Being able to speak clearly and well is highly salient for classroom teachers. The preservice university curriculum needs to provide sequential activities and experiences for prospective teachers. This paper suggests the various situations in which this might be done. The paper first notes that the university instructor needs to model good…

Students develop skills from learning to listen and from having someone listen to them. While most educators assume that listening is a matter of choice, not ability, listening is actually something students have to be taught to do well. This topical bibliography and commentary summarizes several research studies which provide insight into skills…

Activities that reinforce social studies instruction and improve writing skills are described, including: (1) writing resumes for historical figures; (2) "on-site" reporting of historical events; (3) defining social studies concepts; (4) perspective taking and letter writing; and (5) speech writing. (CJ)

Describes how phonics can help deaf students in both speech production and reading despite their inability to obtain auditory feedback. Successful deaf graduate students are reported to use tactile-kinesthetic feedback in interpreting phonetic information. Teachers of younger students are urged to emphasize speech instruction (even if speech is…

Describes several instructional strategies successful schools have commonly used to raise the academic achievement of poor and minority students. Achievement-gap closure strategies include emphasizing reading skills, teaching higher order thinking skills, routinely reviewing material, making at-risk students participate in class, requiring…

Argues that newspapers provide a rich source of material to build listening, speaking, writing, spelling, and grammar skills. Describes 13 class activities using newspapers to work on punctuation, subject-verb agreement, identifying parts of speech, debating current issues, spelling, and notetaking skills. (RS)

The study found that teachers of students with severe disabilities can be taught to use a time delay procedure within their normal classroom routine and that the use of delay may have beneficial effects on their students' speech, such as increased mean length of utterance, responsivity, and movement along a continuum of spontaneity. (Author/DB)

Two cooperative learning techniques are presented for achieving carryover of speech and language skills: a speech-language peer homework monitoring system; and a contractual system among the student, the clinician, and the student's class in which group contingencies foster cooperative interactions. (JDD)

Describes an activity in which high school students did demonstrations for special education and elementary school students. Explains the difficulties that students have in their presentations and the benefits they receive. Lists elements of both the physical science demonstration set and the biology demonstration set. (YDS)

The 53 teaching strategies accompanying the 10 performance objectives in this guide for grades kindergarten through 12 focus on specific kinds of oral language. Each of the objectives is designed so that after the completion of the program students will be able to (1) use appropriate levels of language for given situations; (2) present both…

Intended as an aid to language arts curriculum development, the four sections of this guide present, in chart form, a sequential set of learning outcomes and assessment levels for the skills of writing, speaking/listening, critical thinking, and reading. (FL)

The research reported in this book was based on the belief that Australian schools should develop the speech communication as well as the reading and writing skills of their students. The book is designed to provide educators and researchers with guidelines for future work on oral language assessment and on curriculum development. The first…

This paper provides an overview of relevant oral communication theory, research, and practice from a variety of sources, such as the fields of linguistics, psychology, speech communication, and education. It describes the nature of oral communication skills, including the similarities and differences between oral and written communication. It…

The primary purpose of the project documented in this volume was to identify the most fruitful directions for the development of speech communication instruction in the schools. The contents reflect the two phases of the project: input--a literature review, a behavioral study of children's communication competencies and attitudes, and an…

Offers suggestions for building oral communication programs. (FL)