Foreign language documentary films offer limitless possibilities for language teaching and are an ideal medium for the integration of the target culture and for the promotion of serious and committed discussions about human rights, diversity, global issues, and sustainability. Language learning is based on current cultural contexts so that…

While intercultural learning is a key goal of study abroad, it is often difficult to assess or even achieve. Recent models, such as linguistic landscapes (which looks at the language of public signs, including road signs, advertising billboards, street, and place names), can help students reflect on and make sense of their intercultural…

This paper addresses the theme of social inclusion through language learning. The focus is on an ad-hoc tutoring scheme set up between newly arrived British migrant pupils and French monolingual pupils in a small secondary school in the south-west of France. Though the original objective of this tutoring scheme was to improve the English skills of…

This contribution gives an account of the results of an action research in which a task-based plurilingual programme was implemented with postgraduate students of Foreign Languages and International Business. Using a mixed-methods approach, combining questionnaire, interview and observation data, we sought to explore the degree to which the…

A French television program using puppets for political satire is discussed and its instructional applications are examined. (MSE)

In response to the needs of international businessmen for intercultural negotiation skills, a Dutch university and a Dutch company have launched an initiative with the French embassy promoting cross-cultural communication skills and the understanding of business-related language. (MSE)

A series of articles on France's Bastille Day and its significance to the French over the two centuries of its celebration presents the viewpoints of the historian, writer, painter, film industry, and singer and provides materials and instructional ideas for classroom use. (MSE)

An analysis of recent French literature produces some frames of reference for understanding the "French identity," both for the individual and the nation. Included in the discussion are the issues of internal differences of conscience as they relate to group identity, the role of public opinion, and contrasts and comparisons with…

Proposes a general framework of interpretation for addressing second/foreign language didactics. Argues that Francophonie (the French-speaking countries and communities of the world collectively) constitutes geopolitical spaces sharing linguistic, cultural, economic, and institutional constructions, but that it is culturally and linguistically…

A professional conference exercise for teachers of French as a second language is described, in which participants analyzed the cultural content and linguistic form of headlines in adolescent mass literature. Two examples of this kind of analysis are given. (MSE)

The literature concerning the corporate culture of the United States is a starting point for comparing the institutions of different cultures. However, teaching about the cultural context of business is not simply a matter of describing non-American companies in American terms, and American-born language teachers usually have little experience…

Student experiences in an exchange program linking the University of Hawaii and the Graduate School of Business in Lyon, France illustrate the positive impact of foreign internships. The students were enrolled in internship programs in travel industry management. The reports written by the students reveal that the experiences have affected the…

Papers in French, English, and Arabic address issues in Arabic language instruction for European adults, including: classroom techniques, literary Arabic and diglossia, the specificity of instruction, Arabic studies in Denmark, phonetic difficulties of instruction, Franco-Maghrebin relations and language instruction, contrastive and comparative…