Author describes how he and his staff have worked towards a language policy that ensures consistency throughout the primary years. Explores the implications of such a policy for the way language teachers plan their lessons. (Editor/RK)

Ideas, suggestions and activities for preschool through the early primary grades. (Editor)

Using practical examples, such as the language experience of foreign tourists, it is shown that the "natural method" (using target language only) hinders learning. Use of the mother tongue is necessary for learning foreign structures (e.g., arranging native words according to the foreign syntax). (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Investigates the relationship between individual student rates of volunteering in the classroom and the differential rates of teacher questions directed to that student and the percentage of students volunteering approved by the teacher. Results imply that students control whether they receive a directed question and how frequently the teacher…

Discusses the concept, content and effects of a statewide workshop for teachers involved in elementary school programs for migrant children in Kansas. (MH)

Contrasts classroom questioning with questioning functions used in normal discourse and suggests ways in which teachers can promote more normal questioning exchanges in the second language classroom. (Author/MSE)

Interpersonal problems in the classroom are usually teacher-owned, student-owned, or mutual. This article describes communication skills for dealing with each type of problem. (LHW)

Discusses how to use homework as an effective teaching method and offers creative sample assignments. (SRT)

Suggests that the school classroom is an optimal place for mediating school and student intentions which may be facilitated by ensuring that the languages students use to discover and understand the world are directed toward accomplishing the tasks required by the educational setting. (DF)

Examines a discourse model of classroom interaction to establish the possibility of setting up genuinely communicative situations in foreign language classrooms. Asserts that simulation probably provides the most realistic context that can be established in a classroom and can help bridge the gap between controlled language learning and the…

Describes a study done to determine if higher frequencies of referential questions (questions which request information not known by the questioner) have an effect on discourse in an adult English-as-a-second-language classroom. The differences in the language produced by learners in response to the two question types were pronounced. (Author/SED)

Humor in teaching can promote a positive and cohesive class atmosphere but can also have unintended negative results if the teacher does not first develop a supportive relationship with the students. (Author)

Describes results of a study of over 100 elementary and secondary school classrooms that analyzed how teachers interacted with boys and girls. At all grade levels and in all subject areas, researchers found that male students had more opportunity to interact in classrooms. (CT)

The authors review some of the constructs provided by recent classroom language studies. By employing constructs from these studies to describe part of a classroom lesson, the authors illustrate one way to explore how classrooms work. They then list some cautions and recommendations about the use of classroom research for making policy decisions.…

Uses research findings to show when educational leaders can use humor to increase their effectiveness and how they can use it more effectively. (FL)