Discusses the challenges and difficulties of Slavic languages, a field that is notoriously cyclical and is currently at the bottom of a cycle. The article chronicles the history of Slavic studies in relation to political developments since World War II, draws parallels between current trends in Slavic and other modern language programs, and sees…

Surveyed 49 intermediate-level French-as-a-Foreign-Language college students to determine whether they preferred extensive reading or grammar instruction for language acquisition and practice, and why. Students overwhelmingly preferred reading as more pleasurable and more beneficial for language acquisition. They considered grammar instruction…

Nine comments are offered in response to "Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century" (1996). Issues discussed include teacher preparation, articulation, standards implementation, and standards in higher education. (Author/VWL)

This paper reports on a research project involving a sample of 19 state-educated students in their first year of a German course at Oxford University. The project is one of a number of research studies into widening participation issues funded by the Higher Education Funding Council of England (HEFCE) and the Sutton trust. The paper describes the…

Indiana State University?s (ISU) foreign language requirement curriculum serves as a model for the 21st century. Unique to the program is an emphasis on integrating the common goals of general education and multicultural studies with the development of critical thinking skills to reach overall objectives of communicative competency, cultural…

The state of Australian online education and training practices was examined through a literature review and interviews. Special attention was paid to the following aspects of online vocational and technical education (VET) and technical and further education (TAFE): current online implementations; online teaching strategies; issues for online…

This report is the product of an effort by the Office of Technology Policy to assess current and future needs for information technology (IT) workers through a comprehensive information-gathering project that included the following three activities: (1) nationwide regional meetings that included discussions with industry executives,…

This report is not a complete survey of educational extension in the United States. The limitations of time, space, and cost forestall a complete detailed statistical review of the work of the past biennium. A full account in detail would require visits to every Commonwealth, a very large expenditure of time and money, and a report of several…

A description of team-teaching at the English for Overseas Students Unit (EOSU) of the University of Birmingham, by T. F. Johns and Tony Dudley-Evans, is followed by "The Current Programme of Materials Development in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) at the Universities of Birmingham and Aston" by T. F. and C. M. Johns. The…

WITH A 1962 GRANT FROM THE FORD FOUNDATION FOR THE FIRST FIVE YEARS OF A COORDINATED 10-YEAR PROJECT DESIGNED TO EXPAND AND IMPROVE FOREIGN LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION IN THE STATE, THE INDIANA LANGUAGE PROGRAM (ILP) PROPOSED, WITH THE COOPERATION OF OTHER STATE AGENCIES AND INSTITUTIONS, TO UPDATE PROGRAM METHODS AND OBJECTIVES IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS AND…

This report presents detailed, nonevaluative descriptions of instructional methods used in a sample of outstanding language training centers. Together these 19 different training programs represent a student age range from subteen to adult. Included are both intensive and nonintensive, military and civilian, and governmental and nongovernmental…

This article describes an attempt to give university students of English as a second language instruction in writing literary essays. The students were given literary commentaries to listen to in the language laboratory, and then were asked to summarize these commentaries, using, as much as possible, the structures contained in the original…

This article deals with the issue of gaining proficiency in oral expression in a second language. A functional approach to teaching oral proficiency is outlined, an approach which focuses on the audience as a determining factor in the speaker's linguistic output. Claims in the article are based on an experiment in the teaching of oral proficiency…

St. Bonaventure University holds a Language Day each spring, hosting some 3,900 area junior high and high school students. The buildings and facilities of the university campus are used, and activities include language competitions (exhibits, interpretative readings, language productions, audio-visual presentations and essays); a fiesta; foreign…

In the 1968-69 controversy over the foreign language requirement for the B.A. degree in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts of the University of Michigan, the College faculty chose a compromise solution to the policy in practice since 1954 of a required 4-semester study of a foreign language with placement testing. Policy alternatives…