A number of reports in the US have highlighted the country's need for improved second language skills for both national security and economic competitiveness. The Language Flagship program, launched in 2002, aims to raise expectations regarding language proficiency levels at the post-secondary level and to address structural gaps in the curricula…

"Commanding English," a three-quarter program of communication skills courses presented in an integrated whole, is described in this booklet. The program's general purpose is to assist students whose native language is not English to develop fluency in oral and written English. A brief description of each course offered at General College,…

Describes a thematic, communication-oriented approach developed by the foreign language department at the University of Maryland Baltimore County to the first-year and intermediate sequences in French, German, and Spanish. Design of the syllabus, instructional materials, and teaching techniques are discussed. (Author/CB)

The development of a second-year college French language course based on principles of communicative competence and the notional-functional approach is described. Although spoken language is the primary focus of the course, it is also designed to cover a broader range of writing skills than the traditional college language course. (MSE)

Describes a curriculum development research project that took place in the French section of the Department of Modern Languages of the University of Salford in the United Kingdom over a 10-year period. The curriculum is motivated by three interacting theoretical perspectives on how languages are learned at an advanced level.(Author/VWL)

An experimental first-year college German course offered at the University of Texas at Austin emphasized communication, with a complementary de-emphasis on morphologically correct forms in spoken or written production. A modification of the Total Physical Response method was used to orient the students, and at four weeks the emphasis was shifted…

The time to make positive changes in foreign language education programs and instruction has come. The first step in effecting change is to find out about the students' language backgrounds, interests, and intentions for their language skills. Language instruction can take many different emphases: foreign language and international studies,…

Business school faculty and language educators agree that the business school curriculum must be internationalized and that means must be provided for students to acquire facility in a foreign language. The use of traditional foreign language offerings to provide language skills to business majors has proven unsatisfactory. The traditional…

A state grant to the Department of Romance Languages of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville has allowed development of a proficiency-based curriculum for first- and second-year French and Spanish. Most of the effort to date has been preparation of the syllabus based on specified goals and objectives, or student outcomes, focusing on allowing…

Georgia State University has developed undergraduate applied language programs in commercial French, German, and Spanish combining practical with theoretical studies. The curricula stress the communicative aspect of language, and are based on the content of certification examinations given in France, Germany, and Spain. Two upper-level courses in…

The MEXUS program, a transnational, undergraduate, dual-degree program in the United States and Mexico, addresses the problem of how universities can better prepare students to manage business in an interdependent global marketplace. The program was initiated as a consortium of four institutions (San Diego State University and Southwestern College…