Aimed at Ph.D. programs in German, this article offers a broad framework to discuss the urgent issues facing our programs to stem the tide of (possible or even likely) disinvestment in German in times of fiscal hardship. Many conversations on suitable reforms tend to be held separately by different stakeholders -- teaching-focused faculty or…

Of all the resources and techniques available to the classroom teacher of English as a second or foreign language, none are more neglected than audiovisual aids. Properly planned, constructed, and employed, such aids can help not only to improve the overall language program but also to enhance the classroom atmosphere and to ensure greater student…

Of all the recent budget cuts made by the Eagle County, Colorado, school district--the loss of 89 staff jobs through attrition and layoffs, a 1.5 percent across-the-board pay cut, and the introduction of three furlough days--none sparked as much anger or faced the same scrutiny as the decision to cut three foreign-language teaching positions and…

As instructional leaders, principals often make curriculum decisions that balance their community's need for knowledge with the nation's need for knowledge workers. Across the country, school administrators are searching for funding and effective means of infusing more technology, foreign language learning, and global perspectives instruction into…

Ensuring that students spend time preparing for class has always been one of the challenges of teaching. Indeed, when students are given an assignment that they are required to do before coming to the next lecture--whether it be written exercises or just studying--one wonders how often they are actually doing it. There are many ways in which…

One of the major challenges in second and foreign language education, is to create links between formal and informal learning environments. Mobile City and Language Guides present examples of theoretical and practical reflections on such links. This paper presents and discusses the first considerations of Mobile City and Language Guides in…

Many different types of instructional programs for foreign language are noted, with examples from many different ongoing instructional programs described. (MP)

This report by the American Association of Community Colleges summarizes the results of a nationwide year-long study on foreign language education. Programs, called Improving Foreign Language Education projects at Community Colleges, were implemented at a total of 36 American colleges to enact proposed changes in curriculum and foreign language…

A project to augment traditional language classes linked the University of Seoul (Korea) with UCLA. California students of Korean, who had spent summers in Seoul, could hear lectures in Korean and converse with Korean students of English as a Second Language in Seoul using a computer-based audiographic system involving two standard telephone…

This article describes the evolution of distance learning in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction from the 1970s to the present, focusing on the "guided didactic conversation" model of Holmberg (1983, 1986), examples of distance learning ESL programs, and a new model of distance learning based on computers and electronic communication.…

Almost since the moment the Berlin Wall crumbled, American schools' interest in teaching Russian did likewise. But precisely because the numbers of Russian learners fell off sharply, Glastonbury and the few other schools that have stuck with the language are finding their students very much in demand. In this article, the author reports how…

A computer-assisted instructional program to teach the Arabic writing system and elementary vocabulary and comprehension, which was developed at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at The University of Texas at Austin in cooperation with the university's College of Liberal Arts, is described. Among the benefits of the computer-assisted approach…

New video technologies available for French second-language instruction are reviewed, and their incorporation into a Pennsylvania State University third-semester French course is described. Issues discussed include considerations of media availability, authentic vs. contrived video, second-language acquisition theory, and curricular goals and…

Middlebury College (Vermont) has initiated a program to develop computer and information networking competence among language faculty in many institutions so that they can better understand the relationship between technology and language pedagogy, become comfortable with multimedia materials in the language classroom, and collaborate on…

There is a number of proprietary and open source Learning Delivery Systems (LDSs) available for the use of Instructors today. Though each have their own protocols, they all still share an overlapping and common tool set. This article provides a case study describing how to apply some of the common tools found in LDSs in the delivery of course in…