An Experiment in Developing Oral Skills at the Intermediate Level.

This paper describes a training course for oral skills devised for the intermediate and advanced students of the Japanese language, utilizing the media of the Wesleyan University campus broadcasting station, WESU. The training starts with correcting the students' pronunciation and pitch accent and goes to the higher level of skills, such as intonation, prominence, pause, speed and change of pace. Instructional materials consist of the educational tapes called "Classroom for Announcing," made by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation in Tokyo for training Japanese junior and senior high school students to be announcers in their school broadcasting stations. The excellent examples and drills for pronunciation and other speech skills are recorded by the professional announcers and voice actors and actresses. One of the tapes includes some actual performances of announcements and interviews by Japanese students. The teaching method is explained step by step, using these tapes. The first Japanese radio program was broadcast on December 11th, 1977. (Author/CLK)