In this article it is argued that the development of young people's skills in using spoken language should be given more time and attention in the school curriculum. The author discusses the importance of the effective use of spoken language in educational and work settings, considers what research has told us about the factors that make group…

Makes suggestions for people planning to sponsor or speak at conferences devoted to writing. (EL)

Concludes that the lack of normative data, the suggestion that even one failure on the test (with approximately 111 items) makes a child suspect for "at risk" labelling, along with the brevity of directions and interpretation of data require that the test be used with great caution. (FL)

Noting that approximately one third of the medical internships and residencies in the United States are filled by foreign medical graduates (FMGs), this paper argues that institutions where FMGs are administering care have failed to deal with the communication gaps created by language deficiencies and cultural barriers. The paper identifies…

Skills integration generally refers to linking two or more of the traditional four skills of language learning: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. This article describes two kinds of skills integration--traditional and "real life"--and presents arguments for skills integration. Sample exercises are included. (12 references) (LB)

The pervasive notion of communicative competence has all too often been translated in terms of an instructional goal as minimum communicative competence. The second language learner who is actually preparing to function at a relatively high level of sophistication in the target language culture is not benefitted by reliance on paralinguistic…

Oral paraphrase is presented as an informal and versatile strategy for assessing and enhancing listening comprehension in mainstreamed students with language/learning disabilities. Approaches to assessing the listening comprehension demands of individual classrooms and using various dimensions of paraphrasing to enhance language comprehension and…

Four contributors discuss methods of integrating speech communication instruction with English and writing instruction. (SRT)

Examines characteristics of the mental processes required for writing, compares and contrasts the nature of processing required for other cognitive activities, and reviews recent research on children's writing that reveals the advantages as well as disadvantages of superimposing writing skills over well-developed language skills. (HOD)

Additional support for foreign language learning needs to be given to those students who have special qualities and academic abilities. The linguistically talented student should be encouraged to begin foreign language study at an early age and to study a second foreign language after achieving a degree of proficiency in the first. Schools should…

This article discusses a battery of tests, the "Short Tests of Linguistic Skills," which was developed by the Chicago Board of Education to help teachers determine the language dominance of Spanish bilingual children between the ages of 8 and 13. (CFM)

Research shows that a very large percentage of Japanese university students are apprehensive about communicating orally, to the degree that their fear may be debilitating, weakening their effectiveness as oral interactants in social and classroom situations. This uneasiness with speech has been culturally ingrained for centuries. Children are…

Focusing on ways to teach language intelligently and enjoyably, this journal issue contains 23 articles dealing with a variety of topics. Article titles and authors are (1) "An Experiment: Immersing Students in Language" (S. C. Kirby); (2) "The Art of Storytaking" (J. Charnock); (3) "Getting Poems from the A-poetic" (J. W. Broaddus); (4) "Using…