The idea that "natural speech" as well as written discourse can be organized is now commonly accepted. There is also evidence that natural speech contains more coherence indicators than written texts do. This article proposes that one type of organizer, pragmatic connectives such as "therefore, then, thus, while, however, but"…

Developed by a speech-language pathologist, this oral language program for students in grades K-2 contains more than 200 field-tested activities designed for whole-class use. Listening and speaking activities are arranged in developmental order and grouped according to the following 12 areas: vocabulary, concepts, listening, giving and following…

The manual for administration of the Chinese Proficiency Test contains an overview of the program, including: (1) its history, content, and format; (2) its primary focus and uses; (3) administration procedures, including registration, ordering the test, reporting scores, and billing; (4) the interpretation of test scores based on normative data…

Suggestions are made for the organization of a business German course. It is proposed that course material be divided into chapters, one per week, each containing five sections. The sections include: (1) a broad selection of typical German business letters exemplifying operations in all branches of export and import, followed by a special…

The history and organization of a community college program in French, Spanish, and German language instruction for gifted elementary school children are described. The collaborative effort of the college and school districts, funded by the Federal Government and the Gifted Students Institute, provided 21 elementary teachers with methods training…

The guide outlines Washington State's programmatic approach to teaching native Spanish-speaking limited-English-proficient students in bilingual education programs. It charts the components of the bilingual instructional models used in the classrooms, and then explains or defines each component. The components include: methods for determining the…

It is proposed that student motivation can be maintained and enhanced when teachers combine authentic oral and written language with activities leading the student to identify with sympathetic individuals in the target culture. Suggested activities, emphasizing language training at the intermediate level, include interviewing native speakers, work…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 15 dissertations abstracted deal with the following topics: (1) the intercultural composition classroom, (2) cross-cultural communication curriculum, (3) miscue analysis with bilingual children, (4) communication difficulties of…

A study examined the use of a body awareness microcomputer program on young children as a predictor of early reading achievement. Subjects, 58 preschool and kindergarten students (prereaders) from a university laboratory school in the southern region of the United States, were asked to work in the microcomputer center in small groups to identify…

A guide to second language teaching methods and content is designed for language teachers giving French instruction to Peace Corps volunteers in Morocco. It consists of an introductory section on classroom techniques and 38 instructional units on grammar and vocabulary. Each lesson outlines grammatical and vocabulary material to be presented to…

The Strategic Interaction method has been found to be effective in developing oral skills among students in an intensive English language program at the University of Jordan, and holds promise for language instruction in other contexts. The method, which is predominantly communicative in nature, stresses language use and interaction in discourse…

Drawing on and extending the work presented in a companion volume, "Schooling and Language Minority Students: A Theoretical Framework," five principles are presented that represent an integration of recent empirical research in bilingualism, bilingual education, and second language acquisition to help policymakers and educators meet the…

A coding scheme developed by M. A. K. Halliday and R. Hasan was used in a study that investigated how students in grades 4, 6, and 8 developed meaning within narrative texts. Students, after being presented with a visual stimulus, were asked to describe what was happening and say what happened before and after the picture. Next, an oral assignment…

The result of an international symposium conducted in Canada, this book contains articles by experts in the fields of anthropology, linguistics, psychology, sociology, and education on the subject of preschool children and literacy. The book is divided into three sections dealing with literacy and culture, learning to be literate, and literacy and…

The 12 papers in this collection deal with trends in English education research. The papers discuss the following topics: (1) language awareness and schooling, (2) the language processes underlying literacy, (3) the role of oral language in early writing processes, (4) writing to learn in the humanities, (5) instructional effect on reading…