A research report from the University of Cambridge and RAND Europe shows that investing in languages education in the UK could return more than the investment cost. Researchers explored a gap in the evidence relating to the economic benefits of extending languages education and found that an increase in secondary-school pupils learning one of four…

Small undergraduate German programs can take various forms but can generally be classified as new and emerging or older and well-established programs. In today's academic climate it is necessary that instructors in both types work to enhance their curriculum and extra-curricular offerings as well as strive to prevent burnout and the over…

Portal: Your Door to World Languages and Cultures was a series of public cultural events, in a variety of formats, created through a new partnership between the credit and continuing education (noncredit) foreign language programs at the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC). Portal was designed to cultivate interest in foreign languages…

The example of Lyons Township High School in Illinois is used to illustrate possibilities for increasing enrollments in high school foreign language departments. At a time of declining overall enrollment, the foreign language enrollment at Lyons increased from 33% to 55% of the student population. The first step in the process was image building,…

Presents a model for studying the process by which students decide to continue with, or to terminate, their second language studies. Previous research in the area is discussed. (MSE)

A report is presented of work in syllabus construction and language planning in Finland from the middle of the 1960s to the present. An introductory chapter describes Finland's parallel educational systems, which provide for speakers of the two official languages, Finnish and Swedish, and for instruction in the other national language as well as…

Reports from 12 state supervisors of foreign languages were compiled. Each report describes a state's elementary and secondary foreign language programs and activities as of November 1981. Topics covered include basic foreign language programs, trends in foreign language enrollment, teacher training, work with other divisions within the state…

The Chicago Board of Education's testing and tutoring program allows high school students to qualify for advanced classes, independent study, and credit in 29 foreign languages. Tapping the city's diverse ethnic resources for materials preparation and tutoring, the program has increased language enrollments by motivating students to explore their…

College language departments report that, although enrollments in Spanish and some Pacific Rim languages are growing rapidly, declines are seen in French and German, traditionally popular, and in many less commonly taught languages. Students are motivated by practical considerations: many find their employment potential is increased by language…

A career-oriented foreign language program is discussed that takes into account marketable skills of foreign language majors for a number of careers. The program is threefold. First, it recognizes the need for language skills to supplement technical, business, and professional skills to expand educational knowledge; capabilities in diplomacy and…

This document discusses the various problems students and teachers face in Asian language education programs at both the elementary secondary and university levels. Asian languages are much more difficult to learn than more commonly-taught languages like French or Spanish, and the available curriculum and testing materials are inadequate. There…

Current trends and issues in second language education are summarized to provide background data for discussion in these areas: language use patterns in Canada and in the world; language education in Canada, with a focus on Alberta's situation (federal and provincial roles in multicultural education and second language study throughout Canada, and…

The Upper Arlington, Ohio school reorganization, in 1983, to include a middle school resulted in the development of a seventh-grade foreign language exploration course. The course provides nine weeks each of French, German, and Spanish, and relates the languages to content areas using an interdisciplinary approach. The fourth nine weeks would be…

This study investigated the status of instruction in cultures and languages other than English in Queensland, Australia in preparation for development of comprehensive and coherent public policies for the field. The report addresses the following topics: the policy development process (project background and the nature of language education…