The conference papers presented here discuss the need for and means of implementing changes in educational design and emphasis that will recognize the need for Americans to incorporate foreign language and international studies into their education. In addition to the opening address by Richard Berendzen, the following papers are included: (1)…

This guide for teachers contains two articles and four sample lessons on teaching English as a second language (ESL). The first article presents an overview of planning an ESL curriculum which includes coping skills, emphasizing the necessity of teaching language as it is used in everyday life, not just the classroom variety found in textbooks.…

This issue presents an overview of research in computer-based language instruction using the PLATO IV computer system. The following articles are presented: (1) "Language Study and the PLATO system," by R. Hart; (2) "Reflections on the Use of Computers in Second-Language Acquisition," by F. Marty; (3) "Computer-Based…

The Modern Languages Project group devoted to language teaching and learning with respect to migrants conducted its work against the background of the fundamental principles of the Council of Europe. The principles are the following: a learner-centered approach, learner autonomy, flexibility, communicative competence, and treating the learner as a…

This study was undertaken to support the approach of teaching natural language and to illustrate what linguistic research can say to foreign language textbook developers and classroom teachers. The reality of oral conversational Spanish, as illustrated by research in language acquisition, sociolinguistics, and historical linguistics, is one in…

Teaching English as a second language (ESL) to competencies requires that the instructional focus be on functional competencies and life-coping skills while developing the spoken and/or written English structures necessary to perform these skills. A step-by-step approach to develop and implement a competency-based approach to ESL for adults is…

Aboriginal learning contexts are nonformal and are divided into 15 learning style characteristics (such as present-time orientation, authority, personal independence, and right to know) and 5 rules of interpersonal communication (right to speak, absence of interpersonal debate, avoidance of speaking roughly, avoidance of verbal confrontation, and…

The National Defense Education Act (NDEA) of 1958 changed the federal government's relationship to education. Previously, while the federal government had provided land grants for schools and aid to vocational education, it had been unwilling to fund general education. The Soviet Union's launching of Sputnik in 1957, however, allowed supporters to…

The following papers on foreign language curriculum development for the 1980s are included: (1) "Foreign Language and the Humanistic Tradition: The Relationship to the Coming Decade," by Claire Gaudiani; (2) "Practical Implications of New Trends and Directions," by Wilga Rivers; (3) "Directions in Foreign Language Curriculum Development," by H. H.…

The effect of language variation on language teaching is considered. It is suggested there has been a shift away from the notion that a language can be perceived by learners as a fixed system to an emphasis on its negotiability in a social context. This is not precisely the shift from grammatical concerns to functional ones, for it arises out of…

This is an evaluation report for a Title VII bilingual program that served Spanish-speaking students attending John Bowne high school, Flushing, New York, in 1979-1980. The first section of the report discusses the school neighborhood and its demographic composition. The second section focuses on participating students' characteristics, outlining…

While the goal of language teaching has been the development of practical communication, most language tests have stressed mastery of discrete linguistic skills. Oral language performance-based testing requires test-takers to use and perform in the language in actual communicative situations. The variations in communication created by the…

During 1978-79, the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) conducted a career education project. During this year, the project staff developed several products which would be employed by workshop directors and their audiences as they attempt to demonstrate and implement the incorporation process of the career education…

This paper describes an on-going experiment about training adult (Latin American engineers about to come to France) beginners in oral expression. The first goal is to acquire the communicative means necessary to cope with four top priority situations and then master the communicative functions involved in understanding and making oneself…

A method is described for teaching writing to students for whom English is nearly a "first" language by virtue of the nature and circumstances of their use of it. The basic tenet of the approach is that the student can only learn to write well if he has a belief in himself and in the value of his own responses. To write well, the student must…