Reviews current approaches to second-language syllabus design in the United Kingdom and proposes a model for planning a five-year course of study within the national curriculum framework that will take account of both the meanings a learner may wish to express and the grammatical knowledge needed, i.e., a model reconciling the semantic and…

This article discusses alternative language assessment approaches with children for whom English is a second language. Advantages and disadvantages of each approach are noted. Also, results of a preliminary investigation with 28 bilingual Latino children using modifications of the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals are presented.…

Reports two studies comparing college students classified as learning disabled (LD) or as both LD and having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who had either substituted courses for a foreign language requirement or had fulfilled the requirement by passing foreign language courses. Findings suggest students classified as both LD and…

The "Outsider's Gaze" is a set of three DVDs (Digital Video Discs) for Asian students of Spanish, French, and German. The project employs constructivist principles in the development of language learning materials. This paper discusses insiders (native speakers) and outsiders (language learners), language teaching, theories of learning,…

Provides a summary of a discussion of the implications of these perspectives for the theory and practice of teaching English for academic purposes at the university level. Presents an example of a critical thinking discussion activity. (Author/VWL)

Offers an in-depth analysis of interaction patterns in just one example of one type of speaking event--the discussion class. Data comprised a video recording of a Master of Business Administration discussion group before and after the unexpected arrival of the tutor. Investigated the ways the presence and absence of the tutor impacted the…

Investigated the learning experiences of 23 Japanese students in a one-year academic exchange program in a Canadian university. Participants either wrote an opinion task or a summary task at the beginning of the program using preselected source texts. Analyses of interview data and comparisons of the original and revised texts indicate that…

Discusses the education system in Indonesia, the development of a national English syllabus, English in elementary and secondary schools and in higher education, private sector English courses, teacher preparation and professional development, and expatriate English teachers. (Author/VWL)

Discusses teaching English in Mexico, a country with important social, cultural, and economic ties to the United States. Looks at the various English teaching situations as well as teacher education for teachers in Mexico. Concludes that the English teaching situation in Mexico reflects great diversity and growth, and that the knowledge of English…

Examined the difficulties a group of Mexican graduate students encountered when engaged in an argumentative writing task as well as their writing processes and strategies. Data were collected from individual interviews with participants and from participants' essays. Analysis indicated most participants perceived the rhetorical aspects of English…

Examines how language-of-instruction choice affects Estonian Russian-speaking minority students following legislation requiring Estonian-only secondary education. Research indicates that Russian-speaking choice parents selecting Estonian-speaking schools differ from nonchoice Russian-speaking parents in resourcefulness. Despite Soviet-era…

Using a cooperative and situated learning approach, two vocational English-as-a-Second-Language instructors created a linguistic community of practice among nonnative speaking immigrant restaurant employees and their native speaking coworkers. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the role of foreign languages in the universities of Europe. The article advances the idea of establishing the use of foreign languages in practical settings in every academic discipline discusses a seminar centered on the theme of teaching languages to nonlinguists and on assessing the ability of the European universities to deal with…

Orthogonally manipulated three word characteristics in Dutch and English--word imageability; word frequency; and cognate status--and obtained similar data patterns for three groups of bilinguals different from one another in second-language fluency. Findings indicate that "concept mediation" is a universal process in translating words…

Investigates the linguistic and metalinguistic transfers that arise when French students learn comprehension and production in English. Analyzes how part of the metalinguistic knowledge they have of French is transferred into their metalinguistic knowledge of English, especially concerning simple preterite vs preterite + "be" +…