This volume offers a set of listening activities at three levels of proficiency on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages proficiency scale: Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced. It has been designed to accompany any type of textbook with any type of instruction. Its purpose is to provide learners with the opportunity to hear…

Action learning is a process of learning and reflection that happens with the support of a group of colleagues ("set") working with real problems with the intention of getting things done. This guide is for those who want to practice action learning. It can be used to introduce the concepts of action learning to others and as a manual…

Teachers of English as a Second Language are encouraged to provide support for home language maintenance and use in classroom writing assignment. It is argued that this supports cultural diversity rather than emphasize differences among students, helps in development of literacy and other cognitive skills, and empowers students to achieve and…

This packet of information was developed to be distributed as an informational referral tool for a workplace literacy project following an oral presentation by project staff. It includes the following sections: a managers' checklist; questions managers ask; manager's survey; information about workplace literacy; characteristics of work-based…

In describing reading proficiency--the relative difficulty or ease that an individual reader experiences reading a particular text--researchers have recognized the importance of both text- and reader-based factors. This digest focuses on the factor of purpose, as determined by the reader or the instructional context. Having a purpose means having…

It has been suggested that the learning of a second language is not only a practical matter, as is commonly emphasized in discussion about language teaching, but is equally an experience of cultural initiation, particularly through the appreciation of literary texts in that language. The first part of this paper reviews educators' ideas about…

This study investigated hearing-impaired students' understanding of the mathematical concept of fractional numbers, as measured by their ability to determine the order and equivalence of fractional numbers. Twenty-one students (ages 10-16) with hearing impairments were compared with 26 students with normal hearing. The study concluded that…

Using identified factors that affect students' musical outcomes, this research study examined how instrumental music students attending "good" rural Appalachian high schools compared to other instrumental students. "Good" refers to those 12 Appalachian rural school districts identified as the best out of 46 rural county school…

This paper describes a training program for college outdoor program leaders developed by the Outdoor Action Program at Princeton University (New Jersey). The training program includes a leader training course, a safety management seminar, a wilderness first aid course, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and group skills workshop. This paper describes…

This study examined the development of cognitive perspective taking skills and the lack of consistency across perspective taking measures in earlier studies. Four perspective taking measures were administered to 56 children between 4 and 10 years of age under two testing conditions. The high structure condition included multiple presentation of…

After a 1978 meeting, eight professional education organizations drafted a position statement on the essentials of education. The statement affirmed that the interdependence of skills and content is the central concept of the essentials of education, and that subject disciplines are interdependent. The statement also listed specific essentials of…

This paper describes a course for mentally handicapped students designed to help them to develop practical living skills. The class involves four one-semester units: health and safety; home living; social skills; and job skills. The subjects studied in each of these units are outlined. Information concerning the resources, planning, instruction,…

Defining metacognition as the set of skills and strategies one uses in monitoring and modifying how one learns, this paper addresses ways in which interactive hypermedia/multimedia instructional programs might enhance the meta-cognitive abilities of the learners who use them. It begins by identifying key issues and approaches to metacognition,…

This report presents the conference proceedings of a meeting held at Trinity College in Melbourne, Australia. An edited text of the keynote address, the question and answer session by Matthew Lipman, two symposia ("Philosophy, Society and the Environment," and "Talking and Meaning") and the speeches at the Conference Dinner are…

This paper discusses the relationship of reading and television and describes a "critical viewing skills" program ("Spudbuster") for combatting the effects of prolonged TV watching. The paper enumerates helpful suggestions for both parents and teachers to ensure that children's television watching is not excessive and that what…