L'enfant pour apprendre sa propre langue emploie le procede le plus naturel, c'est ce que les methodes linguistiques, y compris L.L.,, veulent generaliser. C'est en nous inspirant de cette realite et aussi le souvenir des difficultes que rencontrent les professeurs du cours debutant- notamment dans les classes de la deuxieme langue etrangere proprernent dite -, qui nous a guides dans la constation fondamentale des methodes d'enseigner le francais: nous pensons en effet, qu'au cours debutant, l'etude du langage parle doit preceder celle de la lecture et que les etudiants debutants doivent etre l'object des soins les plus attentifs des leurs premieres lecons. L'etude du langage parle, puis ecrit, peut comprendre plusieurs etapes; tout d'abord, par des exercices d'observation, les meres-professeurs mettent leurs enfants en presence des choses elles-memes (que L.L. ne devra pas remplacer) afin qu'ils en decouvrent les qualites essentielles, celles a la portee de leur intelligence. Pour la haute intelligence de l'etudiant d'universite, on peut epargner cette peine en indiquant les noms et adjectifs ainsi acquis par l'usage des mots correspondants de la langue maternelle. Et pourtant nous remarquons que si nous voulons appeler un objet par son nom, decrire un evenement, l'image de 1'objet ou le deroulement de l'evenement doivent etre de suite presents a notre esprit. Par consequent, it nous faut, nous autres professeurs de francais, eviter ce detour lorsqu'il nous arrive de les donner a l'aide de L.L. Pour faire posseder le francais aux etudiants, it est absolument necessaire d'emprunter ce chemin direct, sans avoir recours a la langue maternelle. C'est pourquoi nous ne donnons dans la classe de L.L. que des textes deja expliques dans la classe ordinaire. Les etudiants ne pourront apprendre une langue etrangere qu'en la parlant a s'imprimer ou s'y habituer dans la memoire et la bouche d'une facon sure. Toutefois, pour la parler convenablement, il est indispensable que la prononciation soit parfaite. Dans le cours de L.L., les bandes magnetiques enregistrees par des speakers natifs a la diction parfaite n'offrent que cette garantie aux etudiants et remplacent avantageusement un professeur francais souvent difficile a inviter. Il faut que nous mettions toujours les etudiants a L.L. sans jamais se lasser ni s'impatienter en faisant la prononciation la plus possible claire. Et ensuite, a l'aide de L.L. que nous voudrions limiter dans le cadre de repasser des lecons, nous invitons nos etudiants a reviser sur le sujet etudie, a fournir des reponses, a poser des questions, par des formules bien choisies, et enfin a participer a un dialogue. Et toujours nous devons avoir soin que le langage parle precede le travail ecit d'application. Bien entendu, ces exercices methodiques de L.L. ne s'opposent pas aux exercices de la grammaire sur un texte a la suite d'une lecon de la classe.

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In modern language teaching the aural-oral aspect of language has been emphasized. It is true that we are comparatively satisfied with our elementary classes. At the intermediate and advanced levels, however, what is being accomplished does not satisfy the teachers. Their student are still not learning to hear or speak their second language. What has gone wrong with the language learning process? The purpose of this paper is to investigate the causes of this situation and to suggest a theoretical guideline that may be of help in remedying our dificiencies and making the materials to develop speaking ability, especially from the view-point of communication. This study may not always suggest solutions but it strives to contribute to a better understanding of the problems under consideration. This paper wifi devote itself primarily to the description of various aspects of speaking ability. It will also consider the role of the language laboratory in developing the ability to express oneself. This will be discussed on the basis of the ideas of phychologists, linguists, and educators who are concerned with language teaching and learning. The following problems are discussed here. 1. Language as communication 2. Definitions of speaking ability 3. Stages of speaking ability 4. Levels of speaking ability 5. Factors involved in speaking ability 6. Differences between pattern practice and communication practice 7. Criteria for the selection of language content for communication 8. Roles of LL for communication-Inter-booth communication practice 9. Transition from manipulation to communication These problems are always considered from two standpoints: manipulation and communication.

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This paper is for the general investigation of foreign language testing and for its relation with language laboratory work. In the first chapter, some general principles for language testing are described from the psycholinguistic point of view. In chapter two, the problems that we face in making tests for everyday language laboratory work is examined. In chapter three, by the introduction of the model suggested by R. L. Cooper, these questions are investigated more deeply. Some of the problems to be solved in the future are illustrated. The role and the way of testing in the psycholinguistic experiment, which is indispensable for the scientific study of teaching methods, are takeh up in chapter five. And in the last chapter, some other scholars' reports on the effect of laboratory work are introduced as examples of such experiments.

