Discusses the use of French mail-order catalogues as pedagogical aids, specifically in teaching French culture, vocabulary, and conversation. (AM)

Addresses the potential of conversational simulations for computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and reasons why this potential is largely untapped. Topics discussed include artificial intelligence; microworlds; parsing; realism versus reality in computer software; intelligent tutoring systems; and criteria to clarify what kinds of CALL…

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)

Discusses language fieldwork (direct personal contact with native speakers) as an adjunct activity in German conversation and composition courses and as a means of encouraging contacts between students and native speakers of German. Discusses the author's personal experience with such an activity, evaluates the project, and draws conclusions based…

First part of a continued article. (RL)

Discusses a three-stage approach for teaching advanced conversation. Students master related course material, write and perform a miniplay based on that material, and then "survive" in a situation based on the material. Use of the videotape recorder can bring added motivation and better performance. Its advantages and disadvantages are discussed.…

This is one of a series of self-teaching textbooks in more than 30 languages initially prepared and published for the armed forces and later offered to the general public. The method used in this manual requires either that a native speaker of German be on hand during the course or that the recorded voice of a native speaker be used. Records and…

This course in spoken Serbo-Croatian is intended for use in introductory conversational classes. Book I in the two-volume series is divided into two major parts, each containing five learning units and one unit devoted to review. Each unit contains sections including (1) basic sentences, (2) word study and review of basic sentences, (3) listening…

Organized by the Department of European Languages and Institutions at Cranfield Institute of Technology, residential short courses in German and French language instruction are offered to senior managers of companies involved in international business ventures. The three-year history of such a course in German is discussed in this article. (BM)

Examines the impact of the workshop in oral proficiency testing organized by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages and the Illinois Foreign Language Teachers Association. The workshops were designed to train college professors to administer oral interviews to rate the level of oral proficiency of foreign language speakers. (SED)

Describes and gives examples of "chatter chain," a method of teaching pupils to develop their French oral skills from a single question and answer that lead to a short conversation. This method combines the main linguistic structures to be learned with enought new grammar to allow a fair degree of pupil choice. (SED)