Listening comprehension and recall abilities for social studies lectures were examined and compared in 20 adolescent males with language-learning disabilities (LLD) and in 29 controls. Regardless of lecture type (comparison or causatory expository discourse structures) or question type (literal or inferential comprehension), the performance of the…

Investigated the types of reception strategies and the frequency of their use by students of French as a second language at different levels of language proficiency, measured by an oral proficiency interview. A number of distinct strategies were identified: kinesics, global reprises, hypothesis testing in English and uptaking. Results are…

Discusses the attitudes of students concerning the benefit of Year 12 foreign language courses to the development of their oral and aural proficiency in the target language, i.e., French. While most students felt that their ability to speak and understand spoken French had improved as a result of the course, some expressed dissatisfaction with…

Discusses the use of writing assignments to improve the capacity of literature students to read and analyze assigned texts in the foreign language. The approach provides a higher level of motivation for self-correction that will enable students to overcome, rather than formalize, their errors. (Author/JL)

Ascertains the influence of the development of receptive phonetic skills on the level of listening comprehension of adults learning French as a second language in a formal setting. Test results indicate substantial gains in phonetics by the experimental group and a significant difference between the performance of experimental and control groups.…

Emphasizes that auditory lexical decision has wide applicability and that the paradigm is currently used to study basic processes in word recognition, the nature of the mental lexicon, effects of word frequency, neighbor effects and various other phenomena of isolated word perception. Article reviews the strengths and weaknesses of this task. (54…

This longitudinal study of children from preschool through fourth grade examined code-related and oral language precursors to reading. Findings indicated that the relationship between code-related precursors and oral language is strong during preschool. During early elementary school, reading ability is predominately determined by kindergarten…

Investigated the effects of participation in the 5th Dimension--a mixed activity system based on Vygotsky's cultural-historical activity theory and implemented as a university-community collaboration--on third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders' learning to comprehend written directions. Found that children with extensive participation performed better…

Explains an integrated curriculum in which science content is at the core of teaching. Contends that study in an integrated curriculum invites students to build their world knowledge by offering them the time and continuous focus to know a subject well. Details an integrated unit called "Oceans" which included: observation; whole group…

This article describes how teachers combined schoolwide enrichment and differentiated instruction models to design a fifth-grade fantasy literature unit. Small groups explored novels to learn the germane content and genre characteristics and then regrouped to refine and apply what was learned to a variety of open-ended problems. (Contains…

Many South African students who enroll in higher education are underprepared and have low reading ability. Outlines the reading strategic component of an English for professional purposes course offered for such students in a technology-enhanced environment. Results indicate that students who received strategic reading instruction received higher…

Investigates comprehension of metaphoric compounds. The study asked children and adults to identify referents of various types of these compounds. Findings reveal that 5-year-olds outperformed 3-year-olds but performed significantly less well than adults and that 3-year-olds did not generally interpret the compounds literally. (37 references)…

Summarizes research findings on academic reading obtained from a questionnaire, two sets of reading tests, and a textbook analysis. Results reveal that the essential reading skills required of foreign language learners and those giving them the most difficulty in their academic studies are skimming, reading more slowly to extract relevant…

Focuses on recent clarifications of the nature of explanatory texts in science. Shows how a knowledge of the different organizational structures and language features of the various types of explanations can be used to enhance the use of reading and writing to learn. (AIM)

Investigated the relationship between oral language and early reading development by administering to 39 children a broad range of oral language, background, and reading ability measures in kindergarten and first and second grade. Overall, semantic abilities, not phonological awareness, predicted second grade reading comprehension. Phonological…