Focusing on the problems of assessing the speaking skills of secondary school students, this paper provides one example of how those problems were addressed in the Massachusetts speaking assessment. The paper identifies four requirements for measures of speaking skills: (1) feasibility, (2) reliability, (3) validity, and (4) freedom from bias. The…

This paper discusses a practicum that developed a pilot program in interpersonal communication, creating a pattern of courses that would instruct students in the use of listening/talking skills for dyadic and small group situations. The paper shows how the need for this program was established and assessed and how a multidisciplinary committee…

This paper summarizes research comparing the effectiveness of different methods of instruction, research findings relevant to an interaction between student characteristics and method of instruction in producing student success, and speech communication research relevant to predicting student success with a given method of instruction. Original…

Native language acquisition is a natural and non-natural stage-by-stage process. The natural first stage is development of speech and listening skills. In this stage, competency is gained in the home environment. The next, non-natural stage is development of literacy, a cultural skill taught in school. Since oral-aural native language development…

Pronunciation teaching of the segmental aspects needs to be balanced with the inclusion of learner awareness of stress, rhythm, intonation and meaningful production. Yet many formats for pronunciation teaching do not place these skills and an awareness of the suprasegmental features in either a communicative format or a specific speaking…

It is proposed that the target for teaching pronunciation in English as a Second Language must be the authentic, connected speech that is used by most native speakers, not an artificial and over-correct model too closely tied to the writing system, a different modality entirely. In English, this means learning the language's rhythmic patterns to…

Classroom techniques are offered for teaching students how to present a spontaneous (impromptu) speech in a second language, such as for use at a job interview or cocktail party. It is first suggested that such classroom activity be graded minimally to help lower students' level of apprehension. Then strategies for approaching impromptu speech…

This paper outlines the development of a performance assessment measure of language speaking ability, the Language Ability Assessment System (LAAS), which is highly reliable and can be examined for reliability through modern measurement theories, such as generalizability theory (G-theory) and the many-facet Rasch theory. LAAS was developed to…

This paper documents a presentation given on the use of English-language television cooking shows in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) classrooms in Taiwan. Such shows can be ideal for classroom use, since they have a predictable structure consisting of short segments, are of interest to most students,…

Testing guidelines based on teachers' experience and on a review of literature concerning approaches to the testing of oral second language skills, are presented in this paper. Considerations in developing the test included coordination with the syllabus, choice of format, grading, and administration. Suggestions are offered from the practices of…

At an employer's request, a course was developed to improve the speech skills, and remediate fossilized speech, of six Asian engineers and scientists. All had spoken English for many years, and averaged 10 years of residence in the United States. These students were recorded reading a dialogue as well as in free speech. A needs assessment was…

Interviews with ten officers in the lending centers of two Dallas, Texas banks concerning their possession of and need for second language skills on the job revealed that all but one had second language training and three were nonnatives. Five of the native-born Americans had lived abroad and/or studied languages in college. Two of the officers…

Intended for use by college basic speech communication course directors and teachers, the course described in this paper is based on the model of communication competency developed by R. R. Allen and K. L. Brown. The first section of the paper presented a brief discussion of the model, which defines a competent communicator as one who is capable…

Many theoreticians have indicated that a major task of the nonpresumptive rhetor is to gain presumption, thereby shifting the burden of proof to the opposition. Rhetorically, Martin Luther King, Jr., sought to effect this shift in the burden of proof through the use of hierarchies of values. At the top of his value system was the love of God. The…

With recent developments in assessment and syllabus formats in Ireland, the foreign language classroom has changed considerably, especially in the promotion of oral skills at the upper levels. Differences are found in the variety of classroom activities, with the emphasis now on group activities, and in the organization of learning and…