This manual is designed for improving understanding of colloquial Romanian in continued language learning beyond the beginning level. The first part of the manual includes four popular Moldovan fairy-tales with illustrations to help understand what is implied in the text. The second section includes local expressions, some of them with…

Designed for continued language learning beyond the intermediate level, this workbook provides practice and sets of exercises for improving speaking and listening skills in Bulgarian through class participation and discussion, and reading and writing. The book includes grammar explanations, news reports, brief biographies of prominent Bulgarians,…

Although a growing body of research points to the potential benefits of bilingual education, there are a number of commonly held beliefs that run counter to research findings. Based on current research, this digest clarifies some of the myths and misconceptions surrounding language use and bilingual education in the United States. The fallacies…

A study investigated the strategies used by learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) to comprehend texts written in English. Subjects were 15 student teachers enrolled at a state university in Indonesia. Data were gathered using think-aloud tasks, retellings, a reading comprehension test, in-depth interviews, and casual observation. Two…

The extent to which Finnish textbooks pay sufficient attention to pronunciation in English language courses is discussed, including decisions on the choice of accent (e.g., British or American English). Other issues include the choice of phonetic symbols, keys to the symbols, segmental sounds that reveal personality, weak forms, and elision and…

A discussion of the design of effective instructional materials for English as a Second Language (ESL) focuses on the application of second language learning theories and concepts of instructional design from educational technology to development of interactive video. A number of second language learning models and related research are examined,…

Taking a report on the effects of cooperative completion of cloze by Jacobson (1990) as its point of departure, this study used English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students to investigate the potential of the cloze procedure and of group work for learning, including its usefulness as an instructional or self-instructional procedure for language…

This paper reviews several issues and problems associated with the creation and application of tests and decision models for determining entry/exit, eligibility, placement, treatment, and reclassification procedures used to remedy the limited English proficiency of students from homes where English is not the primary language. Two concepts…

This report evaluates migrant programs in Colorado during the 1990-91 school year. Fifteen regular migrant education projects conducted by Colorado school districts and Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES), served 1,940 migrant students in 686 schools. Thirteen summer programs were administered in 17 schools and served 2,343…

A framework is presented for analyzing the role of communicative and intercultural competence and their teachability in second language instruction. First, several problematic communication situations are examined in which: (1) a native English speaker and native Danish speaker with limited English converse; (2) native speakers of two languages…

Each college foreign language department needs to use its limited resources with long-term goals in mind. Strategic planning requires the department to make sense of innovations in technology, present and future costs, enrollment trends, product life cycles, student characteristics, methodology, programmed or non-programmed needs, and vendors. In…

A globally responsive education is needed to prepare students to work and live in the 21st century. A combination of knowledge of languages, cultures, and business will enable individuals to successfully work with others and better understand and respect the diversity of world cultures. University education should provide a balance between the…

This paper focuses on how teachers and administrators share a commitment towards the general principle of accountability in regard to efficiency in educational programs. The notion of efficiency is shown to have limited application to complex multidimensional processes, including those of classroom language learning and of language program…

A study combined a motivation survey and needs assessment of 10 students enrolled in the 1993 summer session of an academic intensive English program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Extension. In the first week of classes, the subjects completed a questionnaire and wrote journal entries about their motivations (acculturation or…

This article discusses language simplification as one aspect of a person's speech activity, and relates simplification to second language learning. Translation from language to language and translation within one language are processes through which a person, as decoder, decontextualizes a message form-sequence through perception of its…