Reports on an experimental teaching approach, based on an innovative video series, used in an English-as-a-second-language (ESL) class for beginning learners. The tapes, which focused on students as they learned (with the viewers learning along with them), showed generally favorable results for ESL students. (Author/CB)

The acquisition of textual competence in a language occurs through the acquisition of both lexical competence and knowledge of word order that allows the construction of well-formed sequences. Exercises that help develop vocabulary and word order skills in French as a foreign language are presented. (MSE)

Comparison of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language's (ACTFL) Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and a communicative competence-oriented dictation test, involving 60 university level French, German, or Spanish majors, revealed significant correlations between the two tests. (CB)

Analysis of multilingual acquisition processes among children at the European School of Brussels reveals how both curricular and extra-curricular factors combine to account for these students' high levels of proficiency in three or four languages. Schumann's (1979) Acculturation Model applied to one case study allows examination of how the…

The study and appreciation of literature should retain its traditional position at the center of foreign language study. A "problem-centered" model is described for teaching literature in the undergraduate foreign language classroom using texts organized around a series of complex critical problems. (CB)

Presents examples of misunderstandings in compliment exchanges in different cultural contexts and analyzes them as instances of pragmalinguistic and sociopragmatic failure. Analysis of complimenting behavior norms forms the basis of a set of exercises designed to assist learners in developing the ability to recognize and use compliments…

The study of authentic texts gives students the opportunity to become functional in target-language situations. An exhaustive alphabetical list of authentic text types and corresponding learning activities are presented. Text types include: advertisements, bank materials, bills and receipts, calendars, captions, comics, commercials, decals, forms,…

Reviews key issues in the debate over the role of grammar in the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Oral Proficiency Interview and in corresponding proficiency guidelines as well as the debate's potential impact on foreign language curricula. Data describing the grammatical accuracy of 40 interviews at various proficiency…

This article addresses the question of whether or not current language education programs will meet the bilingual, cross-cultural needs of the Southwest business community. The article suggests ways schools can increase English and Spanish proficiency. (JL)

A summer seminar at Northern State College brought together German teachers from South Dakota to sharpen oral skills by speaking only German for three weeks and to revitalize teaching skills through classroom videotaping, all while earning academic credits. (MSE)

Investigation of the linguistic features lost in oral French over a vacation period by English-speaking ninth graders (N=89) revealed significant reductions in total time, speaking time, number of pauses, quantity of production, and grammatical accuracy on tasks requiring production of discourse, suggesting a general deterioration in language…

Examines the writing strategies of English-as-a-second-language (ESL) student writers at different levels of ESL instruction. Results indicate that native and non-native writers had many strategies in common, but ESL learners were less inhibited by attempts to correct their work. Little correlation was found among English proficiency, writing…

Discusses language use as a variable in studies of second-language learning, considering a study of 300 secondary school students learning Chinese that showed that integrative and instrumental motivation to be independent and that language use explains one-fifth of total variance in language achievement. (Author/CB)

A study investigated the usefulness of dictation for measuring communicative competence and oral proficiency in English as a second language. Two methods of scoring dictation were used: a scale of communicative effectiveness, and the traditional error count. (MSE)

Considers some important arguments in favor of the vigorous promotion of greater literacy in foreign languages, including analysis of how several essential components of GCSE syllabi can be applied to such instruction. (CB)