This article draws on the Language Learning Distinguished Scholar-in-Residence Program 2012 thanks to which Dr. Suresh Canagarajah from Pennsylvania State University lectured at Universidad de La Plata in Argentina in May of that year. He delivered a talk open to language teachers, students and the community in general and also taught a…

"Preparing International Medical Graduates (IMGs) for Psychiatry Residency: A Multi-Site Needs Assessment" (1) addresses the needs of IMGs entering psychiatry residency training in Canada. On the basis of a survey of five psychiatric residency training programs, the authors report that respondents ranked (in order of importance)…

In experimental disciplinary fields such as medicine, the writing up of a research paper in English may represent a major hurdle, especially for inexperienced writers and users of EAL (English as an Additional Language), mainly due to a lack of familiarity with international discourse conventions. Despite the efforts of many EAP (English for…

It is late at night, after working all day on her postdoctoral research Laura Colombo is trying to wind down while drawing and jotting down thoughts in her notebook. She is in the living room/office of her apartment in Buenos Aires, the city where she was born and left when she was 26 years old to pursue her graduate studies in the United States…

As is the worldwide trend, scientists in China face strong and increasing pressure to publish their research in international peer-reviewed journals written in English. There is an acute need for graduate students to develop the required language skills alongside their scientific expertise, in spite of the distinct division currently existing…

This article presents an interview with Professor Gui Shichun, a well-known figure in the academic field in China. Professor Shichun is credited with being the first scholar who introduced applied linguistics studies into China. He has established several other records of "the first in China," hence has long been called "the brave…

In this article, the author discusses issues that have seemed most fundamental--yet perplexing because they are not well or widely understood--for the students who usually take his masters-level course called Second-Language Assessment. These master's students are experienced teachers, mostly of English, but also of other languages such as French…

Investigates how the continuing oversupply of PhDs in relation to the number of academic positions available in colleges and universities affects graduate education. Summarizes opinions about the meaning of professionalization and the roles that institutions, departments, and graduate students themselves share in the development of…

Discusses the focus of foreign-language graduate programs on preparing students for their careers. The article argues that the spread of teaching-methods courses and the interest in the utility of education has transformed these programs into hybrids that lack intellectual discipline. The article concludes graduate programs in foreign languages…

Argues that a lack of linguistic education in graduate programs purporting to have a major component consisting of foreign language study has serious repercussions for the effectiveness of teachers of second languages. Points out that dealing with misleading textbook presentations requires more time than necessary of teachers lacking a proficiency…

Illustrates the potential of simulation techniques for the teaching of German as a foreign language at the beginner's level. Reviews arguments for the use of simulations in language teaching, suggests a step-by-step procedure for using simulations, and presents a set of ready-to-apply simulation scripts on the topic of eating and drinking in a…

Discusses the advantages and disadvantages of oral examinations of advanced degree candidates. Looks at examiners' attitudes and the kinds of questions which should be asked. Suggests that a fair oral examination ought to include factual as well as nonfactual questions and argues that many factual questions can be justified. (SED)

Presents French culture studies as an example of possible directions in graduate culture studies. Refers to a model based largely on the culture and civilization graduate concentration at Penn State University, which evolved alongside literature and language over the past 15 years. (Author/VWL)

Despite the impact of the ESP genre-based framework of teaching discipline-specific writing to L2 learners, especially to L2 graduate students, the writing performance of learners in such a framework is still not fully explored. In this paper, I analyze three article introductions written by a Chinese-speaking graduate student in electrical…

Offers a personal portrait of graduate training and compares it to that of today. Discussing the appearance of polarization between research and teaching, emphasizes the importance of both in whatever the institutional setting and argues that the discovery of new knowledge should underlie the work of all postsecondary teachers. (Author/VWL)