Describes the design and implementation of a CD-ROM-based German exercise package for commercial distribution and a listening and culture package using interactive multimedia based on authentic German television programs. The project demonstrates how a set of specialized authoring tools can be brought to bear upon the real-world needs and…

Reviews the technical and legal issues surrounding the use of Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) and describes authoring possibilities that can simplify the ultimate delivery of interactive video materials to language learners. Details the process of creating a DVD title in a case study at Brigham Young University. (Author/VWL)

Investigated fourth-year university students perceptions of vocabulary learning strategies as affected by individual difference variables such as sex, Tawijihi grades, and accumulative average. The study consisted of English majors at Yarmouk University in Jordan. (Author/VWL)

Describes a collaborative upper level Latin literature course taught at a secondary school and a university that used a variety of technologies, including a MOO and e-mail. The design of this course on Plautus'"Aulularia" is discussed, including objectives, learning goals, and collaborative assignments. Argues that informed use of technology can…

Investigated the relative effects of two test taker characteristics--native language and learning experience--on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign English Placement Test. Subjects were 203 students. Background information was gathered through a questionnaire. Native language appeared more influential on test performance than learning…

Proposes, on the basis of a host of curricular factors, a stratification of foreign language programs in U.S. institutions of higher learning into two graded and curricularly distinctive phases. The initial phase would be comprised predominantly of nonmajors who enroll in beginning courses to satisfy a language requirement. The professional phase…

Reports on the introduction of an action research component into an existing graduate foreign language teaching methodology course for beginning foreign language teachers (graduate teaching assistants and graduate students) at the college level. Discusses the implementation, benefits, and caveats of such a project, illustrated with samples of…

Fifty-nine English-as-a-foreign-language students in Saudi Arabia took a cohesion test in which they identified four types of cohesive ties in a reading text, including conjunction, reference, substitution, and ellipsis. Incorrect responses were analyzed. It was found that substitution was the most difficult cohesive tie to process. (Author/VWL)

Examines attitudes of mainstream teachers to English-as-a-Second-Language learners in the central part of the United States. Based on results of a survey of 143 junior high/middle school mainstream teachers, multiple predictors were identified that were interpreted as indicators of exposure to cultural diversity. Argues for inclusion of explicit…

Interviewed teachers from around the world to examine a specific purpose (SP) versus general purpose (GP) distinction in their orientations to the work they do. The difference in orientation was signaled in the criteria the teachers use to assess students' writing. (Author)

Examines whether learners initiate attention to form, as requests for assistance, feedback on error, modeling, or repetitions, recasts, and requests for clarification. Results suggest that learners can and do attend to form, though relatively infrequently. The most frequent way they they do this is to request assistance from their teachers.…

Argues that lexical, syntactic, organizational, and material aspects of writing construct identity just as much as the phonetic and prosodic aspects of speech do. Illustrates this with writing samples of graduate students studying in British universities. Recommends second language writing pedagogy that raises critical awareness about voice.…

Explored whether or not the C-test serves as a valid operationalization of the reduced redundancy principle. Investigated the frequency and type of micro- and macro-level cues that English-as-a-foreign-language learners employ to restore the mutilations in the C-test. A C-test comprising five texts was administered concurrently with the Test of…

Analyzes self-directed language learning behaviors of adult third-language learners based on qualitative data. Data were gathered from learners of Georgian and Kazakh at the University of Maryland, College Park. All learners were found to assess their progress, learning styles, strategy preferences, and conflicts with teaching styles, and with the…

Reports findings of an investigation of the ways 60 teachers of English in Hong Kong public secondary schools perceive and implement learner training. Results indicate that even though these teachers have generally positive attitudes towards learner training they do not always help their students develop strategies in the classroom. (Author/VWL)