This paper investigates trends in the study of Modern languages or second foreign languages (SFLs) in Swedish lower secondary school between 2000 and 2018. Over the last decades, SFLs, i.e. French, German and Spanish, have been the target of several policy measures as a response to a declining interest. However, few reports on their impact have…

Washington is one of 36 states in the country that allows students to earn high school credit based on demonstrating subject area competency instead of completing hours of classroom instruction. Washington law (Revised Code of Washington [RCW] 28A.230.090) delegates to the State Board of Education (SBE) the responsibility of establishing…

Recent research has established that it is academically advantageous for students to adopt an incremental view of their intelligence and that this is a key marker of a student's level of self-efficacy. The self-efficacy of students following Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) courses in UK secondary schools is known to be low. Interventions have been…

This article presents a descriptive analysis of the evolution of the world language Advanced Placement (AP) exam candidates' ethno-racial background, their heritage learner status, and language dominance, with particular emphasis on the two Spanish exams. The data come from aggregated national totals prepared by the College Board that include…

Discussions of student transition from the study of languages in UK high schools to the study of languages at university usually focus on the vertical transition, comparing the differences in curricula and approach to languages taken in each sector. Whilst acknowledging that this aspect of the student transition is important, this article explores…

In recent years there has been considerable public interest in the extra-musical effects of music education, but this has been accompanied by sustained scholarly investigation only to some extent. Research findings have tentatively suggested, however, that a relationship exists between musical learning and language development. This empirical…

This study investigated the performance of native and non native speakers of Modern Greek language on morphology and syntax tasks. Non-native speakers of Greek whose native language was English, which is a language with strict word order and simple morphology, made more errors and answered more slowly than native speakers on morphology but not…

In this article authenticity is defined by componential concepts, common to spoken and written communication through language, which frame assessments of interchanges produced for "high-stakes" examination purposes. They are referents for analysis and critique of International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme evaluations of second and foreign…

The Office of Education, in cooperation with the Modern Language Association of America, conducted a survey of language laboratories in secondary schools and institutions of higher education during the school year 1957-58. The procedure was to send a short questionnaire to all the schools and colleges known to have a language laboratory and…

This paper addresses the case for collaboration between English and modern languages teachers and researchers in teaching and learning languages. The British context is set out against a background of government initiatives to raise secondary pupils' literacy skills. Salient trends in the teaching approach of English (L1) and modern language (ML)…

Counseling pupils of high school age about foreign language programs fitted to their needs and abilities is somewhat more difficult than in the past, both because the objectives are different and because a thoroughgoing revision of language instruction is taking place at all levels of the school system. Guidance workers, teachers, principals, and…

The trend toward the development of functional communication skills and a longer sequence of language study has been hastened by an awakened public interest in modern foreign languages and by the emphasis given to language development in the National Defense Education Act. Both the immediate and the long-range objectives of foreign language study…