Education opens numerous revenues to register economic expansion all around the world with specific reference to developing nations. Advancement of Pakistan in education indicators has been severely insufficient during the previous decades. Decreased financing along with inefficiency in budget expenditure plus weak management system have crippled…

Interest in foreign language education is growing rapidly, linked to increased concern about international trade and international relations and a general interest in educational quality. The foreign language profession in the 1980s is committed to the development of proficiency-oriented curricula and instruction and the production of proficient…

Linguistic and paralinguistic problems faced by non-native-English speakers training to be teachers of English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL) in non-English-speaking environments are discussed. Relevant theories of second language learning and acquisition are reviewed, and the affective factors and sociocultural variables that appear to…

Analyzes the objectives of foreign language teaching at the higher education level from the perspective of languages for specific purposes (LSP) and suggests that specifying the purpose of language teaching objectives in foreign language degree programs can contribute both to the practical relevance of graduates' proficiency and to the inner…

An analysis of the objectives of modern language instruction expands on earlier work concerning the "Threshhold Level" of language learning. The first part outlines a model of language instructional objectives more complex and encompassing than those of the threshhold level and examines the nature and instructional incidence of each component of…

While a broad range of tests is available for second language testing, two of the basic approaches are developmental and non-developmental testing. The former is based on psycholinguistic evidence that language development is systematic, with all learners progressing through the same stages. The latter includes content selected in an ad hoc…

The following position papers on evaluation are presented: (1) "Curricular and Comprehensive Program Evaluation," by Ray Clifford; (2) Evaluation--Proficiency Goals, CBTE National Assessment: How Do They Interrelate?" by Randall L. Jones; and (3) "Priorities in Classroom Testing for the 1980s," by Alice C. Omaggio. The first paper describes an…

A review of English-as-a-Second-Language programs for Indochinese refugees concludes that the long-term well-being of Indochinese people in the United States depends on programs that contribute to community organization, political action, and a capacity to confront causes of poverty, rather than programs that channel refugees into minimum wage…

Research on the role of age in second language (L2) learning, particularly at the level of primary education, is reviewed and discussed. It is concluded that evidence suggests early L2 exposure increases chances of ultimately attaining a high proficiency level in that language, but that in formal educational situations any long-term advantage will…

Communicative proficiency, defined as native-like ability to use the language as a medium of two-way communication, is most effectively and efficiently achieved through instruction emphasizing development of listening and reading comprehension skills, and virtually excluding training in production. The comprehension approach avoids the teaching of…

This article reviews research and literature to identify the most appropriate and effective work on promoting the acquisition of English by limited-English-speaking students via the use of computers. Fields covered in the review are linguistics, culture, psycholinguistics, and sociolinguistics. First, studies on when a child best learns a second…

Discusses whether the goal of language proficiency is reasonable or even possible given the language textbooks available. Examines the description of the French language in college-level French language textbooks (all of which take a structural approach) to see if they lend themselves to the acquisition of a functional speaking ability. (SED)

This analysis of the crisis facing the United States because of a general lack of interest in foreign language study deals with several facets of the problem. Its 12 chapters address the following questions or issues: (1) the traditional conflict between Americanization and cultural and linguistic pluralism; (2) the shift in the world economic…

The relationship between language and education is considered, focusing on the central role of language in learning, and two kinds of research concerned with language and educational issues are discussed. Linguistic research focuses on the language aspects and treats the educational aspect as the contextual surrounding of the problem. Educational…

In spite of increasing ethnic, linguistic, and socioeconomic diversity, educational reform efforts continue to target mainstream English-speaking U.S. public. The educational plans of the America 2000 initiative are no exception. This theme issue provides examples of classroom-based research in which educators try to improve literacy education for…