The establishment of a Canadian national assessment center with the authority to develop, administer, and evaluate French second language teachers' competencies, and to issue a national certification over and above the provincial certification is proposed. It is argued that French second language teacher certification is now a national issue and…

A discussion of the effectiveness of French immersion education chronicles its history, presents some of the evidence against the approach, discusses the findings of a recent report in light of pedagogical rather than theoretical second language acquisition assumptions, and outlines the alternative road to bilingualism through classroom…

Argues that the reason computer-based foreign language (FL) materials lack key elements of proficiency-oriented teaching is because FL professionals were excluded from their development. These professionals continue to be excluded because they lack the necessary computer skills; however, computer-oriented training workshops can equip FL…

Three examples of conversation and composition courses that work well because of a large amount of preparation and coordination are outlined in this article. Courses in German, French, and Spanish are included that are concrete examples. (JL)

Reviews recent theoretical, methodological, and analytical developments in language testing, focusing on more refined models of language ability, reliability and validity, performance testing, innovative test formats, new applications of Item Response Theory and Generalizability Theory to test performance. An annotated bibliography discusses seven…

Systematically explored how three different initial training contexts affect children's and adults' interpretation of novel action verbs. Subjects included 54 3-yearolds, 60 10-year olds, and 60 college-age adults. Findings suggest a hierarchy of verb learning strategies, especially among the youngest children. (DR)

Theories and practices in second-language learning have changed in many ways, particularly toward communicative or proficiency-oriented outcomes. The discussion emphasizes proficiency and performance, communicative objectives, instructional approaches that promote proficiency, and testing and assessment. (Contains 10 references.) (LB)

Topics for conversation courses include conversational rules and structure, conversational strategies, functions and meaning in conversation, and social and cultural contexts. The direct teaching of conversational skills involves adding specific language input, increasing the role of consciousness raising, and sequencing communicative tasks…

Four-year olds (n=167) in Head Start were assigned to an intervention condition involving an add-on emergent literacy curriculum or the regular Head Start program. Intervention effects were large for writing and print domains and were noted for language when primary caregivers were actively involved in the intervention. (SLD)

Describes a pilot project to deal with the problem of articulating postsecondary language study. This project consists of 1 elementary school immersion teacher and 21 foreign language teachers from high schools and colleges. The project has the potential of effecting a statewide adoption of proficiency standards and an improvement in the quality…

Drawing on the results of sociolinguistic research in three ethnically different communities in Wellington, New Zealand, this paper explores and illustrates the process of language shift and language revival. Members of the Greek, Tongan, and Chinese communities were interviewed; and data were collected on their language proficiency, patterns of…

Reports on a study investigating whether a field-specific oral proficiency test would be a better predictor of field-specific performance than a general purpose oral proficiency test. A theoretical discussion is presented on field-specific language testing and guidelines for the construction of oral proficiency tests in specific purpose contexts.…

Humor can enliven classes, establish and maintain rapport, create ambiance for learning, and enhance student acquisition and retention. Ways to use humor in the classroom are presented, including clearly verbal approaches, visual aid techniques (magazines, cartoons, ads, etc.), and the humor of stand-up comedians. (12 references) (LB)

Examines the curriculum of international teaching assistant (ITA) programs within a sociolinguistic model of language use, the "communicative competence" model proposed by Hymes (1972). The authors advocate reconceptualizing language skills in terms of communicative competence allowing ITA programs to better prepare ITAs for their roles as…

In a Norwegian study of fifth grade linguistic minority (LM) children's comprehension of the language of instruction, it was found that some LM children still have serious comprehension problems in spite of being born and schooled in Norway. Teachers correctly expected the LM children to comprehend less than their Norwegian classmates. (33…