INTEGRATION OF THE LANGUAGE ARTS AND TEACHER-TRAINING - AN EXAMINATION OF SPEECH-COMMUNICATION INSTRUCTION IN HIGH-SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASSROOMS

National movements toward the integration of the language arts in high school are placing the instruction of communication related skills in the hands of English teachers. Previous research indicates that secon dary credential English subject matter programs generally do not requi re communication related training and so it seems unlikely that Englis h teachers are trained to teach speech and listening according to inte gration standards. This study examined the extent to which high school English teachers are integrating the language arts in their classroom s and whether the degree of integration varied as a function of the te achers' prior training in oral communication. Two hundred thirty teach ers instructing English in California high schools were interviewed or responded to a return-mail questionnaire designed to assess methods u sed when instructing English. The data suggest that in many areas Engl ish teachers' classroom practices do not conform to the integration cu rriculum guidelines issued by the state. Surprisingly, there was only weak evidence to support the notion that teachers with prior training and background in an oral communication oriented field are integrating according to the state curriculum standards more so than teachers wit hout this training. Potential barriers to integration that might expla in these findings are discussed.