Urges French departments to teach the language on its own terms rather than competing with Spanish on its own terms, recommending an iconoclastic shift from an emphasis on pronunciation and correctness to a critical look at culture that will allow students to see themselves and the target culture from inside and outside. (SM)

Explores the code mixing behaviors of Puerto Rican return immigrants in interaction among themselves in order to observe how their dual ethnic experience is reflected in the theory of code-mixing behaviors. Subjects were 13 Puerto Rican immigrants who were born in New York City and had been in Puerto Rico for a least 3 years. (Author/VWL)

Provides a study of language attitudes in Paraguay's unique Spanish-Guarani bilingual situation. Suggests issues of public opinion that language policy makers should consider in determining the roles of the two languages, especially with respect to literacy education. (Author/VWL)

This case study is a preliminary look at different styles associated with different activities preferred by students in a foreign language homestay situation, in this case 29 American college students in Guatemala, the stability of their choices of activities, and increments in their Spanish language performance after one month. (Author/VWL)

Examines the relationship between lexical and grammatical knowledge to reading and listening comprehension. University students learning Spanish participated in the study. All participants performed the tests of lexical knowledge and grammatical knowledge respectively. Results suggest both similarities and differences between reading and listening…

Describes the Spanish writing program at the University of Minnesota, which provides support services at the advanced level. Highlights the staff, the program structure, and the strategies used for developing students' writing. (Author/VWL)

To study the alleged ambiguity of bare "que," it is necessary to contrast the "bare que hypothesis"--a prepositionless "que" is always a complementizer and never a relative pronoun--to the "unique que hypothesis"--que is a complementizer even when preceded by a preposition. Argumentation favors the bare que hypothesis, a hypothesis that also…

An oral practice system of "chats" in the classroom functions as an extemporaneous speaking exercise or chat (without notes or prompt sheets), occurring between two students for a minute or so at the beginning of class, following which the presenters respond to other students' questions. (CNP)

Examines the perception of within-category allophonic differences in phonemes by both native speakers of English and Spanish learners of English as a Second language. Tries to show how representative different examples of a given phoneme category like /i/ are perceived by subjects in both groups. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on syntactic regularities that underlie language alternations in Spanish-English bilingual speech, and the methodologies that may prove most reliable and informative in the exploration of this focus. Findings attest to the validity of the methodologies and of the elicited data. (Author/VWL)

The adverbial phrase "a lo mejor" (at best) does not take the subjunctive, although other adverbial expressions of possibility may be followed by either indicative or subjunctive. Examines statements co-occurring with "a lo mejor" from the viewpoint of statement and mood, taking into account communicative discourse function. The study shows that…

Provides brief descriptions of what some of the Centers for International Business Education and Research (CIBERs) and several non-CIBERs are currently doing to incorporate technology into their curriculum for Business Spanish. The list also provides the name and e-mail address of a contact person at each institution who works with Business…

A pilot study used the Spanish Oral Proficiency Test (SOPT)--a taped oral test--to evaluate the oral proficiency level of students of intermediate Spanish. Also examined what variables might affect the development of students' oral skills. (Author/VWL)

Compared online processing of Catalan phonemic contrasts in Spanish-dominant and Catalan-dominant Catalan-Spanish bilingual undergraduate students. Results supported hypothesis that L1 (first language) shapes the perceptual system at early stages of development in such a way that it will determine the perception of nonnative phonemic contrasts,…

Describes a course that used e-mail to improve the German and Spanish written language skills of Canadian Foreign Service Officers. To lower attrition rates, the course required completion of authentic professional tasks, exposing participants to formal, technical, and informal language. Though initial interest was high, attrition was also high,…