This manuscript elaborates the value of looking beyond the written and spoken word in science education research and practice at the early childhood level. We examine one plurilingual child's descriptions of a science activity to explore the "diversity of resources" that she used while expressing her understandings of a sound…

This article feeds into debate about the feasibility and usefulness of educational experiments by discussing methodological issues arising out of a study which sought causal links between teaching and learning of one aspect of French as a foreign language. The study involved two small-scale experiments which tested a hypothesis regarding the…

Discusses various experiments involving the teaching of vocabulary through the use of mnemonics, and describes an experiment which sought to test the effectiveness of the mnemonic method in acquiring writing skills in the foreign vocabulary. (AM)

An experiment is reported involving the teaching of the agreement of the past participle without an auxiliary verb, with "avoir" and with "etre," patterned after the studies of S. Roller in 1952-53 in this area. The initial experimentation is updated and involves the use of a Skinnerian model of programed instruction. The objectives, operational…

An experiment in language instruction undertaken in Canadian junior high schools during the 1960-61 school year is reported in this study. The pilot project: (1) examines the phenomena of learning to comprehend and speak French through two different but direct modes of instruction; (2) compares by achievement tests the results of the two modes of…

Describes an experiment at Birkbeck College, University of London, designed to encourage the spontaneous, uninhibited use of French by students. (PMP)

Results of a study involving an experimental and a control group of first-semester, college students in a required language course concern the use of the French dictee in the classroom as a testing and teaching technique. Performance on written and oral examinations indicates that dictation practice stimulates awareness of the written language,…

Describes a slide presentation program for French students at the elementary and intermediate levels, and offers technical and pedagogical advice on using the slide show to assist in the teaching of linguistic and cultural information. (AM)

This evaluation of two programs of materials used in introductory French classes tests two basic hypotheses: (1) pretests are good predictors of subsequent French achievement at the junior high school level, and (2) students in different programs will achieve to the same degree on a final French test. Results of the groups using the "audiolingual"…

THIS REPORT DESCRIBES IN DETAIL FIVE RELATED EXPERIMENTS THAT WERE CONDUCTED IN AREAS PERTAINING TO THE TEACHING OF FRENCH PRONUNCIATION TO NATIVE SPEAKERS OF AMERICAN ENGLISH. THE FIRST TWO EXPERIMENTS SOUGHT TO DETERMINE THE RELATIVE ACCEPTABILITY OF 38 ENGLISH PHONEMES TO NATIVE FRENCH LISTENERS AT EACH OF TWO ACCEPTABILITY LEVELS--PHONEMIC AND…

This is a preliminary report on a series of small-scale language teaching experiments, aimed primarily at demonstrating that valid research into language teaching methods is possible. Small-scale refers not to the number of subjects involved, but to the scope of the experiment. Instead of looking at a method as a whole (as happens in large-scale…

Beginning with a brief review of the growth of the audiolingual method of foreign language instruction in the United States of America, this paper examines implications and lessons drawn from an educational experiment in language instruction known as the Pennsylvania Report. The text of a memorandum to school administrators in Pennsylvania by the…

Problems encountered at Black Hawk High School, Wisconsin, in an attempt to expand the French curriculum to include a level 3 and a level 4 course are examined in this article. Solutions to the difficulties caused by inadequate classroom space and insufficient funds lead the author to propose the elimination of the traditional, advanced-course…

This report of an educational experiment compares the methods and evaluates the results of two instructional approaches to language learning. The "community learning" method, in which emotional factors are believed crucial in the development of the instructional method, and a traditional approach are compared as to their effectiveness in the areas…

An experiment in programed language instruction based on the "Basic French" method of T. Mueller and H. Niedzielski is reviewed in this paper. Seventy-two civil servants participated in the program which provided for 60 hours of taped instruction. Experiment description, objectives, modifications, and a review of the structuring of lessons 1-20…