Program design in nonformal education must take into account the cultural context in which it exists. In developing countries, it can neither reject all values of Western civilization (an impossible task), nor can it embrace Western values without regard to native cultures. The challenge, especially in literacy education, is to become culturally…

Sojourners, people who stay for a period of time in countries of which they are not natives, sometimes may encounter communication situations for which they are not prepared. A program seems necessary whereby people living in nonfamiliar cultures can learn to interpret cultural idiosyncrasies inherent in communication patterns and to function as…

To be responsible, educational administrator training programs must take the context of practice into account in program design and execution. Adaptation in content, instructional processes, and support systems are required. The University of New Mexico's Spanish Language Master's Program, which has graduated 127 students, provides a model for…

An analysis of the trend in teaching African languages as a second or foreign language (AFL2) looks at patterns in the objectives of AFL2, teachers and learners, and instructional environments. Three basic program objectives in AFL2 are distinguished: language proficiency (basic conversation); language competence (close to native skills); and…

Student support in distance education depends on the market, the package employed, the delivery system, the image of the organization, and the culture in which it operates. If distance education is defined as an industrialized form of teaching and learning, lessons can be learned from the history of traditional higher education. The progress from…