Language-related Study Abroad (SA) experiences can be catalysts for learner transformation in the areas of cognition, socialization, and/or affect by virtue of the location and experience. An Open Architecture Curriculum Design (OACD) framework can support, promote, and enhance such transformation, as evidenced in eight programs for young adults,…

Online education continues to permeate mainstream teaching techniques in higher education settings. Teaching upper-level classes in an online setting is having a major impact on education as a whole and is fundamentally altering global learning. "Cases on Critical and Qualitative Perspectives in Online Higher Education" offers a…

A University of Dublin (Ireland) curriculum restructuring project in the undergraduate second language program is chronicled, and ongoing curriculum development efforts are described. As a result of curriculum research, the university offered a series of freshman French and German courses in 1994-95 and a series of second-year courses to students…

A Swedish university program in which French language students played parts in a series of Moliere plays is described. The activity integrated linguistic, cultural, and literary objectives, and included text analyses, pronunciation instruction, and development of oral expression. (MSE)

In the area of business-related language training, the United States lags behind Europe, where graduate business schools require at least one foreign language with business proficiency for graduation. In most United States institutions, the long-standing policy of departmentalization and a perceived dichotomy between the humanities and traditional…

Structures of first-year French courses in Canada are similar except for contact hours. Enrollment is generally increasing, despite staff funding problems. Textbook choices change slowly, and eclectic methodology predominates. Institutional enrollments, trends, class hours, and course types are charted, and a list of textbooks is included. (MSE)

The University of Pennsylvania's foreign language requirement self-study resulted in re-evaluation of the existing language program. It revealed that most freshmen were not exempted from college second language study by standardized test scores and that the university's required courses were not producing the desired results. These findings…

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…

The current status of the teaching of oral and aural skills in university French language courses in Great Britain is examined. A review of survey results finds that French teaching at the university level remains much as it was 20 to 30 years ago despite increasing calls for change, and that more serious attempts at change are found in Scottish…

The ideal foreign language business course would be a cooperative effort between the business school and the foreign language department, prepare students for any of the five proficiency levels in the French Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie de Paris test, be designed for the American working in France, and have a balanced international trade…

At the Louisiana State University Laboratory School, the 4-year course sequences in French and Spanish use American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) proficiency guidelines as a basis for planning for language skill development. In listening proficiency, the course sequence integrates teaching of listening skills with other…

Languages have lost status in the educational system, and oral skills are less effectively and rigorously taught. However, a University of Leeds program providing short, intensive courses in administrative and legal French for British civil servants has been found to be very effective in developing the participants' oral and aural skills. The…

A study of second language learning processes had three goals: to establish a grounded theory on the role of tension, both euphoric and dysphoric, in the formal language learning process; to provide a comprehensive ethnography of the 7-week intensive beginners' class in the French School of Middlebury College (Vermont); and to demonstrate how a…

The proceedings of this conference include 56 papers on program design, classroom techniques, and ideas for second language instruction for business and the professions. The papers are presented in eight groups: (1) "International Business: The Language and Culture Connection," which includes papers on multinational business, marketing,…

The dual-degree MBA/MA program of the University of Pennsylvania is described. The program is designed to provide future business leaders with superior international management education and prepare them to operate effectively and comfortably in the global economy through social and professional language skills and knowledge of diverse cultural…