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Monitoring, as an evaluative technique, has provided a practical solution for wide, routine testing of oral production. However, it still leaves with us such an insoluble problem as the low reliability of the evaluation resulting from the different conditions under which each student is monitored. The present investigation represented an attempt to elicit an experimental confirmation of the effect of changes in monitoring conditions upon the reliability of the obtained grade. Fifty-eight and less students, taking the elementary course in English conversation at Chuo University, served as experimental subjects. The investigation covered a period of eleven weeks of the regular taped lessons in the language laboratory, where each subject was monitored in his actual drill practice and immediately graded with a five-point scale (absolute evaluation). As the items for the statistical analysis the following drills were selected: (1) repetition, or imitation of model utterances, with which five grades of each subject were obtained, and (2) question-answering (random questions), with which three grades were recorded, during the practice sessions. The former was observed from the larger viewpoint of all features of good articulation, while in the case of the latter, more complicated drill, the following three criteria were used for grading during monitoring: immediacy of response, appropriateness of response and pronunciation. Twenty of the questions used in the laboratory work were also asked individually in an interview type of test which was conducted in the latter part of the course.The correlation coefficients of ten pairs for repetition, as shown in Table 3, widely ranged from 0.201 to 0.719, half of which did not reach the 0.05 level of significance (0.4683). With respect to this table it should be noticed that a significant correlation was found between R_2 and R_3, while not between R_4 and R_5, despite the fact that in each of the pairs the same model utterances were given twice as a whole. The monitoring results of question-answering drill, as can be seen in Table 5, indicated that the correlation between Q-A_1 and Q-A_2 did not reach the 0.1 level of significance (0.4409) as to the criterion of immediacy, while with respect to other criteria, pronunciation and relevance, it was found significant at the 0.05 level (0.5139). Between Q-A_1 and Q-A_3, whose questions for practice had the least in common with each other, was found a clearer correlation at 0.05 level with all the criteria, presenting a great contrast to the case of the relationship between Q-A_2 and Q-A_3: the correlation did not reach the 0.05 level of significance with readiness and pronunciation, disregarding the fact that about two-thirds of the questions asked in each of them were common. It is apparent from the above findings that instability in conditions during moments of monitoring individuals produces no little variability in grading that reduces the reliability of the results. In the interview type of test, as previously indicated, all the subjects were observed under the same condition, or nearly the same condition as possible, and the obtained grade might be considered as a standard one for the question-answering skill. The relationship between the interview grade and the average of the three grades monitored in the laboratory was then examined by means of correlation coefficient procedure, which yielded the following figures: 0.665 with immediacy, 0.808 with appropriateness and 0.878 with pronunciation, all showing the significant correlation at the 0.01 level. The last result implies that the accumulation of monitoring grades over a period of time is an effective way of obtaining a reliable evaluation of oral proficiency, no matter how low reliability each grade has. However, considering the relatively small number of subjects and monitor or interviewer fluctuation in grading, the reliability of

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In teaching English in Japan, there are two fatal defects that make the English language of most Japanese lifeless. One is that there is no awareness of the "ordinary voice" in which the British and Americans make use of the English language (p. 84), and the other is that there is no positive idea of "expressing one's thoughts by words" in speaking (p. 90, Note 4). The "ordinary voice" of the British and Americans is quite extraordinary to us Japanese, as it is accompanied with dynamic pitch, stress, force, impetus, speed, and so forth. The first thing that we should do is to make this "extraordinary" voice our ordinary one. English has been a borrowed thing for many years. So long as it remains such with us, we cannot use it at our own convenience. We have been concerned only with keeping its appearance in order. We have been particular about pronunciation, neglecting to produce voice. Give the priority to phonation, and we can have our English transcend the borrowed status and make it an authentic one.English has been a borrowed thing for many years. So long as it remains such with us, we cannot use it at our own convenience. We have been concerned only with keeping its appearance in order. We have been particular about pronunciation, neglecting to produce voice. Give the priority to phonation, and we can have our English transcend the borrowed status and make it an authentic one. When we are vigorous in voice, our English, like our Japanese, becomes vigorous. The source and material of voice is breath. Breath is life itself (息iki breath-生iki life). Breathing is derived from good posture. Let us sit at the desks with chins drawn in and our elbows off the desks. Keeping ourselves alert in body means keeping alert in mind. Both are correlated, and are achieved by one element- breath. Without breath a man dies. Without it speech is dead. When we are ready, our eyes are wide open and our breath is held. The important fact is that inhalation has been fast and deep. We find that the ribs are pressed outward (and that the diaphragm is contracted toward the abdomen). Now utter an English word. It is to be uttered at a high pitch, with "extraordinary" impetus. Holding breath serves greatly for this impetus. If we keep enough breath in the lungs and use it with reaction and control, we can overcome indiscriminate imitation of English. If we have breath in reserve, we can afford to think while speaking. We should be keenly aware that most Japanese not only cannot speak English, but also have not even acquired the ability to say a single word, or a single phoneme, as it should be said. Supply them with BREATH, and their English will be brought to LIFE. To conclude: Strain your eyes in uttering any one word, and uttering the first word and the stressed ones of a sentence.

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