Since the initial inquiry into oral proficiency and oral proficiency testing by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) in 1981, the growing interest in this form of testing is evidenced by increased participation in workshops, conference sessions, and training sessions devoted to it. Intensive language programs and an…

The three tests that make up this instrument are designed to assess the oral communication, grammatical fluency, and vocabulary development of students for whom English is a second language. The spoken English test comes in two versions: one with 90 items on a cassette tape, the other with 90 items to be read aloud by the examiner. Each version is…

A study examined dimensions of oral proficiency curriculum and testing (OP) in American colleges and universities for the purpose of appraising the implementability of educational policy derived from them. The framework used for this policy analysis looks at the system environment, demands and resources, the process that converts demands into…

A study addressed issues of concern in the use of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)/Educational Testing Service (ETS) Language Proficiency Guidelines commonly used in determination of oral language proficiency. Specifically, potential discrepancies between the judgments of trained raters and "naive" native…

Issues surrounding the testing and evaluation of speaking in Singapore secondary schools are examined, including the questions of what skills and knowledge a speech evaluator should possess and what model of spoken knowledge--Received Pronunciation (RP) or Singapore English--should be provided. Oral tests, developed for the English language…

A discussion of women's oral discourse patterns focuses on the uses made of minimal responses, hedges, and tag questions. The analysis draws on transcriptions of conversations among a group of women friends over a period of months. It is proposed that the conventional treatment of these forms as "weak" is inappropriate in all-female…

To gain more information about the language awareness of young children, a study examined the relationship between 14 middle class kindergarten children's oral language and their reading achievement in third, fourth, and fifth grades. Individual children's ranks on 61 oral language features derived from a previous microethnography were compared to…

The purpose of this paper is to provide a philosophy of education for the gifted and place that philosophy within the framework of practical education. The paper sketches the philosophy--language arts must be taught in a way that emphasizes the wholeness of the language experience--and discusses two key points: (1) If language arts consist of…

Applied linguistics has made major contributions to literacy teaching in recent years, in four general areas. First, second language acquisition is becoming the model for first language literacy teaching in schools through the "whole language approach" to literacy. Second, the field of sociolinguistics has convinced educators that literacy is a…

Research in psycholinguistics and learning theory is reviewed to support the integration of oral and written language skills, and the language experience approach (LEA) is recommended for secondary school second language instruction. This approach incorporates listening, speaking, reading, and writing in purposeful communication. Students use the…

It is useful to stress the similarity of the linguistic system that underlies oral and written language, but the whole language approach fails to take into account the real and significant differences that exist between oral and written language and the different purposes for which they are used. Children need explicit guidance and support in…

A study examined the consistency of consonant use in the infant's transition period from babbling to early words. Phonetic data were collected from the speech of 10 infants aged 9 to 15 months. Analysis of consonant distribution patterns indicate striking segmental preferences in all 10 children, with some segments more prominent for the sample as…

During a 5-month period, an attempt was made to describe the literacy concepts of 12 children 5 years of age who attended a prekindergarten program rich in oral language experiences. Assessments were made in the classroom of the children's concepts of print, phoneme awareness, logo recognition, reading, and writing, through use of (1) the…

A study examined the relationship between the reading performance and the language skills of first and second grade students. The subjects, 24 first grade and 22 second grade students, were administered a language screening test and a reading achievement test. Test results were analyzed using the Pearson product moment coefficient correlation.…

The relationships that exist among the skills of reading, writing, speaking, and listening suggest a need for greater attention to oral communication processes in the formal instructional program. The extent of these relationships is such that four national associations drafted a joint paper stating that oral language competency is the basis for…