The study examined challenges EFL teachers in Burkina Faso face in teaching listening and speaking to grade 10 students in centralized education systems and how they address these issues. The primary obstacle is the focus on national exam formats, which prioritize grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension, sidelining communicative language…

Despite the importance of public speaking skills for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) students' academic and professional success, few EAP textbooks incorporate authentic, professional speech models. Thus, many EAP instructors have turned to TED talks for dynamic speech models. Yet a single TED talk may be too long for viewing in class and may…

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…

Classroom activities used in acting courses that can be useful in developing French second language skills are described. Appropriate adaptations for variety, different purposes, and different skill levels are discussed. (MSE)

Classroom techniques are offered for teaching students how to present a spontaneous (impromptu) speech in a second language, such as for use at a job interview or cocktail party. It is first suggested that such classroom activity be graded minimally to help lower students' level of apprehension. Then strategies for approaching impromptu speech…

This manual, designed for teachers of Spanish as a second language, contains visual aids to illustrate certain grammatical concepts and related vocabulary. The manual consists of 30 tear-out blackline masters, each containing one to six separate cartoon pictures, to be used for classroom or homework activities in any sequence. Accompanying each…

Four ideas for language classroom activities are presented, including a counting and calculation game, an exercise for developing familiarity with the parts and style of a newspaper article, an activity to help adolescents anticipating travel in a French city, and analysis of the textual structure of a current events circle. (MSE)

An oral activity designed to help prepare college students of English as a second language for assignments and rhetorical strategies for essay writing is described. The activity, which comprises several tasks and can require up to two class periods, requires students to compare and contrast a painting and a poem that have a common theme or aspect.…

One business French teacher's technique for incorporating both authentic materials and oral skill development into the course curriculum is to have students read current French magazine articles and summarize them orally for the class. Students must select articles on recent business developments in France, or the United States when related to…

Listening and speaking, the most used language skills in the classroom, are critical for functioning in an English language context, and are logical starting points for language instruction for low-literacy learners. Speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving, and processing information. A…

A teacher/storyteller recommends story creation by students to encourage creativity and pleasure in developing language skills. Suggested exercises include combining random nouns (e.g., "le fer et le bois") and creating a proverb about them, creating a story using names of consumer products, and developing a story using only body-language idioms…

Commercially produced films and videotapes are recommended as effective tools for developing speaking, listening, and writing skills in English as a second language. It is suggested that their use with content-area instruction, where films and videotapes provide relevant schema background, makes language relevant and comprehensible. Practical…

Intended for use by teachers, school administrators, curriculum designers, and others as they begin to organize and define oral communication instruction within their schools, this guide provides a framework from which to develop instructional programs that will produce effective speakers and listeners. The first section of the guide reviews the…

A discussion of the use of dialogues in second language instruction focuses on uses of the techniques that are more appropriate than those used in the era of audio-lingual methodology. It is argued that during this period, dialogues were overused. Techniques are offered for use of dialogues to develop learners' listening and speaking skills.…

Class activities for developing Spanish proficiency in third- and fourth-year high school students and first- and second-year college students are presented. Activities include a discussion of teaching for proficiency, drawing on recent research, and notes on the design and intent of the activities. Sample exercises for listening comprehension…