College students who have clear goals for careers in engineering, management, law, medicine, and teaching have a pressing need to become proficient in writing, speaking, listening, and reading. While they should continue the reading and analysis of imaginative literature that they began in high school, they should also develop their latent powers…

A packet of three speech assessment instruments has been organized to assist classroom teachers in creating instructional programs that provide adequate oral/aural language experiences for their students. The Koziol-Cercone Assessment of Speaking Skills judges student ability to orally communicate the content of a message. The Koziol-Cercone…

This second in a series of five papers on communication reticence discusses the establishment of a setting for the treatment of communicationally reticent individuals. Eleven years of operation of a formal program at the Pennsylvania State University provides the basis for discussion of factors in the operation of the system. An eclectic…

The student who has come to be called "reticent" expresses concern about many oral, communicative behaviors, ranging from public speaking to meeting strangers and carrying on a few minutes of "small talk." A rhetorical method of instruction was utilized in a study conducted to determine the effects of treatment on a selected…

The purpose of this paper, the fourth in a series of five dealing with communication reticence, describes the residual effects of training in a treatment program for communicationally reticent individuals. A questionnaire to assess the specific problems which led students to seek instruction in the special speech sections of the Pennsylvania State…

A study investigated the out-of-class learning experiences of non-native speakers of English, and the impact of the experiences on the individuals' second-language conversation skills. Subjects were eight international students enrolled in an intensive English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) program at Indiana University, Bloomington. Data were…

Describes how to set up a science project that concentrates on the language arts skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing as a means of introducing students to the reading and study skills they will need in their content area subjects. (FL)

Presents suggestions for composition teachers who have ESL students and no formal training in teaching English as a second language. Provides 25-item bibliography on curriculum design, current papers, cultural aspects of writing, and reading. (RAE)

Writing strategies were incorporated into a pharmacy program communication skills course, and their effectiveness measured in comparison with a previous student group (n=20). Experimental subjects (n=28) showed significant improvement in writing, verbal skills, ability to formulate ideas, and identifying appropriate target audience, and had…

Current needs in English-as-a-mother-tongue teaching, especially in England and Wales, are surveyed. It is argued that the feeling of stagnation among students in many university English departments results at least partly from the failure to respond to new ideas about the teaching of English language and literature. (JL)

This study investigated changes in the speech patterns of Japanese college students in an intensive English language course when using a microphone, focusing in part on possible links to "karaoke" activities common in Japan, in which participants sing along with music using a microphone. The researcher first observed several karaoke…

While no one method can possibly solve all the problems in an educational system, the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) addresses many. The PSI method is a self-paced, mastery learning approach based on reinforcement and personal attention. It is typified by five characteristics that help to meet or minimize the adverse aspects of…

The Ohio Program of Intensive English, a version of English for Specific Purposes, is described. The English for Specific Purposes program strives to make international students conscious of cultural differences. Often the students are axious to continue their study of science and technology and have little interest in language per se. However,…

The importance of specific academic skills for entering college students was assessed based on the views of 80 Indiana University faculty members who were teaching 100-level courses during the fall semester 1982-1983. Findings include the following: reading, reasoning, speaking/listening, and studying are academic skills judged necessary for…

By using exercises to increase classroom community and journal assignments rather than tests, teachers can help empower students in the public speaking classroom. To create a sense of community in public speaking classrooms and to increase opportunities for dialogue on a personal level, an ungraded speaking assignment is used that begins the first…