As schools shift to a performance-based model of language instruction, your world language programs will be challenged to keep up with new instructional activities and assessments. This new volume in our "Priorities in Practice" series can help. Explore the new directions schools and districts are taking in designing and implementing flexible…

The Hindi language proficiency guidelines are based on the 1986 generic ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) proficiency guidelines. They represent a hierarchy of global characterizations of integrated performance in four skill areas (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) in Hindi. The guidelines for each skill area…

This article describes how a course viewing East German literature from the perspective of the new Germany can be planned and taught, with special attention to text selection, class activities, and testing strategies designed to raise linguistic proficiency of students of different language levels in one literature class. (Author/AB)

An adult education curriculum integrating language and life skills instruction for students of English as a Second Language, based on the English Language Matrix (ELM) model, is presented. The curriculum is designed to meet the adult language learner's life competency needs, integrating communicative language skills of listening, interpreting…

The scope and sequence for high school English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction outlines the goals, objectives, skills, and assessment techniques for an integrated, holistic curriculum for the ESL program found in most Chicago public high schools. It is not coordinated with specific instructional materials, but designed to be adaptable and…

This curriculum guide for Indiana's Latin education programs is intended as a model for the integration of communicative, cultural, and linguistic learning in Latin curricula and instruction and an aid in designing proficiency-based curricula and instruction. It establishes the proficiency expected at the end of each of four instructional levels…

Development of oral foreign language proficiency in high school and college instruction is complemented by well-designed writing exercises integrating all skills and providing contact with various language forms. A series of short, text-adaptable, proficiency-based writing activities reinforcing aural, oral, and reading skills throughout the basic…

The nine-year program of studies for French as a Second Language (FSL) is a legal document that specifies from Grade 4 to 12 what Alberta students are expected to acquire as attitudes and linguistic, cultural, and strategic knowledge as they develop and demonstrate their communicative skills. This document contains an introduction, a rationale,…

The guide provides a model for Japanese second language curriculum development for teachers and school districts. It advocates an approach that emphasizes language proficiency for daily communication and cultural appreciation. An introductory section offers a rationale for teaching and learning Japanese, outlines the need for the guide, presents a…

The curriculum guide outline (CGO) developed for the Richland School District One (Columbia, South Carolina) represents a structured effort to coordinate the curriculum across disciplines. The CGO is an outline that guides the total curriculum content of a course and states the level of mastery acceptable for course credit. It has five components…

Despite the diversity in syllabus design and teaching methodologies for English as a second language, and for second language instruction in general, communicative proficiency is the underlying common goal. Some of the most influential ideas supporting this trend come from the fields of sociolinguistics, second language acquisition, and second…

The American Association of Teachers of French has proposed professional standards of competence for French teachers based on three principles: (1) teacher development is a continuum beginning in graduate study and extending throughout the professional career; (2) accreditation and evaluation of teacher education programs should take into account…

This guide discusses the ways in which educators in technical and vocational education programs can maximize opportunities for limited-English-proficient students to learn English language skills. Vocational classrooms are viewed as potentially excellent environments for language learning because of the hands-on nature of the work, undertaken in…

This curriculum for Manitoba's bilingual heritage language instruction program in Ukrainian outlines the objectives, content, and design of instruction of the bilingual program, open to all children regardless of language background. Introductory sections describe the program's rationale, goals, and objectives, and provide notes on program…

The Indiana Foreign Language Generic Competencies for Levels 1-4 define language-learning outcomes in terms of communicative competencies within generic cultural contexts. Nine cultural contexts (travel/transportation, the "world" of the target language, school and education, family and home, leisure time, meeting personal needs, world…