"Learning Languages" celebrated ten years of publication with this issue. A Ten-year anniversary is one of those significant milestones that provide occasion for celebration, for looking back, and for reflection. Here, Carol Ann Dahlberg pauses for a few minutes to look back at the profession over the last decade and discuss some of the…

A test administered to 73 adults learning English as a second language revealed a highly consistent order of relative difficulty in the use of eight functors across different language backgrounds. This study also confirmed earlier results indicating that children and adults use common strategies and process linguistic data similarly. (Author/KM)

A study investigated the types of in-class, speaking-oriented activities that second language learners find anxiety-producing and the types of instructor practices that students perceive as anxiety-reducing. A 4-page questionnaire was administered to 135 university-level students of intensive Spanish and 109 high school students in first- and…

This document presents the view that for teaching and learning written language, teachers and students in bilingual education programs must have autonomy and must be able to appropriately account for local conditions. Upper-level government policies should be broad, non-specific, and linked to appropriate general goals. Diverse and complex local…

This compilation of interviews and photographs is the result of a German class project entitled Whyte Avenue. The project was carried out by fifth and sixth grade students who were attending an after-school German course in Edmonton, Alberta. The course introduced students to the German language and culture by exposing them to native German…

Foreign Workers' German (FWG) refers to the acquired German language skills of workers from various countries who were recruited to West Germany between 1955 and 1973 to fill menial, undesirable jobs. Contact between these workers and native German speakers was limited because of the nature of the foreigners' work, the tendency toward residential…

A stylistic approach to the teaching of English literature is required--one that focuses on the use of specific language styles instead of the traditional singular focus on theme. The only justification for studying English literature in its original language (i.e., English) is because the language used by the writer is a crucial element in the…

The progress theorists have made toward developing models of second-language acquisition suggests that researchers need to pay more attention to classroom data. Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) can link theory to practice. A review of the connections between second language acquisition theory and CALL points out several factors,…

A discussion of the future of adult second language learning in Great Britain begins with an overview of the field's current state. It is argued that the large number of adults pursuing foreign language learning in a variety of institutions is not matched by quality of offerings, and attrition is high. A national testing program was developed in…

This transcript of and guide to a two-cassette course designed to assist immigrants in erasure of their foreign accents can be used for either individual or group study. Narrative and taped demonstrations of American English that pinpoint typical phonological barriers and pronunciation difficulties are outlined. The author's own system of…

Foreign language instruction and related research on second language acquisition in the United States can be understood only in the context of the role of English, of American education, and of speech and language research. Any part of an educational system is both a result of historical processes and a response to current needs and values. The…

Ten Japanese college students who were taking an English conversation class, but had low-level verbal skills, were studied through six videotaped conversational sessions between them and their teachers to examine English connective words such as "oh,""so," and "OK" in the conversational setting of native and…

This study investigated the multidimensional nature of language preference, language confidence, self-identity, and various attitudes and stereotypes among a sample of Polish immigrants to Canada. A total of 320 questionnaires were used in the study, 100 written in English and 220 in Polish; of this total, 248 were returned for a response rate of…

Only a fraction of one percent of elementary school children in the United States are enrolled in the study of a foreign language, yet the United States must compete in a multilingual world market. American educators must reevaluate the means by which they prepare future citizens for productive living in an ever-shrinking global society. Piaget,…

A study examined the patterns of error in the preterite and imperfect tenses in the written Spanish of native English-speaking college students. Errors found in the midterm examination were analyzed to determine whether they were due to incorrect tense, incorrect form of the tense, or both. It was predicted that many students would choose…