Many Indigenous languages are critically endangered and faced with the urgent need to create parent-aged advanced speakers. This goal requires sequenced curriculum, effective teaching methods, students being supported to spend more than 2,000 hours on task, and regular assessments. In response to this urgent need the author followed a proven…

Content-based instruction (CBI) has been touted as an effective curricular approach in a wide range of educational contexts, including immersion and English as a second language. Yet this approach to curriculum design is rarely implemented in conventional K-16 foreign language (FL) programs in the United States today. The phenomenological study…

This article proposes a reconsideration of curricular objectives with respect to the teaching of culture, in the interest of broadening the humanistic scope of the second/foreign language curriculum while at the same time alleviating the pressure of a typically over-extended instructional agenda. Recent research and theory support a relational…

Discusses ways in which the process of composing may be integrated into the curriculum as part of the learning process. Group writing assignments, peer editing, and the multiple revisions allowed in process writing serve to demystify the task of writing in a foreign language and provide students with opportunities to learn from each other. (eight…

The Canadian National Core French Study's (NCFS) views on what culture is and how it should be taught is examined and compared with more traditional approaches to the teaching of culture. Implications for educators are discussed in light of the NCFS recommendations and other theoretical positions on the teaching of culture. (six references)…

This bibliography contains recent Canadian publications, most dated since 1990, related to the teaching of English and French as second languages. It includes curriculum materials such as language practice materials and readers, as well as professional publications, such as books, research reports, and curriculum guidelines. (85 references)…

A study investigated the effects on language proficiency of a curriculum module in history taught entirely in French during core French periods. Through ethnographic and qualitative research methods, it was determined that use of immersion-type modules to extend core French is feasible. (Author/MSE)

Native education's linguistic and cultural content is effective only using traditional cultural values concerning ways of using language, interacting, and knowing. Brokerage between native and school learning processes emerges in the new role of native educator. Language and cultural inclusion lead to a broad cultural base in native Canadian…

Proposes a model for second language educators who are seeking a more communicative approach to second language instruction. A process for selection and ordering of content is outlined, and factors rendering an activity more communicative are discussed. (Author/MSE)

A discussion of language curriculum design for promoting learner autonomy looks at the objectives of such a curriculum, the learning implied by those objectives, and the function and relevance of the learnings. (Author/MSE)

The debate over whether Canadian second-language teaching should emphasize language study or language experience is examined, and it is concluded that the emerging consensus is for integration of the two in English and French second-language instruction. The National Core French Study teaching model is recommended for all languages. (10…

A three-phase procedure for developing instructional units, which when used with professional development can enhance teachers' understanding and implementation of Canada's National Core French Study multidimensional curriculum, is described. The procedure includes reflection, production, and piloting phases. (Author/MSE)

The National Film Board of Canada's video series "Pour tout dire" was developed during the National Core French Study and actively involved two of the study's members. The series integrates a number of recommendations from the study and contributes to their implementation in the classroom. (Author/MSE)

The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages' Provisional Proficiency Guidelines are criticized for their narrow view of language use and the inadequacy of their construct of "proficiency." The appropriateness of the guidelines as a basis for developing a syllabus or designing a curriculum is questioned. (MSE)