A collaborative effort of the business community and Kennesaw College (Georgia) resulted in the development of and implementation of an introductory commercial Spanish course that has been successful in introducing students to business practices in a Spanish-speaking environment. Previously, a translation service had been developed by the…

A student-centered noncredit writing course for students of English as a second language, designed to alleviate the problems of diverse class membership, consists of a series of composition assignments with topics determined by class interests and composition length determined by the student. The entire class participates in prewriting activities;…

A college-level course in business Italian was designed to incorporate not only language and business communication skills but also perspective on Italian culture. The curriculum includes study of research, literature, economic trends, and popular culture that reflect the broad and varied role of Italian culture in the modern world. (MSE)

Business Japanese should be the study of Japanese language and culture for business communication and should include values and beliefs and institutional constraints on which the Japanese act as well as business etiquette and terminology. Topics to be covered in instruction will vary depending on the role (seller, buyer, or colleague) played by…

Two aspects of a 9-month intensive course in Indonesian are outlined: the component introducing language use in Indonesian social situations, and the choice of instructional materials. The language of social situations is introduced systematically in a series of combinations of speaker, location, and topic, and includes a substantial segment on…

An examination of foreign language syllabus design reviews current literature on six syllabus types and discusses the process of choosing and integrating syllabi for classroom use. The six syllabus types are structural, notional-functional, situational, skill-based, task-based, and content-based, characterized as differing by increasing attention…

A college second language program compared the effectiveness of traditional second language instruction and a communicative approach in second year French, German, and Spanish courses. The communicative classes used only authentic materials, thematically organized and prepared for classroom use by the instructors. Similar topics were addressed in…

This study of the notional-functional approach to second language teaching reviews the history and theoretical background of the method, current issues, and implementation of a notional-functional syllabus. Chapter 1 discusses the history and theory of the approach and the organization and advantages of the notional-functional syllabus. Chapter 2…

One teacher's experience in developing and teaching a college-level business Spanish course is described. The discussion contains information about the choice of content, level, cultural content, and objectives, and includes examples of instructional activities and class projects. The course was designed to focus on business correspondence and…

A commercial Spanish course offered at Marywood College (Scranton, Pennsylvania) serves both Spanish majors and majors in international business. In addition to language proficiency activities common to most commercial language courses, students have identified two projects as most functional and challenging: (1) a "carpeta" or file into…

An issue of the journal devoted to teaching foreign languages to students with special educational needs, resulting from a New York State Board of Regents plan to require foreign languages of all students, contains these articles: "A New Challenge: The Foreign Language Learner with Special Educational Needs" (Harriet Barnett, John B. Webb);…

Discusses the abundance of electronic equipment available for use in second-language instruction in contrast to the shortage of courseware available. The lack of courseware is attributed to teacher resistance to and fear of technology and the lack of institutional support for teachers to design courseware. (LMO)

A study of distance education opportunities for second language learning in the Central States region, especially in the less commonly taught languages (LCTLs), investigated the need for such instruction, available technologies, and instructional course design. The first section examines the implications of distance language instruction for the…

Structures of first-year French courses in Canada are similar except for contact hours. Enrollment is generally increasing, despite staff funding problems. Textbook choices change slowly, and eclectic methodology predominates. Institutional enrollments, trends, class hours, and course types are charted, and a list of textbooks is included. (MSE)

Results of an investigation of correspondence teaching methods and of a series of interviews with University of Waterloo faculty suggest that correspondence language instruction should be an integral part of continuing education and has a significant untapped market among adults. Recent technological advancements will serve this endeavor well.…