Four activities for language learning are presented, including: an exercise in compound word formation; television program production; a puzzle made of text fragments; and organizing a trip to France. (MSE)

A Confidence-rating scale accompanying answers on a listening test helps distinguish between learners who select answers based on effective self-monitoring and those whose answers are based on poor self-monitoring. The latter are more likely to do so subsequently as well. Test items and a rating scale are illustrated. (Author/LMO)

Attempts to distinguish the role of the structure of a message in determining the different modalities of decodification and memorization in oral discourse based on the theories and experiments of Ragnar Rommetveit of the Oslo School. (CFM)

Explores how well measures of verbal short-term memory and naming speed tasks predict children's reading achievement under various IQ control conditions. Both were effective, but when controlling for verbal IQ, memory measures are less reliable, whereas digit-naming speed remains a significant predictor of reading achievement. (MM)

Indicates a reasonable range of individual differences in the dark interval threshold (DIT). Reveals a significant interaction between DIT and illumination level in their effect on reading accuracy. Finds that children with a short DIT read more accurately in high rather than low illumination and that this performance was reversed for long DIT…

Describes pilot study in a high school which assessed the qualitative and quantitative changes which occurred in two severely disabled readers' cognitive processes during strategy training. Results suggested that a qualitative shift in verbal strategy reports occurred during prose recall. Introduction of cognitive training increased recall of…

Examined whether altering the sequence of the traditional basal reading lesson by placing enrichment activities first increased comprehension of text. Found altered format subjects (of 45 subjects in total) correctly answered 71% of comprehension questions, whereas traditional format subjects correctly answered only 58%. Suggests these significant…

Presents results of a study indicating that what young readers say when they first read is influenced by their previous experiences with books, the structure of the text, and also the accompanying illustrations. Points out implications for reading to young children, and for choosing early texts. (SKC)

Classroom use of roadside signs and billboards is recommended both for understanding cultural and geographic context and for learning French. Exercises for decoding and comprehension are suggested. (MSE)

Outlines the format for a course dedicated exclusively to the teaching of listening skills at the intermediate and advanced second language instruction levels. Suggestions are made regarding instructional materials, testing, grading, assignments, class interaction, and organization. (Author/CB)

Two experiments employed story telling to investigate whether production is adapted to comprehension. Subjects were more likely to specify instruments from stories if the instruments were atypical or important to the story. A mathematical model proposed that instrument concepts may be selected at three stages in the production process. (Author/LMO)

Three 11-year-olds with difficulties in reading comprehension received self-instructional training along with task worksheets and stories. Compared to control children, the experimental students achieved increased accuracy on classroom comprehension questions, and the increase was maintained during a subsequent self-management phase. (Author/JDD)

Principles that should guide reading comprehension assessment include acknowledging the complexity of reading, focusing on orchestrating rather than isolating skills, regarding reading as a dynamic process, developing techniques that encourage student-teacher interactions, and using a variety of reading comprehension measures. The principles are…

Presents and discusses results of study on the specific linguistics needs of Italian scientists who must use English for science and technology for study and work purposes. Writing and listening were considered to be the most difficult skills to master. Questionnaire appears in Appendix. (LMO)

Various authors provide a wide range of instructional suggestions, including hints for parents on how to read aloud to older children, a story web prewriting technique, a lesson on similes, a description of a series of books designed to develop literacy in natural ways, and advice on using the question-answer relationship procedure and basal…