The origin and development of two African saints are discussed: Saint Maurice, patron saint of the eastern empire of Otto I; and Caspar, the youngest of the three Magi. Their representation in German art is described and illustrated. (Author/LB)

Describes how the difficulty of German has been exaggerated and discusses certain supposed problems facing English speakers in the mastering of German vocabulary. The idea that technical vocabulary of native German origin presents a serious obstacle to native English speakers arises from an erroneous view of German as a "pure" Germanic…

Explores whether and how an offering of authentic texts can be made useful for a German class that is focused on German culture and geography. Learning goals and practical strategies are derived from the unique characteristics of the texts. (Author/DMK)

Early diagnosis of selective mutism (SM) is an important concern. SM prevalence is higher than initially thought and at least three times higher in immigrant language minority children. Although the DSM-IV precludes diagnosing SM in immigrant children with limited language proficiency (as children acquiring a second language may normally undergo a…

This paper reports on an empirical case study conducted to investigate the overall conditions and challenges of integrating corpus materials and corpus-based learning activities into English-language classes at a secondary school in Germany. Starting from the observation that in spite of the large amount of research into corpus-based language…

Although the use of computer-assisted language instruction software has been mainly limited to grammatical/syntactical drills, the increasing number of language professionals with programming skills is leading to the development of more sophisticated language education programs. This report describes the generation of such a program using the…

Hauptschule (practical secondary school) pupils are more readily confused than Gymnasium (university-preparatory secondary school) pupils when confronted with false answers. Spelling tests should be designed with regard to the type of school. Introducing visual guides helps the Hauptschule pupils to better achievement in productive tests. (Text is…

This issue of the "SLANT" Newsletter for researchers in second language acquisition is highlighted by a report of research on second language acquisition by immigrant workers in West Germany (including research in progress and a bibliography). Also included are reports from various language acquisition conferences; a listing of summer…

Assesses the progress being made in German schools toward the current goals of communicative competence in: pronunciation (beginners), vocabulary (Secondary 1) and work on texts (Secondary 2). Measuring achievement is especially important. Greater cooperation is needed between curriculum developers, administrators, teachers and students. (Text is…

German "reformed curriculum" schools have, in upper level honors courses, only 2.2 percent of students taking foreign languages. French enrollment especially is low. In English, the learning time of all future graduates is being shortened. An annual class of 160 is needed to offer adequate courses. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Contradicts the article "Das Franzoesische zahlt die Zeche" appearing in this journal (2/1975), stating that the reformed upper-level curriculum would result in no students' electing French. Proposes offering a third foreign language in 9 or 11, and a carefully designed, segmented, objectively testable course. (Text is in German.)…

Discusses some central problems in the Norm Book for English "Einheitliche Pruefungsanforderungen in der Abiturpruefung Englisch," Neuwied: Luchterhand, 1975. A clear statement of teaching objectives is lacking. Problem types are discussed, along with criteria for rating answers. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Special issue devoted to foreign language instruction in adult education. (WB)

Describes two study abroad programs based on service learning at the Centers of Lutheran Reformation in Germany. Participants not only fulfilled community needs but also forged individual relationships that helped them reflect on global and economic issues that they could not have understood from classroom lectures alone. (Author/VWL)

Describes a study exploring the influence of cultural knowledge on the translation performance of German students of English. Found that the students often lacked sufficient knowledge about British culture to deal with widely-used cultural concepts. Findings suggest that factual reference sources have an important role to play in translation…