Materials use is a critical yet poorly understood dynamic of language classrooms. This study examines 'materials-in-action,' meaning how materials shape classroom interaction and activity, in a beginning-level French-as-a-foreign-language classroom. The conceptual framework, 'pedagogical ergonomics,' similarly centers on materials-in-action, and…

This article explores the temporal nature of language learning in classroom settings through the lens of Conversation Analysis (CA) by drawing on video-recorded interactions from Content and Language Integrated (CLIL) classrooms. It outlines some methodological challenges that the task of documenting language learning in and as observable social…

This study examines possible connections between second language competency and frequency and type of gesture use (illustrators, compensatory illustrators, adaptors, emblems, regulators, and affect displays). To this end, 75 students enrolled in beginning, intermediate, and advanced college-level Spanish courses were videotaped while conversing in…

Report on the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, April 18-20, 1974. (PMP)

A study investigated the effectiveness of communicative and noncommunicative class activities for English second-language instruction in relation to student perceptions of the degree to which those activities were enjoyable. Results indicate a positive correlation between enjoyableness and perceived effectiveness but do not show a causal…

Paper presented as luncheon address at the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages on April 8, 1972, in Chicago, Illinois. (DS)

Outlines a "post office" lesson used in foreign language teaching. Students write postcards to each other and class conversation becomes a realistic exercise in asking directions to the Post Office, price of postage, methods of mailing, etc. (CHK)

Describes a summer intensive advanced German language program at the University of Texas at Arlington that has been conducted since 1975. Discusses course organization, teaching methods, class activities, testing, and the success of the program in terms of increasingly higher achievement ratings. (MES)

Describes distinctions among three strands of communication in the second-language classroom: cooperative learning, i.e., a particular set of classroom techniques fostering learner interdependence as a route to cognitive and social development; collaborative learning, which views learning as a construction of knowledge within a social context; and…

A shopping exercise for the foreign language classroom is described. In this exercise, students contribute unused items, "money" is provided, and the students then set up stores and buy and sell the items. (RM)

Paper presented at the third meeting of the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, April 15-17, 1971, in Detroit, Michigan. (DS)

In a study of learners' levels of comfort with language activity types allowing differing degrees of interaction, 110 first-year college students of French, Spanish, and Italian were surveyed at a university and community college. Results suggest the value of activities facilitative of negotiated interaction. The questionnaire is appended. (10…

A teaching approach to foreign language literary texts for introductory and intermediate levels consists of a three-phase sequence: 1) the preparatory phase provides linguistic activities and establishes comprehension; 2) the interpretive phase includes expression and exchange of student reactions; and 3) the synthesis phase provides for an…