In Finland, German ranks third among foreign languages taught, and is declining. To encourage its study, one should avoid using long and uninteresting textbooks. As examples of good texts, W. Biermann's "Soldatenlied" and "Kleinstadtsonntag" are suggested. These portray facets of postwar Germany. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

The results of a questionnaire from 16 European countries concerning the early teaching of modern languages are presented. The 16 countries involved are: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. The findings…

This paper reports how Finnish student teachers and pupils rate the importance of objectivies in English language instruction, and compares them with ratings of inservice teachers from a previous study. Forty-two teachers from post-graduate teacher-training schools and 131 students, aged approximately 17, from two schools, were involved. Student…

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…

The educational system of Finland is undergoing great reform, and one change is for compulsory inservice teacher education. This study is concerned with inservice education of foreign language teachers. Dimensions of rote-meaningful learning and reception-discovery learning are discussed; teachers preferred the meaningful-discovery type. It seems…

This research study deals with the relationships of personality and intelligence to English school achievements in the seventh grade of Finnish secondary school. Emphasis is placed upon student factors in learning and teaching a foreign language, particularly upon those student variables which the teacher can influence. A literature review…

The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of educational and linguistic criteria that can be used in selecting, structuring, and presenting the content of foreign language instruction. Some emphasis is laid on application of criteria to Finnish public school curricula. Educational aspects of the discussion include curriculum, individual…

This newsletter discusses the teaching and role of English around the world. Articles also cover English-language media in a given country, and the opportunity and need for understanding and speaking English in that country. This particular issue contains items on English education and use in Yugoslavia, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Kenya, Pakistan,…

This study was designed to outline possible forms of guided self-assessment in adult language learning and to suggest steps that might be taken in order to further develop methods judged to be suitable for use within the European unit/credit scheme for foreign language learning by adults. The report includes a review of relevant literature and…

The present study deals with two language skills, listening and speaking, and it is limited to single consonant phonemes only. The purpose is to try to find answers to the following problems: (1) Which Finnish consonants are given as substitutes for English consonants by Finnish pupils who have no previous (or practically no previous) knowledge of…

This special issue consists of the following seven articles on communicative competence: (1) "Psycholinguistics and Language Teaching," by Elisabeth Ingram; (2) "Current Trends in Language Teaching at the C.R.A.P.E.L.," by Philip Riley; (3) "Who Needs a Teacher? - An Alternative to the 'Conversation Class'," by Ken…

The report consists of four case studies which show the extent and importance of the problem of education of migrant workers and their families as seen by Finland, France, Sweden, and Yugoslavia. Dealing mainly with the education of second generation Finnish workers in Sweden, the first study addresses the teaching of the mother tongue and the…