicitly different from previous semantic memory theories since it is the first to make a relation's definition the basis of semantic processing. The paper suggests that this relation definition theory successfully predicts relation similarity on the basis of one key primary assumption:…

Intended to facilitate the preparation of thesauri for the indexing of documents in any subject field, this report presents a set of rules pertaining to the complex issues and questions involved in indexing vocabulary development and construction. After a brief discussion of the nature, functions, and components of indexing vocabularies, a set of…

A collaborative research effort to investigate the relative strengths of selected vocabulary development techniques was conducted by the Wisconsin Center for Education Research and the Taiwan Provincial Institute for Elementary School Teachers' Inservice Education. Parallel studies of children in grades 4 through 6 compared the two prior knowledge…

While vowels are not consistent at the single-letter level, they tend to be more consistent in letter clusters or higher order units. Therefore, a program designed to teach reading without resorting to teaching single-vowel mappings has been developed. The reading program involves teaching single consonants, selected whole words, and higher order…

Vocabulary grouped according to subject matter is well-adapted to developing speaking competence. Even in the use of blackboard pictures for teaching vocabulary, systematic aspects should be observed. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)