This article discusses the expression of gratitude in spoken English by Japanese and American college students in the United States. Five hypotheses were tested: (1) Advanced non-native speakers would find expressing gratitude difficult in the target language; (2) A verbal expression of regret would occur whenever the Japanese speaker believes he…

The rubrics are designed for productive use (speaking and writing) of English and Spanish in two-way bilingual immersion programs. The rubrics were developed by classroom teachers working in elementary school Spanish partial immersion programs, in consultation with a special education teacher, reading specialist, middle school partial immersion…

In response to the needs of teachers for assistance in developing second language speaking and instructional skills, Tarrant County Junior College, Northeast Campus, designed a series of 10 16-hour workshops for teachers of foreign languages for summer 1989. The "Strategies for Proficiency Workshops" were intended primarily as in-service training…

The goal of this study was to determine the effect of using some dramatic activities on developing the oral performance skills of second year prep school students in English. The dramatic activities included storytelling, story-acting, pantomime, puppetry, role-playing, reader's theater and choral reading. The oral performance skills were…

A course in English for academic purposes designed for graduate students needing specialized continuing development of their language skills is described. The course focuses on improving intelligibility, fluency, and accuracy of speech skills required in various disciplines in academic and professional contexts, and provides individualized…

This report describes an experimental intensive core French program for grades 5 and 6 at Churchill Alternative School in Ottawa (Canada). The aim was to improve the oral French skills of core French students by providing a period of intensive exposure to French and by increasing the total number of hours in French during one program year from 120…

This study is guided by the following objectives: (1) Assess entering freshmen's pragmatic oral skills in English second semester SY 2004 2005; (2) Describe the learner language respondents in terms of variability of the inter language; (3) Determine the relationship of their language performance "vis-à-vis" high school grade, high…

The growing practice of beginning instruction in a modern foreign language in the elementary school has created a need for many classroom teachers to become oriented to a whole new field of foreign-language teaching methodology and materials. Since teachers tend to think of language instruction in terms of the English-language arts, the language…