A survey of 58 higher education institutions revealed that 74 percent had a foreign language admissions or graduation requirement, and 75 percent used placement examinations for incoming students. Schools cited problems of students with previous study enrolling in beginning classes, and of a lack of placement options for students with prior…

Examines the variations of 17 grammatical variables (verb tenses, voice, and form) within the communicative function of 51 medical English scholarly papers. Three axes of variable distribution are revealed that help categorize the papers as case reports, editorials, or research papers. Pedagogical guidelines for preparation and use of reading…

A study of faculties of education in Canadian universities shows that the quality of French teacher training needs improvement and may run the risk of further deterioration. The tremendous student increase in French-as-a-Second-Language programs is already causing a gradual but serious shortage of French teachers. (Author/MSE)

A study compared the effect of reading aloud to grade two French immersion students with that of participation in the normal language arts curriculum during a three-month period. Reading aloud was found to be a simple but effective adjunct to formal teaching methods for accelerating second language acquisition. (29 references) (Author/MSE)

Explores governance problems, caused by conflicts between political and academic demands, within foreign language departments. The broader philosophical, pedagogical, and professional contexts of governance resulting from an expanded view and definition of foreign language study are considered, highlighting the situation in West Germany. (39…

Presents a framework for dealing with errors in natural language sentences within the context of automated second-language teaching. Using a feature grammar, it is possible to describe various types of errors in a uniform framework, clearly define an error, and analyze the error source. (24 references) (Author/CK)

Compiles the main findings of the Oxford Project on Diversification of First Foreign Language Teaching. This project examined pupils' and teachers' experiences of diversification, set in the context of local and national developments in language policy, and investigated matters affecting decisions as to which modern foreign language(s) to offer.…

Discusses the merit in having every English-as-a-Second-Language learner speak during every session to practice English as opposed to the value of allowing a period of silence until the student is ready to speak. It is crucial to provide a stimulus for meaningful interaction and to follow up with opportunities for each learner to use an individual…

Focuses on strategies of second-language learners who communicate among themselves. Pairs of students were left alone in a room with a sound recorder and instructions to describe a specific object. The communication strategy they selected to describe an object with no common referent was to paraphrase the object's function. (11 references) (CK)

Describes a study conducted to assess an English-as-a-Second-Language tutoring program and to suggest means for improving both the tutoring sessions and the general attitudes toward tutoring. Indicates that the students' avoidance of peer tutoring stems principally from cultural differences between the tutors and students. (18 references) (MAB)

Addresses the issue of how educators can provide the best understanding of quality education for Inuit people, emphasizing cultural influences, culture conflict, and language of instruction (English versus native languages). The article examines how to develop programs and instructional materials in Inuktitut that will support learning from both…

Suggests a way to overcome the difficulty of teaching effective reading skills to students with diverse interests. The approach is based on four specifications: (1) each student studies a text on a topic in his own specialty; (2) reading practice images students' academic contexts; (3) classes are learner centered; and (4) students are evaluated…

Investigates the influence of the familiarity of the setting/interlocuter factors on the oral task performance of adult intermediate second-language learners. Findings indicate that the unfamiliar setting elicited a significant proportion of language transfer errors than the same task performed in a familiar environment. (23 references) (Author/CK)

Advocates content-based reading as an effective way to facilitate foreign students' rapidly achieving reading proficiency in English. This article presents data on student achievement, feedback, and retention from a study of two variations of content-based English-as-a-Second-Language courses to support the author's position. (16 references)…

Examines the effects of an imposed schema on the reader's comprehension of a text. Both a correct and a false schema were imposed on the subjects in the form of comprehension questions geared to one of two points of view. Subjects were 177 English-as-a-foreign-language university students. The implications for teachers of reading comprehension are…