GRADES OR AGES: Grades 3, 4, 5, and 6. SUBJECT MATTER: Language, Literature, and Composition. ORGANIZATION AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: The guide is organized under six general language concepts: Nature of Language, Language and Communication, Structure of Language, Changes in Language, Relationship Between Speaking and Writing, Language and…

Reviewing the President's Commission recommendations, urges language departments to: make language teaching, rather than literary scholarship, their top priority; make intensive or immersion language courses part of the regular curriculum options; develop common standards of proficiency assessment; foster interaction among themselves; support…

The notion of a functional syllabus has received widespread attention in recent years, so much so that in many cases it is being used where it is not suitable. One question is to what extent the functional syllabus may provide a framework for learning language structure, as it is difficult to impose any kind of structural organization on a…

This article discusses the incompatibility between the goal of communicative competence (defined more narrowly as minimal approximative communicative competence) and current practices of syllabus design, and suggests more relevant alternatives. Foreign language instruction is still dominated by the teaching of language structure for its own sake,…

This book reports on the Soviet Union's general, secondary, polytechnical schools which have been established recently to teach students to use one foreign language with fluency or near fluency. The author first discusses the long-range and immediate objectives of these special schools. Marxist-Leninist theory and its influence on contemporary…

A selective review is presented of the most recent theoretical pronouncements and practical applications of the interdisciplinary approach that are of significance to foreign language teachers and learners. The central focus is on problems and solutions within the two broad areas of institutional structures and curricula. Fifteen conclusions and…

The interaction of teacher, students, and materials in foreign language study is considered. In the student-centered classroom, the teacher must adapt materials to a particular client or clientele. Student needs and characteristics need to be determined, using diagnostic tools such as aptitude, intelligence and creativity tests, and attitudinal…

New freedom and change in the foreign language profession are the focus of this volume. Chapters concern the following topics: (1) curricular changes--new freedom for students to explore varying time arrangements, different learning styles, diverse content, and various locations for instruction (T. Bruce Fryer); (2) communicative competence in the…