ORAL LANGUAGE CRITERIA FOR SELECTING LISTENABLE MATERIALS: AN UPDATE FOR READING TEACHERS AND SPECIALISTS

Materials for Instruction and assessment of listening skills ought to exhibit appropriate levels of listenability. One factor contributing to listenability is the degree to which passages contain features of oral (as opposed to written) language. Oral language represents one end of a spectrum which ranges from planned autonomous (written) to spontaneous (oral) language; it is features of oral language are: 1) syntax that is characteristic of oral composition and suited for aural processing, 2) elements of text structure which ease the burdens of oral production and aural reception, and 3) expressions which tend to evoke a sense of immediate, face‐to‐face interaction. Since oral reading predominates in early reading instruction, it is suggested that these criteria may also be used in selecting listenable materials.     

Open "Laicity" and Secularity versus Ideological Secularism: Lessons from Switzerland

In order to avoid both religious intolerance and religious indifference,we need to develop a positive notion of an open laicity or secularitythat permits us to respect our religiously plural as well assecular contemporary situation. Open laicity or secularity isthe practical and political consequence of a Protestant theologyand spirituality. It represents a critical answer to the disasterof secularism and laicism. Most of the difficulties in the discussionbetween traditionalist Christians (Orthodox, Catholic, or Evangelical!)and modern, critical Christians (Protestant, Catholic, and maybesome Orthodox too!) come from a confusion between the dangerof secularism and laicism, that this article criticizes verydeeply, and the positive reality of a secular world, groundedin the very biblical and theological understanding of a createdworld, in which God has given to all human beings the task tobehave in a rational, responsible, creative, and respectfulway.     

Kant's Ethics and Duties to Oneself

Abstract: This paper investigates the nature and foundation of duties to oneself in Kant's moral theory. Duties to oneself embody the requirement of the formula of humanity that agents respect rational nature in them-selves as well as in others. So understood, duties to oneself are not subject to the sorts of conceptual objections often raised against duties to oneself; nor do these duties support objections that Kant's moral theory is overly demanding or produces agents who are preoccupied with their own virtue. Duties to oneself emerge as an essential and compelling part of Kant's moral theory.