Reports construction of a questionnaire for measuring secondary students' attitudes toward learning French. Suggests that the instrument may be easily adapted to other languages. An appendix provides a list of scaled items on the questionnaire. (SJL)

Using a theoretical model of foreign language anxiety, this study of 96 college students of Japanese examines how language anxiety is related to Japanese language learning. Results suggest factors other than test anxiety, e.g., speech anxiety, fear of failing, and negative attitudes toward the class. A questionnaire is included. (Contains 63…

The group discussion test has gained prominence as a measure of oral interaction skills in second-language learning. This article reviews test types and administration, the communicative nature of the test, development of criteria and rating scales, and advantages. A sample rating scale is appended. (Contains 15 references.) (LB)

In 2001, the U.S. Department of Education and the Ministry of Education in China entered into a bilateral partnership to develop a technology-driven approach to foreign language learning that integrated gaming, immersion, voice recognition, problem-based learning tasks, and other features that made it a significant research and development pilot…

The present study expands the design of Warschauer (1996) surveying freshman foreign language students at a Turkish university. Motivating aspects of computer assisted instruction in terms of writing and e-mailing are explored through an exploratory factor analysis conducted on the survey developed by Warschauer (1996). Findings suggest that…

This study investigated the responses of two groups (n = 85) of EFL learners toward their experience with extensive reading in a three-month EFL college reading class in which two novels (narrative) and fourteen expository texts were the main reading text. Using a three-part survey questionnaire and the follow-up interviews, this study attempted…

Previous work by the National Center on Educational Outcomes (K. Liu, Koo, Barrera, & Thurlow, 2008) documented that principals in 10 "successful" middle schools (defined as those making Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) with ELLs and students with disabilities) were knowledgeable and concerned about the special education referral…

This study explores the centrality of the technology integration to Chinese EFL students' experiences in College English instruction. Students involved in this qualitative and quantitative study described the effectiveness of Web-based instructional environments (WBIEs) facilitated by the WebNing course management systems. Sources that were used…

This is a set of generic proficiency goals in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and culture developed for all languages and for French, German, and Spanish specifically. Both the common and specific goals are being field tested to determine their utility for college and university language instructors. In addition, a questionnaire has been…

The purpose of this study to see how undergraduate foreign languages students view the teaching profession and how their experiences in life interact and form their perceptions of becoming a FL teacher. Six undergraduate students studying foreign languages at a mid western university participated in a basic qualitative study involving interviews…

This study examined the use of English in nursing education, training, and practice in Jordan. Participants were 152 nurses working in different hospitals, all of whom were native Arabic speakers. The nurses completed a six-part questionnaire that examined their age, sex, place of work, qualifications, years of experience, attitudes toward…

Portfolios are one of the assessment tools used in Pacesetter® Spanish. In Phase I of this study, conducted in 1995-96, a first attempt was made to develop a standardized portfolio assessment system. As part of this system, a set of guidelines and an assessment matrix were prepared. In Phase II of our research, in consultation with participating…

Describes an experiment designed to determine which language errors interfere to the greatest degree with comprehension by native speakers of the language. For this purpose, an instructor prepared a list of most serious Spanish language errors which was submitted to native speakers for evaluation in terms of comprehension and acceptability. (MES)

Third semester college students of French viewed part of a film, read part, and then were given a surprise vocabulary test with colloquial words from the text. Their performance, compared to a control group, suggests that incidental vocabulary acquisition is possible in a foreign language situation. The test is appended. (Contains eight…

Ten Japanese subjects in Arizona participated in a study that confirmed that Japanese-specific rhetoric is transferred in a native Japanese English-as-a-Second-Language student's composition, and examined the extent to which the transferred rhetorical organization is discordant with native English readers' expectations. (26 references) (LB)