The author feels that this study reaffirms the importance of attitude as one of the factors explaining the degree of proficiency a student achieves in learning a second language. Four groups of students representing 80 countries were administered (1) a direct questionnaire on which they were asked to rate the importance of 14 possible reasons for…

The language training program for Peace Corps participants is investigated. The objectives were: to investigate the validity of the Modern Language Aptitude Test (MLAT) for predicting end-of-training Foreign Service Institute (FSI) language proficiency; to discover the relative difficulty of various target languages; to develop tentative…

The purpose of this study was to develop a data base concerning the home background of Puerto Rican pupils as it relates to present and potential educational progress. Specifically, the study was designed to secure and summarize systematic data concerning the following factors: (1) the educational level of the parents and their educational…

Stresses the need to synthesize techniques and methodologies, and to establish a central focus for beginning and intermediate programs of foreign language education in schools, higher education, and adult education programs. General conclusions and priorities are also offered. (EJS)

The multiple choice technique can test written and oral comprehension and linguistic competence at beginning and intermediate levels. Examples of test items concerning sounds, stress, vocabulary, and structures are presented, and brief comments on the items are included. (SW)

A study based on two hypotheses: (1) The cognitive and academic effects of bilingualism are mediated by the levels of competence attained in the first and second languages, and (2) the development of skills in a second language is a function of skills already developed in the first language. (AMH)

Research at Queens College involving 116 English as a second language students revealed that proficiency in English, measured by a variety of tests, is more closely related to amount of formal instruction than to years spent in an English-speaking country, although a significant relationship exists between proficiency and each factor. (CFM)

Theorizes that most or all varieties of the Tubatulabal language are currently undergoing enough grammatical degeneration to conclude that it is a dying language. The article states that de-acquisition research has been neglected and will have great relevance in future studies of degenerating grammars. (NCR)

It would be beneficial for ESL instructors to know the U.S. grade equivalent English ability of their students for placement purposes, especially if their instructional materials are keyed for U.S. classrooms. For this purpose, the Stanford Intermediate Level I Reading Comprehension Test was compared with the CELT-Structure Test. (Author/RM)

A description is provided of the English Language Assessment Test, a proficiency test administered weekly at the Vancouver Community College to determine the level of English language proficiency of non-native speakers who are applying for college preparatory or college courses and vocational training programs. (SW)

A college-level Spanish language teacher developed a textbook for fourth-graders that supported the audiolingual approach and was based on American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages Oral Proficiency Guidelines. Subject and vocabulary areas covered in the textbook included: salutations, the alphabet, numbers, colors, days of the week,…

A survey exploring important aspects of language learning as perceived by university students (N=1,135) enrolled in required foreign language courses revealed that, while students most highly valued oral proficiency, teachers appeared to value testing and evaluation practices most highly. (CB)

Some aspects of second language referential communication are analyzed in an experimental setting. The experimental task required subjects, who were visually separated but allowed to converse freely, to reach agreement on the ordering of a set of abstract shapes over a number of trials. (Author/LMO)

Study of the relationship between attitudes of native speakers and improved nonnative performance in Spanish and the relationship between increased degree of bilingualism and positive evaluations of nonnative speech suggested that language background has some influence on the perception of others' level of fluency. (CB)

Considers current research on reading in a second language from five points of view: (1) the reader's role in light of new models of language and textual meaning; (2) revised definitions of textual meaning and reader processing; (3) reader processing of schemata; (4) relationship between second-language competency and reader strategies; and (5)…