Describes the Ontario Test of English as a Second Language Oral Interaction Test and reports on its use in a research project to establish procedures for certifying an advanced level or a bilingual level of proficiency. (3 references) (VWL)

In response to the plateau of achievement advanced English-as-a-Second-Language students often reach, where they see little need for improvement, an instructor developed a program to help these students apply and improve writing skills outside of the immediate academic context. (CB)

Tracked the acquisition of 11 words over the course of a year for three adult learners with advanced proficiency in English. Four kinds of words were measured for knowledge: spelling, associations, grammatical information, and meaning. (Author/JL)

Examined the development of the word knowledge of two groups of advanced learners of French as a second language by means of a slightly revised version of a particular test format. Studied the type of distractor most suited to the participants, distinguished the role of three types of associations, and linked qualitative aspects of word knowledge…

A trend is emerging to open enrollment for honors and AP classes to all students who wish to take them. Teachers of these open enrollment classes may be facing several dilemmas. How can the high standards and academic rigor of the course be maintained? How can students who struggle to learn be supported in their endeavors to keep up with the…

This article describes the initial development and psychometric evaluation of an ins trument for use with secondary students to measure various perceptions about class activities. The instrument--Student Perceptions of Classroom Quality (SPOCQ)--focuses on meaningfulness, challenge, choice, self-efficacy, and appeal, constructs central to learning…

Often with large classes of students it is difficult to cater for individual needs. Large classes hold many students, some of whom may be under-prepared for the course they are taking and some who will already have a high degree of familiarity with much of the planned content and learning outcomes. In catering for the diversity of students,…

Faculty members at a large state university engaged in discussions of 21st century communication, new media, and the demands for new communication skills as they elected to establish a Communication across the Curriculum (CxC) program in 2005. Faculty leaders reviewed communication theory (e.g., from McLuhan to Kress), best practices from other…

Unintended outcomes can derail the best of intentions in the classroom. Designing a new course for Honors students provided an opportunity to change my traditional teaching style. I envisioned a classroom where students enthusiastically became more self-directed learners. I was perplexed with mixed reactions from students; while some joined me and…

This study characterizes how learning and teaching differs as the responsibility for choosing curriculum goals and the strategies to reach those goals shifts between teacher and the students. Three different pedagogical approaches were used with 125 seventh-grade and eighth-grade students. All three curricula focus on electromagnetism, and were…

College students who have had Advanced Placement (AP) English in high school often present motivational or other problems for instructors of first-year college composition. These students often resist instruction or have difficulty working successfully in writing groups with peers. However, often these students' work is not outstanding or even…

Although discussion is primarily aimed at pronunciation material for language laboratory use, the principles are, in most cases, equally applicable to pronunciation material, remedial or otherwise, for classroom use. Does not discuss the procedures of development nor the process of tape recording. (Author/MSE)

In teaching adults (i.e., those with language competence between the levels of a high school graduate and a teacher or interpreter), one must consider psychological factors; six are listed, including logic and mental activity in memorizing. Suggestions for drill are given. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

This text (which may be used by foreign students of English or by speakers of nonstandard English dialects) is based on the precepts that any genuine learning is by discovery; that such learning is an active process involving the use of conceptual intelligence; and that this learning can be facilitated by teacher guidance. The first section of the…

The material in this volume is designed especially for university-level, adult Japanese speakers studying upper-intermediate or advanced conversational English. Each of the 60 lessons presents several common American English idioms in a set of three dialogs. Each idiom appears in various contexts, which are of particular interest to Japanese…