Discusses the communicative approach to foreign language instruction and provides information on communication exercises. (AG)

Failure to progress on the language proficiency scale is often due to lack of linguistic accuracy. Even motivated students are sometimes unable to improve proficiency ratings beyond a particular level. Pedagogical factors contributing to this problem include: focus on form and meaning at the same time; fossilization; overuse of communicative…

How computers have affected diagnosis in mathematics is discussed. A distinction is made between errors and mistakes, followed by consideration of computers as a diagnostic tool. The development of algorithms to diagnose errors and of models of student performance is described. (MNS)

Outlined are the weaknesses of traditional, norm-referenced tests which fail to help in making instructional decisions. Presented is a step-by-step series of operations for analyzing and categorizing arithmetic errors, for selecting corrective strategies, and for applying peer-referenced standards to judge the performance of special needs…

An overall schema of interpretation for programming instructors is given, so that the misconceptions students develop in programming can be determined more readily. Types of language-independent and -dependent bugs, how they can be identified, and how to help students overcome them are addressed. (MNS)

It is important that teachers help students to realize that writing is not simply a product, or a means to an end, but an exploratory, cyclical process. Research has shown that skilled writers conceptualize the effect of their writing as a whole, as a generative process, whereas unskilled writers are distracted by surface-level features and are…

Discussion of programs for analyzing the writing of students using word processors focuses on six categories of available software that can help to improve students' writing skills: error checkers, reformatters, audience awareness programs (including reader's needs and readability formulas), student conferencing utilities, grading utilities, and…

Supports the use of the applied linguistics technique of error analysis (i.e., charting and analyzing patterns in language errors) in developmental writing instruction. Argues that error enables teachers to diagnose the cognitive strategies and processes used by students in writing. Discusses teaching strategies and the approach's limitations.…