The history of case-making for foreign language (FL) study in high schools and colleges in the United States is surveyed. The cognitive development case, which historically adhered to a faculty theory of psychology, emphasized the applicability of FL study as mental discipline. Though this notion has been in decline, educators are now looking…

This paper comments on an article by Tracy Terrell in this journal. Terrell is praised for his contribution to the debate over teaching communication versus structure in second languages. It is pointed out, however, that study and analysis of language structures requires understanding and memorization essential to cognitive development. (CHK)

This study was an investigation into instructional strategies considered to be the most efficient in the achievement of defined educational aims. Specifically the purpose was to determine teachers' ratings of the importance of certain cognitive, psychomotor, and affective objectives of foreign language (English) instruction in Finland. These…

Affective learning, psychomotor learning and cognitive learning are three objectives of education; they cannot be completely separated and often one type of objective may be a means of achieving another. This study attempted to begin bridging the gap between the affective objectives and the cognitive-psychomotor objectives in foreign language…

Guided Design is an approach to course design aimed at developing a student's decision-making skills as well as teaching specific principles and concepts. A seven-point hierarchy of educational needs is defined, including: (1) self-preservation, (2) safety, (3) belonging, (4) respect, (5) knowledge, (6) sensitivity-sensibility, and (7)…

This text describes a Swedish research program (GUME Project--the Swedish equivalent of the Gothenburg/Teaching/Methods/English Project) carried out during 1968-71 within the field of second-language instruction and learning. A number of comparative experiments were performed in order to assess the relative merits of two different approaches to…

Developments in the field of teaching culture are outlined, and some directions for further reading and development are listed. The focus is on multicultural materials, with only occasional reference to culture-specific media. Most of the literature surveyed is in the field of foreign language education, but some attempt was made to sample current…

A review of trends in the teaching of foreign language during the last decade focuses on the predominance of the audiolingual method and current criticism by leading theorists of its theoretical foundations. Discussion of a psychological model of learning explores the relationships of motivation, cognition, evaluation, and response formation. The…

In this abridged talk concerning the preparation of behavioral objectives for foreign language learning, the author expounds on procedures considered necessary for curriculum development. The four-step model includes: (1) specification of objectives, (2) pre-assessment of previously acquired skills or knowledge, (3) determination of instructional…

Seeking to answer the question of how language affects character by widening the learner's world, this article reviews in broad terms the present conditions in the study of foreign languages, reviews the attitudes of the "new student" in foreign languages, and challenges educators to consider new directions in the development of advanced placement…

This foreign language curriculum guide for secondary school French and Italian includes the instructional objectives and activities for each language learning level and its corresponding suggested school grade. For French, there is a further breakdown according to language skills, grammar, reading, structures, conversation, and culture and…

The art and science of evaluating student learning is presented in detail to assist the classroom teacher in its application and the consequent improvement of both the teaching and learning processes. Part 1, in four sections (Education and Evaluation, Using Evaluation for Instructional Decisions, Evaluation Techniques for Cognitive and Affective…

Two projects of the Ecole Normale Superieure de Saint-Cloud (CREDIF) are described and critically analyzed in this paper: the definition of a threshold level, "Niveau-seuil," in French and a learning module, "Looking for Work," intended to teach necessary written French to migrant workers. The threshold level section is a…

Proponents of the cognitive approach to language teaching list linguistic competence as the primary instructional objective and attribute considerable importance to listening comprehension. For the student, linguistic competence would be knowledge of grammatical components of the language and its vocabulary. Understanding oral messages is an…