Although most language programs make placement decisions on the basis of placement tests, there is surprisingly little published about different contexts and systems of placement testing. The present volume contains case studies of placement programs in foreign language programs at the tertiary level across the United States. The different…

When the University of Southern California announced that it would shutter its tiny German department, the outcry was out of proportion to the handful of faculty members and students directly affected by the move. In addition to students who advertised their dismay on Facebook and faculty members who complained that their efforts to bolster the…

This paper seeks to highlight perceptions of students undergoing the Teaching of English to Young Learners (TEYL) programme jointly run by UUM and KPM since 2004. It focuses on their level of satisfaction from both academic amid non-academic aspects, particularly on the effectiveness of teaching methods employed by both local and international…

Integration of technology into language education has become an everyday occurrence. Educational multimedia courseware as resource materials to enhance the teaching and learning of English language was produced extensively. Regardless of the cost, computers and courseware are becoming important tools for learning in institutions. Therefore, a…

Any attempt to define English language proficiency can never be divorced from the theories that describe the nature of language, language acquisition and human cognition. By virtue of such theories being socially constructed, the descriptions are necessarily value-laden. Thus, a definition of language proficiency can only, at best, be described as…

Students in the University of Rhode Island's International Engineering Program (IEP) spend a semester studying at an overseas university and another six months interning at a company abroad; at the end of five years, they earn two degrees, in engineering and a foreign language. Despite the extra academic demands, nearly a third of Rhode Island's…

This article focuses on the way in which technology-based activities may shape and characterize students' awareness of their own learning processes and their understanding of autonomy. The study was carried out at a public university in Colombia. Data collection was done through the implementation of class observations, a survey, and some focus…

Two studies were carried out in order to create distinct motivational profiles of students, examine the way in which context had an effect on motivational styles, and attempt to collaborate these findings with the L2 Motivational Self-System. The research questions for this study were concerned with ascertaining whether or not it is possible to…

This study contributed to the continuing dialogue of quality language programs and student outcomes for classroom language learning and assessments within the standardized testing era to language learning programs within Colombia. The particular purpose of this one-phase, embedded, mixed-method study examined students' and teachers' beliefs about…

The documentation of the benefits of blog use in foreign language education has proliferated since 2006. In the field of blogging to write, most studies focus on learners' linguistic performance and perceptions. To provide an analysis of learners' writing performance by using blogs, in addition to the often-researched areas, this study examines…

For the last two years the author has used Repeated Reading (RR) to teach reading fluency in English as a Foreign Language classrooms in colleges and universities in Japan. RR is a method where the student reads and rereads a text silently or aloud from two to four times to reach a predetermined level of speed, accuracy, and comprehension. RR…

This study examines a Chinese language programme in an Ivy League institution through the lens of Tracking to re-conceptualise the achievement gap between Chinese heritage language learners (CHLLs) and non-heritage language learners. Like most prestigious universities in the U.S., Chinese language learners in this case study are put on one of two…

Raimes (1983) has identified nine components necessary to produce a piece of writing that is clear, fluent and effective. These are also the aspects that are considered when assessing writing. The common practice is to have raters score the essays and they are provided with a rating scale for this purpose. A training and practice session is also…

This paper discusses learning language and communication activities that focus on students' concrete involvement in their learning process. The activities first deal with student-produced blogs and digital videos in business Spanish. They then present student-produced podcasts for Swedish business communication learners that are meant for speakers…

This presentation examines the application of Web 2.0 to an online scientific language course. The online Computer Science English Course (CSEC), funded by a national PRIN project and targeted to students enrolled in the undergraduate course in Applied Computer Science (ACS) at the University of Urbino-Italy, aims to promote the acquisition of…