I begin this article by briefly explaining why I think CercleS should encourage university language centres to align their courses and assessment with the proficiency levels of the "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages" (CEFR) and why they should use a version of the European Language Portfolio (ELP) to support the…

Foreign language teachers' catalog course descriptions are criticized for using inappropriate arguments for them and for not clearly articulating the need for language study. These arguments favoring language study are categorized as sociopolitical, instrumental, and cognitive, and are examined individually. (MSE)

Reviews research about orality and literacy. Since foreign language students are already somewhat literate in a first language, the traditional orality-based foreign language teaching should be revised to first teach reading and writing, the literacy skills. (DJD)

Foreign Language across the Curriculum (FLAC), a practice that modifies non-FL liberal arts courses to include an FL reading component, is described as implemented at two private colleges. It is concluded that FLAC offers only a token FL benefit to most students. (33 references) (LB)

One of the obstacles to the internationalization of college curriculums is the nature of faculty training. In recent years there has been a decline in second language requirements for the doctoral degree, and, as a result, college faculties become increasingly anglophone in their research. But there is a considerable pool of international…

The development of specific university-level programs to prepare students for international employment or to enhance job opportunities in the United States can be achieved only through cooperation between foreign language departments and other departments. Foreign language educators and students must learn to relate to other fields, communicate…

Failures and successes in teaching commercial foreign languages will speak for themselves. However, the profession must not foster exaggerated expectations of mastery in such a broad field, but must state honestly and realistically, with clear limits, what the commercial language course's goals are. In a college course enrolling somewhat…

Emphasizes the need for cooperation and resource sharing among university foreign language departments as a means of ensuring their survival and enhancing their academic offerings. Some of the goals that could be achieved through this strategy include: new educational opportunities, improved quality of programs, planned diversity, cost avoidance…

It is argued that a functional-notional syllabus is practical and useful for second language instruction at the college level. It constitutes a natural progression from secondary school curricula that emphasize communication in that it uses the same basic organization and similar categories. However, it differs from them in that it pays particular…

Business school faculty and language educators agree that the business school curriculum must be internationalized and that means must be provided for students to acquire facility in a foreign language. The use of traditional foreign language offerings to provide language skills to business majors has proven unsatisfactory. The traditional…

This new method for teaching college English in India is based on prior assumptions but is given a justification and a methodological framework previously lacking. The method, which lies somewhere between the manipulative control and regimentation employed at the school level and the total freedom of the existing college method, is described in…

Five brief essays are presented in response to an earlier article on leadership in college foreign-language departments. They address issues of curriculum redesign, pedagogical change, the nature of language teaching, the professional identity of language teachers, the role of professional organizations, and the traditional departmental model. A…

The efforts of the foreign languages department at the College of St. Thomas to introduce a new major in international business illustrate the psychological barriers to innovation. Neither the college's business department nor the local multinational corporations took international business very seriously, and the new endeavor was received with…

Recommendations for strengthening the international perspective of the undergraduate curriculum at colleges and universities are offered, and reasons for internationalizing the curriculum are considered, based on changes throughout the world and America's role in it. Attention is focused on the reform of existing programs and the introduction of…