A foreign language teacher relates how instruction, testing, and student achievement have changed with the use of GCSE instead of the traditional CSE/GCE in French instruction. (CB)

Describes a study that provides further evidence for differentiating between memory for meaningful and for nonmeaningful material in the context of language proficiency, suggesting that foreign language teachers with a good memory have no guarantee of proficiency in language learning. (CB)

Describes oral tests for different teaching levels that can be used by regular classroom teachers with normal size classes. At the beginning levels, oral assessment is done through role playing or "talk cards," and at the advanced levels, an oral interview is the major part of a mixed skill task. (EKN)

Considers some important arguments in favor of the vigorous promotion of greater literacy in foreign languages, including analysis of how several essential components of GCSE syllabi can be applied to such instruction. (CB)

Describes a method for examining oral communicative competence in a foreign language using an open form of role play. The method's reliability and accuracy lies in its basis on what is learned in the classroom. (CB)

Describes the development and implementation of a TVEI French course in Wirral (England) for 16- to 18-year-olds. The course emphasizes practical use of language in everyday life and employment, linguistic awareness, and successful communication rather than linguistic perfection. (CB)

The task of the teacher of foreign languages is to enable the students to progress gradually from teacher/coursebook controlled utterances to complete linguistic autonomy. Role play and a progression of information-gap activities are discussed in terms of developing students' personal autonomy at each level of linguistic competence. (Author/LMO)

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…

Experience and research on the appropriateness and reliability of various criteria used in oral language tests are discussed. It is concluded that global marking schemes, which are less detailed, may enable the scorer to better evaluate communicative effectiveness, which includes both linguistic and paralinguistic factors. (MSE)

Considers the implications of Yoruba as the Nigerian mother tongue for linguistic competence in French at the phonological, morphological, lexical, syntactic, and sociosemantic levels. (CB)