This volume on the Tri-University project contains three reports on the teaching of oracy. The chairman of the committee on oracy, Laura Chase, offers suggestions for the preservice and inservice training of teachers to prepare them to deal with discussion, the individual talk, oral reading, and dramatic role playing. She outlines a teacher…

A longitudinal study was conducted using 18 mildly/moderately retarded 14- and 15-year-olds to investigate word knowledge acquisition and subcategorization features of the words. Retarded children's errors were highly correlated with word frequency. Two interpretations (gradual acquisition of word knowledge and a reorganization theory) are…

Two Toronto community English-as-a-second-language (ESL) programs used oral interview tests to place adults in appropriate programs. Instruments used included: Foreign Service Oral Interview; Ilyin Oral Interview; object-oriented testing; group testing; performance in authentic situations; Ontario Test of English as a Second Language; and George…

In many countries, school populations are becoming increasingly socially and culturally diverse, and delivering effective literacy programmes is becoming more challenging and complex. This book shows schools how to address difficulties with literacy learning experienced by students of diverse backgrounds, by employing strategies that respond to…

"Dimension" is the annual volume containing the selected, refereed, edited proceedings of each year's conference. On the eve of its 40th anniversary, the Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT) plans a special series of articles on assessment within the foreign language profession. The 2004 edition of "Dimension"…

The book provides an overview of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) written by specialists in specific areas of electronic media. Its nine chapters include: "The Power of the Computer in Language Education" (Martha C. Pennington); "Elements of CALL Methodology: Development, Evaluation, and Implementation" (Philip L. Hubbard); "Second…

This paper discusses the use of telephone surveys as a substitute for, or addition to, the use of door-to-door surveys in assessing adult literacy ability. Part 1 addresses issues of validity in adult literacy assessment, including the concepts of construct or inferential validity and action or use validity. Part 2 is a review of related research…

This book focuses on constructing rubrics that assess students' literacy skills. Nine chapters include: (1) "Using Rubrics to Assess Literacy" (e.g., rubrics to assess authentic literacy and converting rubric scores); (2) "Using Rubrics to Assess Reading Comprehension" (e.g., examining the components of reading comprehension and how to use…

A study compared two methods for assessing English proficiency of limited-English-proficient school-age children, for purposes of placement in bilingual and monolingual education programs. The two instruments used were the Idea Oral Language Proficiency Test (forms C and D) (IPT), which assesses oral English proficiency, and the Woodcock-Munoz…

Aligned with its 1998 standards for first and second language learning, Alberta Learning has published lesson plans that aim for a closer relationship between learning and evaluation. Each volume in this series presents a specific task for students that involves planning, carrying out and evaluating their work. The task for eighth grade students…

Aligned with its 1998 standards for first- and second-language learning, Alberta Learning has published lesson plans that aim for a closer relationship between learning and evaluation. Each volume in this series presents a specific task for students that involves planning, carrying out, and evaluating their work. Three separate lesson plans in the…

Achievement approaching mastery in the use of at least one modern foreign language on the part of a large portion of tomorrow's citizens is an objective which is new in American education. Language programs in the high school are therefore undergoing basic modifications in order to establish learning conditions that can develop communication…

Models the spread of linguistic change by taking account of the ages of the acquirers and transmitters of change. The article focuses on three interlocutor combinations: parent-infant/young child, peer group-preadolescent and older adolescent/adult-adolescent. Findings suggest that borrowings are the easiest to acquire, while lexically…

Examines children's uses of nominal determiners ("local markings") and utterance structure ("global markings") to introduce new referents through the use of narratives elicited from preschoolers, elementary school students and adults in English, French, German and Mandarin Chinese. Findings reveal that local markings emerge first, and local and…

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…