The Year Abroad (YA) is one of the most valuable parts of our language degree programmes. Here we discuss some of the elements that constitute the assessment Nottingham Trent University students carry out to earn a YA diploma. More specifically we compare the two elements (blog and dossier) that we think contribute most to reflective practice, by…

The global pandemic and subsequent quarantine measures and restrictions have posed a challenge to the structure and procedure of university summative assessment process. Qualification assessment for Foreign Languages major programs in particular is a strict regimen process that involves different stages (oral and written exams, final project viva,…

This paper presents the prototype of a Mobile Language Learning Environment (MLLE) allowing learners of German at a Japanese university to map classroom learning content onto the pathways of their everyday lives, turning places they come by into mnemonic "loci", and thus changing their daily commute into a learning trail. Even though the…

The Masters Degree in International Business Program at the University of South Carolina, begun in June 1974, has as its unique feature the emphasis on "lifelong experience." This emphasis affects both the student and the department. From the first year of the program (the basic features of which are intensive training in language,…

This paper reports on an on-going experiment in computer-aided language instruction. In 1972, a class of beginning German students at the Duluth campus of the University of Minnesota volunteered to test two pedagogic theories: (1) Could a computer-aided course be used by a class and an instructor who knew nothing of computers and who had to rely…

Describes a restructured first-year college German course which combines the essentials of the conversational and traditional grammar approaches into a program of practical language that can be mastered, not just covered. (EKN)

When Loyola University dropped its foreign language requirement in 1971, another requirement took its place. Students are now required to take three courses in literature, one of which is to be a course in a literature not originally written in English. Introductory courses (called Masterpieces courses) in French, German, Spanish, and Russian…

In teaching a course on the history of the German language, it is preferable to use the linguistic approach, which deals with the structure of language and those linguistic events which characterize the development of contemporary German from Proto-Indo-European, rather than the cultural approach, with emphasis on extralinguistic data. The main…

This course description outlines the general and specific objectives for a course on "Women in German Literature," which investigates the changing literary and social roles of women from the beginning of the 19th Century to the present: women as seen by man, by another woman and in introspection. This course description was successfully used in a…

A comparison of four college-level elementary German textbooks reveals significant differences in the numbers of vocabulary entries in each textbook. Further comparison of three of the textbooks with the basic German vocabulary lists provided in "Kontaktschwelle Deutsch als Fremdsprache" and in "Das Zertificat Deutsch als Fremdsprache" reveal in…

The undergraduate translation curriculum at Kearney State College, Nebraska, is described. The program treats translation as an academic discipline as well as a vocational skill. Students are taught the theory and practice of translation and interpretation in their choice of German, French, or Spanish. Two semesters are spent on translation…

For several years now, the trend toward teaching culture in the language class has been used to stimulate interest in foreign language study. College language professors should be able to provide cultural knowledge to their language students, but traditional language teacher preparation has emphasized literary skills to a large extent. The…

The "Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache," an examination developed by the Adult Education Centers in West Germany and the Goethe Institute to measure a student's proficiency in German as a foreign language, consists of two main parts, group testing and individual testing. The group testing section covers listening and reading…

Discusses the need to be flexible and restructure foreign language departments and courses to meet student needs. Describes a four-year, second language program with a nonliterary emphasis, designed for nonforeign language majors as one way to do this. (EKN)

An experimental first-year German program at the University of Texas is described. The course builds on and extends psychologist James Asher's Total Physical Response strategy and is based on five principles: (1) presenting language as communication in context; (2) teaching recognition before production; (3) postponing demands for error-free…