According to the functional model proposed by Sampasivam and Clément in 2014, the two determinants that build towards second language confidence (L2C) are "richness and self-involvement" of the contact experience. This study adds to previous research by investigating, for the first time, the role of interlocutor type in the context of…

This project investigated vocabulary learning from a sociocultural perspective--in particular, the way in which lexical knowledge was mediated in Spanish second language (L2) learners' and native speakers' (NSs') interactions. Nine students who were enrolled in an advanced conversation course completed an oral portfolio assignment consisting of…

This article reviews what we know about integrating film into our foreign language classes and addresses the aspects of film and the media literacy issues that impact deeper understanding of the target language and culture. In addition, I illustrate the interplay of these factors in planning instruction that integrates film in the third and fourth…

This study examined whether foreign language learner anxiety and motivational goal orientations remained stable across two different classroom contexts: a reading course and a conversation course. The researcher measured anxiety and four types of motivational goal orientations by surveying 59 Korean college students learning English in both…

Describes a technique that uses the materials of the language laboratory to develop fluency at the advanced level of Russian. Each week students receive a picture and a vocabulary list that relates to a story that they then listen to on a cassette. A conversation class completely in Russian follows. (SED)

Describes the Interactive Tour Schema, a course modeled on the relationship between a guide and the tourists who make use of his or her services. The structure of the course requires excursions away from the classroom and to various campus and off-campus locations where tours are given by student tour guides. (SED)

Describes the undergraduate internship in conversation at New Mexico State University, a course which attempts to improve the oral communication of basic language classes. The course offers undergraduates opportunities to hold conversations with more advanced undergraduates in weekly meetings. In order to make the class nonthreatening, neither…

An activity intended to foster authentic conversation in the foreign language classroom--a hypothetical situation involving a choice of people who are to survive--is reported. French, German, and Spanish versions of the material are provided. (RM)

Describes the suggestopedic method and an experiment using it in an American college elementary language class. The class organization, the way suggestopedia works, the classroom program, and results of suggestopedic courses are discussed. (AMH)

Discusses an introductory course in basic conversational Spanish that raised enrollment. It is noted that the course interested students who desired a basic knowledge of spoken Spanish and those students who feared failure in regular courses. It was found that some students later enrolled in regular courses. (Author/AMH)

Suggests that oral skills classes provide the ideal forum in which to address discourse issues, and that target-language discourse norms, particularly as they relate to another cultural belief system, must be taught explicitly. (Author/VWL)

A number of conversation exercises are described for use in second language teaching which are intended to promote communication in the foreign language by creating among the students a need to talk and a need to listen. (RM)

Associative speaking as a method of making oral communication the central activity in foreign language classes as early as the second semester is described. (Author/RM)

In order to ensure personal involvement in and eagerness for verbal communication, the German intermediate conversational course at Clemson University centers on love, marriage, and family life. Student proficiency in German improves, and the course generates enthusiasm as well as self-awareness and awareness of others. (Author/SW)