Although the general thrust of recent education reports and studies--to strengthen the academic quality of secondary education--has been salutary, efforts fall short of giving clear direction for school improvement in a number of areas particularly important to urban school superintendents. The reports fail to recognize the unique context of urban…

This document is a collection of over 80 exemplary project summaries from projects funded in 39 states and the District of Columbia through Title II of the Education for Economic Security Act. The subject areas covered by these projects are limited to mathematics, science, foreign language, and computer learning. Each summary includes a…

The teaching unit provides materials for the fifth year of the six-year secondary school curriculum in Ukrainian as a second language. It focuses on basic vocabulary and communications skills related to the theme of "the restaurant" including: the development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills; specific elements of grammar (verb…

Two years of language study is a requirement in most colleges and universities for many degree programs and, at the high school level, an expectation for college-bound students. However, some very capable students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) have difficulty learning a second language. Recent research has identified characteristics of…

A guide for curriculum development in New York City's Spanish second language programs to be piloted in junior and senior high schools contains six cultural theme units for level 1 and the grammatical structures in Spanish for levels 1-3. The cultural theme units are designed to be used as a core for the acquisition of language patterns,…

Sample materials demonstrating the use of a five-step procedure for teaching reading in another language, are provided as part of an inservice program for teachers. The manual includes passages, class activities, and instructional suggestions for each step of the learning process in these languages: Mandarin Chinese (intermediate), English as a…

A study examined the relationship of time, language teachers' language use, and the qualities of interaction in the language classroom. An introductory section discusses the interest in these issues and the use and development of polychronometric techniques for behavior analysis. Three studies using these techniques to analyze language teacher…

This set of instructional materials on introductory Bambara, a language spoken in Mali, is designed for Peace Corps volunteers using the language in that country. The materials consist of twenty units on topics of personal communication and grammar. Most units contain a proverb, pattern drills, major dialogues containing the unit's new material,…

A 7-day study mission by the House Subcommittee on Postsecondary Education, to Moscow, Kiev, Bonn, and an interim stop in Athens is reported. The mission was designed to gather information regarding the current state of higher education, especially on financing and curriculum, in West Germany and the U.S.S.R. The delegation was especially…

The following articles on teaching English as a second language appear in this issue: (1) "Information for English Teachers" (on testing, literature, teaching reading skills, English in the weakest streams, and new publications); (2) "Relevant Issues in Contemporary Humanism--R.I.C.H.," by O. Zohar; (3) "Matriculation…

Criteria for developing an advanced conversation course for second language learners are examined. It is suggested that the teacher needs to approach the development of the course with an awareness that most students enrolled will probably be suffering from an acute lack of self-confidence when conversing in the target language. The proposed…

A model for developing articulation between college and high school second language programs is presented. The four-step process involves discussion, planning, implementation, and expansion of the network. After the discussion, the following goals for a network were established: (1) to provide additional educational experiences for foreign…

An overview is presented of the scope and findings of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) studies, which analyzed student achievement in 22 nations, one of which was the United States. Using these findings, this paper identifies national differences in the performance of pupils representing the United…

A preliminary, descriptive overview of the students and their progress in the first year of a new French immersion program looks at the 1982-83 grade 8 cohort of 40 students, most of whom had come from the standard core French program in grades 6 and 7, and compares their progress in other subjects with two grade 8 classes in another school. Data…

The journal includes nine articles on the theme of a world view of foreign language teaching. They are: "The Foreign Language Articulation Task Force Survey: A Report" (Reid Baker); "Report of the Ohio Foreign Language Task Force" (Barbara Snyder); "The Akron Story Part I: Summer Foreign Language Camps" (John D. Durden and Sandra K. Strauber);…