This article is part of a longitudinal study of American college students studying Mandarin in China. Its main data are drawn from monthly speaking events (four sessions with each student) conducted in Chinese with each of 29 participants in a study-abroad program in China. The study yielded these results: (a) Students made significant progress in…

This article takes a broadly sociocultural perspective on the development of an Armenian English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher. It focuses on how experiences and actions outside the professional development classroom influence language teacher agency. The paper is framed within activity theory and specifically draws on Galperin's orienting…

Describes a survey of foreign language teaching assistants (TAs) perceptions of which training elements they consider beneficial to their development as language instructors. Results, which distinguished between group and individual training methods showed informal discussions, end-of-course student evaluations, and small-group in-class interviews…

Reports on an alternative approach to the face-to-face interview for eliciting speech samples to evaluate second-language proficiency, discussing the reliability and validity of the Indonesian Speaking Test, an example of the tape-mediated simulated oral proficiency interview method. (18 references)(CB)

Describes a small-scale study into learners' attributions for success and failure in learning French. The study investigated the way in which learners conceptualize the notion of doing well, together with perceived reasons for successes and failures. Interviews were conducted with students (10-15 years of age) who were learning French in the…

Investigated the types of reception strategies and the frequency of their use by students of French as a second language at different levels of language proficiency, measured by an oral proficiency interview. A number of distinct strategies were identified: kinesics, global reprises, hypothesis testing in English and uptaking. Results are…