Scholars have long recognized the Washback effect of English language tests on English teaching inside the classroom. However, the lack of scholarly reports in this area is also nonnegligible. Therefore, the present study intends to review some empirical researches that focus on the washback of some English language tests on different aspects of…

On March 23rd, at the University of Auckland (New Zealand), all lectures were suspended for a week. During this time, both students and staff made a considerable effort to prepare the online delivery of courses. In this chapter we discuss the impact of COVID-19 on the Italian beginners courses offered in Semester 1. With no certainty of when the…

Teaching of English in Saudi Arabia is a necessitous concern in education. The administration, planners, syllabus designers, textbook writers, teachers, and government have been trying to advance the teaching/learning of English in the country. The teachers are capable, experienced and the infrastructural facilities including e-information…

There is little dispute that formulaic sequences form an important part of the lexicon, but to date there has been no principled way to prioritize the inclusion of such items in pedagogic materials, such as ESL/EFL textbooks or tests of vocabulary knowledge. While wordlists have been used for decades, they have only provided information about…

The purpose of the Test for English Majors (TEM) is to measure the English proficiency of Chinese university undergraduates majoring in English Language and Literature and to examine whether these students meet the required levels of English language abilities as specified in the National College English Teaching Syllabus for English Majors…

The European Language Portfolio (ELP) was developed and piloted by the Language Policy Division of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg, from 1998 to 2000. It was launched on a pan-European level during the European Year of Languages as a tool to support the development of plurilingualism and pluriculturalism…

Describes a self-pacing procedure for helping students of diverse backgrounds handle the materials of a composition course in English as a second language. Sample instructional materials are appended. (JB)

Discusses the Graded Objectives for Adults Learning (GOLF) Russian program. The aim of the GOLF program is to have four levels, with Level Four being considered equivalent to a good GCSE pass, at which stage students will have a good working knowledge of the language and a wide vocabulary. (CK)

The traditional upper-level course in French civilization at Utah State University was abandoned in favor of a course entitled "France Today," taught once a year to a consistent enrollment of students majoring in a wide variety of disciplines. The content varies somewhat each year, but the class typically begins with several class…

A college advanced speaking course designed with the ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines is described. Students prepared and performed many communicative tasks, including narrating, describing, hypothesizing, supporting an opinion, debating, and interviewing for a job. Other components include pair and small-group work, audio and videotaping, and pre-…

Describes a one-semester conversational language course based on specific proficiency goals. The oral proficiency pre- and posttests, goal contracts outlining performance objectives for each chapter of the text, specific instructional and grading techniques, and class activities are detailed. (MSE)

The demand for an improved international dimension in American education is a move in the right direction, and American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and Educational Testing Service efforts in defining foreign language proficiency guidelines and developing a reliable mechanism for testing oral proficiency have resulted in…

The final report on a Mercy College (New York) program of mathematics and vocational English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction for limited-English-proficient workers in a manufacturing company is presented. The report consists of documentary materials, and is organized according to the five chronological terms in which the program operated,…

This guide consists of a set of goals and learning outcomes for the entire secondary German program, with emphasis on practical application of present-day spoken and written German. The goals and outcomes are divided so as to provide a suitable structure for course development and materials selection at the local level. The importance of…

An intensive course in English for business communication, offered at an institute for graduate-level teacher training in Ukraine, is described. An introductory section examines the need for and approaches to English-as-a-Second-Language teaching in Ukraine. The course consists of two main parts: a 14-week intensive general English class, titled…