This study investigates cultural differences in second language aural comprehension levels among Asians under the constraints of background noise. It is determined that noise is an important component of language proficiency, for it is found where most interactions take place. Students from Hong Kong, Seoul (Korea), Tokyo (Japan), and the South…

This research paper summarizes several experiments in which children's speech volume was compared to the varied background noise against which they spoke. Age was found to be an important factor: 4 1/2-year-olds, as contrasted with 6 1/2-year-olds, failed to adjust their speech to make it audible over noise when talking about complex stimuli.…

This paper details the content of a one-term course designed to introduce advanced students of English as a second language to the general cultural environment of the United States, especially the university, and to provide them with some intercultural communication skills and awarenesses. Focus is placed on students' needs assessment, the…

Interpreting is an example of context-bound performance in which the interpreter has a prescribed role in infinitely varied contexts. The use of interpreting to train language students in confident and competent language use in less demanding contexts contributes to the development of both interpersonal skills and the ability to switch language…

Talk is proposed as the subject matter of foreign language courses. The key to acquiring liberated expression lies in the assimilation of the learner to the target culture. Once he/she is assimilated, the learner's involvement in a situation matches the involvement of natives of the target culture. For example, faced with some life circumstance…

A study investigated the use of a narrative discourse task to test oral English proficiency in non-native speakers for screening and placement. The subjects were Japanese university freshmen entering a five-level course in spoken English. The subjects were shown an animated cartoon of a Japanese folk tale, with narration in Japanese, and later…

This brief report describes the Rosetta Stone Language Library, a set of multimedia second language instructional materials. These materials emphasize comprehension of spoken language as the first step to acquiring fluency, sometimes referred to as the "comprehension approach" or "natural approach." The materials are designed…

The current status of the teaching of oral and aural skills in university French language courses in Great Britain is examined. A review of survey results finds that French teaching at the university level remains much as it was 20 to 30 years ago despite increasing calls for change, and that more serious attempts at change are found in Scottish…

A symposium of language learning specialists reviewing C.C. Fries' Oral Approach to English language instruction developed and used at the English Language Institute of the University of Michigan is summarized. The thesis of the symposium was that the basic Oral Approach concepts had and continue to have a profound and far-reaching, though largely…

By analyzing the language proficiency interview style developed by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) in a different way, proficiency profiles can be created that will be of greater use to business language programs and prospective employers than are the ACTFL rankings alone. From the interview, this profile can…

Oral/aural skills (1) are a major vocational requirement for a student graduating in the language field, (2) are an essential, academically valid element in the language learning process, and (3) enhance the student's overall intellectual development. If a communicative language curriculum is designed carefully, it will integrate all of these…

Interpreting, or oral translation, deals exclusively and intensively with language in action. The process develops and exercises intellectual, personal, and linguistic skills. However, its introduction into second language curricula would require changing expectations and strategies. The syllabus for a course component in interpreting should have…

This conference presentation discusses how the Nucleus 22 cochlear implant, with its ability to improve speech perception, can be capitalized upon to improve the speech production of very profoundly deaf children. The paper is designed to accompany a video presentation demonstrating the speech ability and theory of two young children (ages 3 and…

The first grade program of the Fairview German Bilingual School, the elementary (K-5) segment of the Cincinnati public school system's German bilingual alternative program, is described. The school provides intensive second-language instruction in German for monolingual English-speaking children with bilingualism as the objective. The school is…

Interpreting, or oral translation, can be used in undergraduate second language study as a technique for developing oral skills. The technique can produce both sound linguistic judgment and confident oral and written performance that last beyond testing. It integrates four essential elements of oral/aural skills: comprehension, phonology/fluency,…