Reviews research on proficiency levels attained by foreign language students, and describes an advanced Russian conversation course, which is geared toward students who have achieved intermediate-mid or intermediate-high oral proficiency and who are striving towards advanced level speech according to the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign…

Discusses activities for developing students' listening comprehension in English-as-a-foreign-language classrooms in China. The activities have proved successful, and students participating in these courses have done well on the National Test for English Majors Band 4. (Author/VWL)

This article discusses ways to implement an effective first- or second-language reading program that provides children with access to reading materials that are relevant to their needs and interests, encourages them to participate in carefully structured activities, and gives them incentives that promote reading. (Author/VWL)

Ongoing evaluation occurs during the progression of an action and is widely used as a means of judging the progress and achievements of language programs. This article focuses on the ongoing evaluation of an English-as-a-Foreign-Language program in China and the roles of the teachers and learners in the process. (Author/VWL)

Presents a survey of recent developments in teaching Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) in North Africa and discusses current issues and future challenges. (Author/VWL)

Describes the implementation of a "cyclic," practical model-based syllabus in a short pre-service teacher training course. Makes a case for an overt model-based approach to initial teacher training, with reference to recent developments in cognitive psychology. Research carried out on a model-based approach is presented. (Author/VWL)

Describes personal construct psychology (PCP) and looks at two studies that apply to the English language teaching area. One deals with trainee teachers' perceptions of effectiveness, and the other with the curriculum. Concludes with a consideration of the value of PCP as an applied linguistic research framework. (Author/VWL)

Compares Chinese Students' listening comprehension rates for video texts using a variety of techniques: advance organizers, captions, a combination of both, and none of the foregoing. Results showed that more effective comprehension occurred when a combination of techniques were used. (Author/VWL)

Examined effects of captioned videotapes on advanced university English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL)students' listening word recognition. Videotaped materials consisted of episodes from two educational television programs. Found that availability of captions significantly improved ESL students' ability to recognize words on the videotapes that also…

Focuses on the connections goal of the national standards for foreign language learning--that is, on the integration of interdisciplinary content and language skills. Proposes a developmental model for content-oriented instruction that moves students from familiar to unfamiliar academic and cultural content while taking into account their language…

Examined language learning background features in relation to overall grade, rate of progress, and completion of an intensive English program. Determined extent to which success could be accurately predicted by an expert system when basing inferences on feature constellations including language learning background features only, entry proficiency…

Describes an experimental program that includes adjunct support designed to promote access to postsecondary education for more English-as-a-Second-Language students. (Author/VWL)

Describes a class project that included a literature search, observation of the Hale-Bopp comet, planning and building a model solar system, and presentation of the model in class. Finds that bilingual students in the class made significant progress in their learning of concepts and the acquisition of English as a result of completing the project.…

Reports on a study that investigated the beliefs about language learning of 202 English-as-Foreign-Language (EFL) students and 4 EFL teachers in the English department at the City University of Hong Kong. The main aim of the study was to determine if the differences between students and teacher beliefs about language learning affect proficiency.…

Investigates use of a computer-assisted language learning (CALL) dictionary and how well words looked up are remembered. The dictionary information has been incorporated into a CALL program that was comprised of a text, highlighted low-frequency words, and provided access to different lexical information about these words. Subjects were…