This digest looks at the communicative approach to the teaching of foreign languages. It is intended as an introduction to the communicative approach for teachers and teachers-in-training who want to provide opportunities in the classroom for their students to engage in real-life communication in the target language. Questions to be dealt with…

Important features of eight second language teaching methods--grammar-translation, direct, audiolingual, the Silent Way, Suggestopedia, community language learning, Total Physical Response, and the communicative approach--are summarized . A chart outlines characteristics of these aspects of the methods: goals, teacher and student roles, the…

This paper reviews recent literature on classroom management, focusing specifically on teachers' techniques for organizing students, space, time and materials in order to keep a class running smoothly so that learning can take place. Four main areas of classroom management research which are relevant to elementary school teachers are identified…

This digest defines the concepts of "whole language,""learner-centered," and "participatory," and discusses their application to adult learning in ESL literacy programs. All three approaches advocate that the learner should inform literacy instruction with his or her own particular input, that learners and their…

The literature relating to instructional improvement since 1978 is examined. After a review of implications of recent learning theories, it is concluded that theorists agree generally that: learning is enhanced when the student is active rather than passive; learning is improved by practice and feedback; learning is improved when directed toward…

In the Prospective Principals' Program at Stanford University, students are engaged in problem-based learning (PBL), a cooperative, small-group approach providing opportunities to resolve problems likely to confront real-world professionals. To illustrate PBL's background and rationale, chapter 1 briefly describes how the topic of teacher…

A major goal of ESL education is to teach students how to speak English well enough to converse spontaneously and naturally with native speakers. Discourse analysis provides an understanding of those skills second language learners need to acquire to converse with native speakers and an understanding of how these skills may most beneficially be…