Examines the results of a nonce-verb test administered to adults and children in five hispanophone communities to determine their control of the inflectional morphology of the Spanish verbal system. Results indicate that adults have less access to natural productive verbal processes than do children. Notes that these results have implications for…

Describes activities in Spanish language classes inspired by popular movies and television programs such as "Evita,""The Sound of Music,""The Wizard of Oz,""Carousel,""I Dream of Jeannie,""I Love Lucy," and "Charlie's Angels." Notes that these programs' familiarity establishes a familiar context in which to practice grammar, vocabulary, and other…

The RECEPTION GAME teaches conversation skills to adult foreign language learners with positions in international business and diplomacy. The design combines elements of simulation and experiential learning and takes into account conversation's rapport-building function, turn-taking mechanisms, open-ended structure, listening demands for following…

In a small Mexican town with a sizeable English-speaking population and bilingual schools, some native Spanish speakers develop native-like proficiency in English. Interviews found that the only Spanish speakers acquiring much English attended bilingual schools and frequently had close friendships with native English speakers and favorable…

Presents a hypothesis-generating study of advanced university English-as-a-Foreign-Language learners' incidental vocabulary acquisition from oral and written dialogue journals over a semester. Teacher and student entries were analyzed and transcribed using WordCruncher (1993). Analyses compare characteristics of the input to the learners in the…

Discusses English as the language of instruction in Tanzanian post-elementary schools. All primary education is conducted in Kiswahili, the national language. Suggests that this policy burdens school children and young adults by placing them in a monolingual learning environment in which the language of instruction is not one in which many of them…

Examines indigenous language use in schools in Fiji, where English is the language of instruction in secondary schools but where indigenous Fijian has a strong presence. Explores attitudes of indigenous Fijian secondary school students on English-language usage among peers and suggests that an indigenous group can define group authenticity…

Suggests that long-term project and performance-based tasks that meet the standards described in the Israeli English curriculum are the key to reviving students' interest in the English classroom. Provides a sample project and assessment rubrics. (Author/VWL)

Presents an analysis of the responses German college students of English gave on a questionnaire regarding their attitudes toward and use of English grammars. Results found that several factors affected students' attitudes, and suggestions were made on how to improve the design of future grammars and on how to instruct students in the use of…

Explains the need for and operations of computerized instructional and drill programs for teaching beginning college-level Russian. Describes two such programs developed at the University of Minnesota. States that these programs provide individualized, out-of-class instruction and teach preproficiency semantic and morphological skills without…

Compared teachers' holistic scoring of Nigerian English-as-a-Second-Language students' essays and their scores on a standardized language proficiency test. Results revealed that holistic scoring of essays lacked concurrent validity with the subject pool. (32 references) (CB)

The linguistic performance of four Hispanic bilingual fifth- and sixth-grade students perceived to have limited language abilities in English and Spanish was studied. Results indicate that the organization of instruction limited students' abilities to show their competence and that teachers interpreted this as a lack of conceptual ability. (SLD)

A study investigated communication strategies used to express lexical meaning in English by two groups (intermediate and advanced) of Spanish-speaking adult learners of English-as-a-Second-Language. Both structured and unstructured tasks were used to assess interlanguage development vis-a-vis proficiency, and results indicated that the…

Describes instructional stages in a first-year Russian undergraduate course, at Nottingham University (England), that make use of video. Video enables students to explore areas often neglected in traditional language courses, contributes to cultural awareness and language skills, and helps learners assimilate into the target culture more easily.…

A review of statistics regarding minority representation in higher education (particularly in the foreign language fields) showed little increase in the percentage of minority faculty members or bachelor and doctoral degree recipients since the 1970s. Strategies for increasing minority representation involve mentoring, junior college transfer…