Argues for a discourse approach to teaching communicative functions or speech acts in spoken English. Analyzes the performance of speech acts in a corpus of workplace conversations. Analyses show that speech acts are not usually performed directly and that it is necessary to look beyond the individual utterance to see how particular communicative…

A feature shown to affect learners' performance on tests of spoken interaction is the gender of the person with whom the learner interacts. To test this hypothesis, 12 Japanese learners were interviewed, once by a man and once by a woman. Comparison of scores indicated that in all but one case the learners performed better when interviewed by a…

Attempts to look at the question of selection and sequencing in light of recent research into the nature of spoken English. Specifically, it is argued that a lexical metasyllabus based on statistical regularities in spoken and written language would be a useful tool to curriculum designers. (Author/VWL)

Compares the language generated by different kinds of oral communication activities. Areas of comparison include: speed of speaking, frequency of turns taken, and frequency of self-correction. Results indicate that the relative degree to which a student draws on his communicative and linguistic resources seems to be related to the communication…

Describes how the use of a simple phonetic system adapted to the local language taught English comprehension through the recognition of keywords, and the rudiments of producing direction-giving and information-giving answers to Spanish-speaking policemen in less than 10 hours. (Author/CB)

Describes the development of an interactive videodisc package designed to give Japanese-speaking business students extensive exposure to, and practice with, spoken English in realistic situations. Package activities stress a non-coercive, user-centered, low anxiety approach that encourages language learning through exploration and experience…

Offers guidelines for eliciting, modeling, and evaluating written-as-if-spoken dialogues for testing learner's oral productive skills prior to interviewing or in place of interviews. (16 references) (GLR)

Compares children who studied English as a foreign language in Hungary with a communication/content-based approach to similar children who studied English with a form-based traditional approach. Findings reveal that the former were slightly more accurate in their production of grammatical morphemes in an oral interview and were more fluent. (three…

Explores the potential of the use of voice-recognition technology with second-language speakers of English. Involves the analysis of the output produced by a small group of very competent second-language subjects reading a text into the voice recognition software Dragon Systems "Dragon NaturallySpeaking." (Author/VWL)

Cantonese tertiary-level students taking a general education course taught in English at the Chinese University of Hong Kong were asked to rate their own English language skills development in relation to six specific areas. They were asked to identify what they had learned in relation to other aspects of the course. Responses indicated that…

Examines the effectiveness of different methods of improving the pronunciation of students of English-as-a-Second-Language studying in Great Britain and evaluates the significance of instruction as a factor affecting pronunciation. Findings reveal that successful acquisition of second-language pronunciation is affected by training, aptitude for…

Examines the morpho-syntax of task-based interaction and reports some possible grammatical consequences of interaction in split and shared information tasks undertaken by adult second language learners of English. Results indicate that communication tasks for language learning can be designed to influence the use of particular linguistic…

Reports on a study investigating how Americans respond to English as a Second Language (ESL) speech depending on the non-native speaker's accent and whether there were errors in the ESL speech. Findings indicate that Americans exhibit different cultural prejudices towards different foreign speakers depending on the accent of the speakers. (50…

Measurement of quality of phonological input of 20 Saudi Arabian teachers of English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) indicated teachers trained in English-as-a-Second-Language environment showed far fewer incidences and types of phonological error than those trained in EFL environment. Little difference was found among teachers who taught in…

Explains how a learner-centered approach works on "Talkbase," an eight-week workshop in language and technology. This article describes how participants coped with a new educational experience in which participants carried out tasks, learned through active investigation, developed concepts and skills and gained confidence to express…