In recent years, language researchers and teachers have attempted to put meaningful communication at the centre of learners' classroom interactions. Yet the majority of existing computer-assisted language learning (CALL) applications have relied on largely non-communicative learner-computer interactions. The challenge facing CALL developers,…

Presents a summary outline of an approach to oral testing used in the past two years with groups of students completing Fernand Marty's "Active French." (Author/PP)

Discusses the use of visual materials in second language instruction to produce verbal utterances. (AM)

A review of the evolution of second-language immersion program testing reveals that the focus has shifted from listening and reading comprehension to productive skills of speaking and writing. Immersion students learn to speak and write well enough for communication but not well enough to be indistinguishable from native speakers. (MSE)

Use of dramatic activities in the foreign language classroom to provide a semantically based growth model focusing attention on the learner, to promote language acquisition, and to liberate speech is examined. The relationships between drama and communicative competence, the psychological and pedagogical advantages of dramatics, and classroom…

Argues that oral grammar correction in second-language classrooms produces overwhelming problems both in making corrections and dealing with their harmful side effects, and that the practice should be discontinued. Research evidence suggests that oral correction does not improve learners' ability to speak grammatically, and no good reasons have…

Examines the hypothesis that certain errors occurring in oral foreign language tests are due to the recurrence of phonological features both in the questions and in the answer. (AM)

Describes the intonation visualizer, a machine which permits a model sentence to be presented aurally to a student who sees simultaneously the intonation pattern being traced on an oscilloscope screen. The student then repeats the sentence and sees on the screen the intonation curve that he is generating. (Author/CFM)

Research is reported that showed phonetic and phonological training to be given peripheral attention or neglected in second language instruction in one geographic area. It is suggested this neglect stems from (1) low teacher and student expectation of success in attaining a native-like accent, and (2) assumptions that a non-native-like accent will…

Discusses rules of pronunciation and grammar in French. Rules of spoken French are contrasted to those of traditional grammar. A visual method is suggested for teaching "oral grammar." (AM)

Response to criticism of oral grammar correction in second-language (L2) instruction which argues that while there are challenges and complexities in providing effective feedback, error correction should not be abandoned. Continued systematic, rigorous research to investigate whether different types of feedback are more effective, and to what…

Introduces a technique for the presentation of new vocabulary in a situation which incorporates communicative use of language. (Author/DB)

This article discusses the advantages of experience in volunteer work camps for second language learning, and describes one such work-study experience in France. (CLK)

It is proposed that language acquisition improves if beginning students are allowed to experience three stages of acquisition: comprehension (preproduction), early speech production, and speech emergence. Each stage requires a different kind of activity building on the previous stage's development. (MSE)