American Sign Language (ASL) education is a relatively new field. Thus, further research is necessary, especially regarding developing assessment tools. The goal of this study was to determine the types of assessment tools ASL level 1 teachers use in the classroom and how those teachers measure students' language progression. This study is…

Language program evaluation has the potential for positive program impact by providing an opportunity for program stakeholders to reflect on their goals, examine their outcomes, and determine ways to move forward to maximize a program's effectiveness. However, many stakeholders are either unaware of the affordances of program evaluation or unable…

This study examines the usefulness of a Process Drama approach for supporting the development of linguistic and communication skills of preservice teachers learning French as a world language in an Early Childhood Education licensure program. Process Drama is an interactive approach to teaching language in which the teacher and students carry out…

The purpose of this article is to provide a review of current research on two of the original ACTFL (American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages) research priorities areas, model teacher preparation programs and teacher oral proficiency, as well as a look at future directions for research in these areas. Driven by the call for continued…

Using Desimone's (2009) framework for studying the effects of teacher professional development (PD), this qualitative study examines the effectiveness and impact of a 10-week professional development course on 31 foreign language (FL) instructional faculty and staff in a U.S. Government language school. Data sources included 31 K-W-L reflections,…

Computer-mediated, communication-based foreign language learning programs are showing great promise. Among these, video-synchronous mediated communication seems to offer an effective way to provide speaking practice, although research findings have been inconclusive. Furthermore, among studies that have documented the effectiveness of…

Despite the solid evidence that online collaborative writing (CW) tasks benefit language learning, little is known about whether the computer-mediated communication (CMC) modality may impact the potential of online CW tasks in foreign language classrooms. This study examined the effect of task modality on the utility of CW tasks in language…

Spanish heritage language (SHL) programs are multiplying in the United States, but our understanding of what constitutes effective practices for administering such programs remains quite limited. The aim of this study is to identify successful SHL programs in postsecondary institutions nationwide and examine key characteristics that appear to be…

This study explored the development and maintenance of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) among 352 American learners of Arabic who completed summer intensive language programs in five Arab countries. Data were collected through a survey that was based on the 2007 draft of the Culture Proficiency Guidelines (Lampe, 2007; later adopted by…

This article probes the extent to which postsecondary Spanish learners can substantively increase their knowledge of Spanish over a two-week period within a context of language and content instruction for four hours per day. The article considers the relationship of an immersion experience to upper-level literature and culture classes. Insights…

This study compared the Mandarin performance of elementary immersion program students and high school world language program students in the same school district. A cross-sectional design was employed to gather information on Mandarin proficiency of fourth and fifth graders and Level 4 and Level 5 (AP Chinese) high school students who took the…

This article presents the quantitative and qualitative results of a nationwide survey of the perceptions of faculty, alumni, and students regarding the contribution to the undergraduate Spanish major curriculum of various types of courses and experiences. Quantitative results indicated that all participants valued the importance of study abroad as…

This study examined the effectiveness and usability of a scenario-based interactive practice in teaching Chinese formulaic expressions. Thirty students enrolled in Chinese classes in a U.S. university interacted with characters in videos featuring scenes recorded in Shanghai. Students were prompted to use formulaic expressions during their…

Second language acquisition research on the immersion context has focused primarily on study abroad, revealing the extent to which that context promotes learners' developing linguistic and intercultural competence. However, little research has examined linguistic development in intensive, domestic immersion contexts. This study investigated the…

The aim of this study was to investigate the contexts and practices of three undergraduate foreign language teacher education programs identified by ACTFL/Language Testing International and reported by Glisan, Swender, and Surface (2013) as having a high success rate in propelling their graduates into the Advanced proficiency level on the ACTFL…