An in-progress research project evaluating the first phase of two-year bilingual exchange programs is described. The exchange programs being evaluated are a summer exchange between groups of school children from schools in Quebec and Ontario and a school-year exchange between groups of children from schools in the same provinces. The objectives of…

A study designed to assess the concurrent validity of the Home Bilingual Usage Estimate (which measures the amount of language spoken) in relation to the Dos Amigos Verbal Language Scale (which measures the quality of language spoken) was conducted with a sample of Spanish-surnamed exceptional children from a lower-middle class elementary school…

Dictations are not sufficient as exercises for developing listening comprehension skills. Other techniques and exercises which have been used in English for Special Purposes classes include practice in note taking, cloze-testing on lectures, mock formal interviews and informal conversations, and discourse analyses of sample lectures. Such analyses…

This paper discusses contextualization in the TESL classroom. Starting from the statement that fluency and comprehension are more important than absolute accuracy, and that to know how to use language students must "experience context in situations," a definition is attempted of the terms "context,""situation," and "experience." Situation is…

The attitude and motivation of twenty-one Venezuelan students learning English at Boston University was assessed using two means: a controlled interview and a bilingual adaptation of the Gardner et al. 1974 Attitude Scales. Neither measure showed statistically significant correlations between positive attitude or strong motivation and progress in…

The entries in this annotated bibliography are divided into four major sections. The first includes some of the arguments pro and con on the cloze procedure and a few research studies along with some articles that give "how-to" recommendations. The second major section includes five subsections: the first deals with basic research concerning the…

This article, prepared for college majors in foreign languages, offers occupational guidelines and suggestions for further occupational research. An occupational summary, a list of representative job titles related to the language major, representative employers of language majors, and a list of addresses are presented. A listing of foundations…

This text contains 50 lessons in Dagbani for the student of Dagbani as a second language. The principal emphasis of the lessons is on developing skills in the spoken language, and study is preferable with a native speaker of Dagbani. The use of English is to be avoided except when absolutely necessary. Because of the attention given to oral…

Presents results of the fourth evaluation of trilingual school programs in French, Hebrew, and English being offered on an experimental basis in several elementary schools in Montreal. (Author/AM)

This article summarizes a study (Odlin 1978) using variable rules analyses to describe the contraction patterns of six Mexican students of English as a second language. (CFM)

The problems associated with using the Educational Testing Service's Test of English as a Foreign Language as a valid indication of English language proficiency are discussed. (HP)

A study was conducted to measure the extent to which three learning strategies--practicing, monitoring and inferencing--affected student performance in three grade 10 (ages 14-15) and three grade 12 (ages 16-17) classes of French as a second language. (Author/HP)

Since foreign language methodology has, in the past fifteen years, included aural-oral skills as well as reading and writing skills, achievement tests for foreign language courses should also include these skills. (Text is in French.) (MLA)

This article discusses the concept of "threshold level" as it applies to second language learning and proficiency. The threshold level is seen as the minimum level of proficiency required to communicate basic needs and to interact successfully. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

A "French for Business" course is used to illustrate how emphasis on oral performance (communicative competence), at the expense of objective evaluation and correction, can encourage students to communicate at rudimentary levels, thus undermining more fully developed and complex target language communication. (Author/CB)