Outlines a rationale for using movies in modern language classes. Films in the target-language are useful in promoting listening comprehension and target-language culture. Films in students' native language may also be useful. The paper identifies ways for teachers to develop content-rich units that foster language learning. Two appendixes list…

Presents an English for specific purposes (ESP) case study that took place in a specialized business context involving senior German bankers. Reflects the common situation of many overworked English-as-a-Foreign-Language teachers who are under prepared for their ESP assignment, and offers recommendations for both published and authentic materials…

Examined a group of Turkish university English language teachers' perceptions of a teacher appraisal scheme with a developmental purpose, investigating whether there was a discrepancy between what the institution intended to achieve and how teachers perceived the scheme before and after participating in it. Teacher interviews indicated that…

Examined the validity of Dulay, Burt, and Krashen's hypothesis that the use of translation as an elicitation technique in foreign or second language (L2) research artificially increases L2 learners' reliance on the mother tongue, and accordingly, the proportion of interference errors. Examined interference errors on two elicitation tasks: an…

A rating scale is proposed for assessing both the level of a particular communicative performance in a small group and the general ability to perform in small-group interactions over time. argues that the theoretical difficulties of designing and using rating scales for this purpose, while requiring serious consideration, are outweighed by…

In this study, Spanish language samples were collected for a young bilingual Puerto Rican Spanish-English speaking child during a 2-year period (ages 4-6). Results suggest a progressive reduction of morphological and syntactical complexity in Spanish. The observed errors tended to affect mainly Spanish inflectional morphology. Implications for…

A study involving 102 toddlers with exposure to Spanish and English found children whose parents said they used only one language with the child did not differ from children whose parents said they used both languages in reported use of word combinations and use of mixed utterances. (Author/CR)

Explores ways of measuring implicit and explicit second language (L2) knowledge and examines the relationship between these measures and measures of general language proficiency. Factor analysis revealed a two-factor solution, reflecting a clear distinction between measures that incorporated a time constraint and those that did not. (Author/VWL)

To promote the communicative competence of elementary-stage English-as-a-foreign-language learners at Anhui Normal University, a balanced-activities approach has been adopted so students can benefit from an all-around development of the four language skills. (Author/VWL)

Outlines the nature of the current threat to English-as-a-Second-Language education in Australia that is posed by the Commonwealth "Literacy for All" policy. Provides a brief discussion of the social and educational context in which the policy was released and of the policy itself.(Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse on ESL Literacy Education)…

Recounts experiences using portfolios as an instrument for professional development during a 1-year pre-service teacher education course for language graduates. (Author/VWL)

Contrasts a bilingual Austrian school, which has German-speaking and English-speaking students and German and English as equal languages of instruction, with an independent school in the United Kingdom where German is taught intensively to students of all age groups. Focuses on the status of foreign languages, teacher recruitment, teaching…

Examines the benefits of language laboratories for learning Japanese. After reviewing related literature and selected issues on educational technology, the article presents results from a survey of Australian college students using a language laboratory. Overall, students appreciated and were positive about the language laboratory, though some had…

Based on English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students' documented preference for error correction and the need for word usage and sentence grammar to become automatic, this article describes the rationale and procedures for using reformulation as composition feedback. The procedures are aimed at improving sentence level grammar. Discusses survey…

Describes a self-study legal-language program for university students studying German that included computer-assisted language learning and satellite television. The program was tested for two years at a European university. This paper examines the program's rationale, pedagogical objectives, and theoretical considerations within the context of…