This book is cast in a Singaporean context in which Chinese Language is taught as a second language with an emphasis on communicational skills. It showcases ideas on including cultural teaching to enhance second language learning for more effective outcomes. As a collection of chapters relevant to cultural teaching, the book seeks to enthuse…

Virtual Exchange (VE) is of great import to language and culture teachers and researchers but is also gaining popularity in other fields. However, around the world and in the Asia-Pacific region in particular, the number of exchanges is not high and the quality of those that exist needs to continue to improve. It is essential that the latest…

Popular opinion has long assumed that learning a foreign language requires not only traditional classroom instruction but also immersion among native speakers of the language. This opinion is so strongly held that students who study through immersion are believed to become more proficient than those who do not. "Study Abroad Contexts for…

The School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies at the University of Nottingham hosted the fifth annual conference in the "Innovative Language Teaching at University" series. Under the heading "Enhancing participation and collaboration" the conference, organised by Cecilia Goria, Oranna Speicher and Sascha Stollhans, took…

Web 2.0 technologies, open source software platforms, and mobile applications have transformed teaching and learning of second and foreign languages. Language teaching has transitioned from a teacher-centered approach to a student-centered approach through the use of Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and new teaching approaches.…

The major articles in this publication devoted to applied linguistics and second language instruction include the following: (1) "The Centrality of Language: An Editorial," by James W. Marchand; (2) "Report on the Chicago Hearing of the President's Commission," by Paul A. Gaeng; (3) "Sense and Common Sense in the Study of…

A collection of papers concerning cultural studies within college and university second language programs, particularly for foreign students, includes program descriptions from a variety of countries and discussions of cultural education and cultural conflict. Themes include the nature of cultural teaching, cultural education as a discipline,…

Essays concerning second language teaching as a means of promoting intercultural competence include: "Intercultural Competence: From Language Policy to Language Education" (Chantal Crozet, Anthony J. Liddicoat, Joseph Lo Bianco); "Linguistic Diversity, Globalisation and Intercultural Education" (Jagdish Gundara); "French…

Selected papers from the 1989 Central State Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages include the following: "From Talk to Action: An Essential for Curricular Change" (June K. Phillips); "Comprehensible Input for Intermediate Foreign Language Students via Video" (Tracy David Terrell); "Developing Extensive Reading Skills: The Transition to…

Papers from a conference on empirical research on foreign language instruction in Europe and the United States include: "Foreign Language Instruction and Second Language Acquisition Research in the United States" (Charles A. Fergurson, Thom Huebner); "Empirical Foreign Language Research in Europe" (Theo van Els, Kees de Bot,…

This collection of essays, most followed by comments, reflect some aspect of the general theme: reading is a multifacted, complex, interactive process that involves many subskills and many types of reader, as well as text, variables. Papers include: "The Eclectic Synergy of Methods of Reading Research" (Ulla Connor); "A View of…

Papers on issues in second language teaching included in this volume are: "After Methods, What?" (Theodore S. Rodgers); "An Eternal Triangle? Roles for Teacher, Learners, and Teaching Materials in a Communicative Approach" (Rod Bolitho); "Task, Group, and Task-Group Interactions" (Michael H. Long); "A System of…