Discusses statistical indication of decrease in students studying a second foreign language. Responses to a questionnaire sent out in 1973 to German teachers in the county of Yorkshire in an attempt to discover reasons for these statistics are analyzed and discussed. (RM)

Discusses the problems of teaching Russian in American universities. (LG)

Language laboratories are especially neglected at the intermediate and advanced levels of foreign language learning. Teachers fail to avail themselves of an important teaching tool at a critical point, when the more mechanical aspects of assimilating the target language should give way to gaining an actual communicative competence in it. At the…

Translators and teachers of foreign languages need each other: translators need formal academic training and recognition and teachers of foreign languages need students. Unfortunately, translators know only too well that most FL teachers are not competent translators, and FL Departments generally consider translation as an activity beneath the…

Enrollment trends in Italian courses at the college and secondary level are presented. The largest Italian department is at Rutgers College in New Brunswick. The history of this program is presented. (SW)

There is a need for expanding offerings in foreign language instruction to reach different age and interest groups, prepare teachers, and educate students for positions in business, industry, and government. For students, foreign language study could be combined with the study of another field. (SW)

The perennial problem of articulation of foreign language programs between the high schools and the colleges is readdressed in this paper. Six factors are identified as primary in contributing to the problem: (1) instruction is paced too fast, thus encouraging superficial learning and creating a disparity of coverage practices among the many…

A study was conducted in Jalapa, Mexico, to test the hypothesis that a student of average and below average language aptitude may have greater difficulty with the accelerated pace of learning in an intensive program. The Modern Language Association Cooperative Spanish Test was administered to the eight beginning students enrolled in the Jalapa…

The aim of the conference discussed in this report was to make a critical appraisal of the achievements of language teaching in the polytechnics and similar institutions, and to attempt to suggest lines for future development. All speakers were encouraged to be critical and provocative in order to stimulate conference discussions on how language…

The self-instructional language program (SILP) allows students to learn, through a guided individualized study program, a foreign language not offered in the regular university curriculum. A director for the program offers the facilities and materials necessary for administering such a program. A tutor, who is a native speaker of the target…

This thesis clarifies the role of the applied linguist in the language and language teaching sciences with particular application to advanced language learning that takes place after five years of study. Students' deficiencies identified at matriculation together with the psychological and practical needs of the students and their society identify…

Enrollment trends and factors that influence foreign language study in colleges and universities are discussed. Most college foreign language programs have emphasized the study of literature and have not been committed to the training of teachers or the teaching of civilization or culture. It appears that students' concern about the job market and…

This article deals with the issue of gaining proficiency in oral expression in a second language. A functional approach to teaching oral proficiency is outlined, an approach which focuses on the audience as a determining factor in the speaker's linguistic output. Claims in the article are based on an experiment in the teaching of oral proficiency…

This paper outlines both negative and affirmative approaches to the issue of whether the public should be aware of a foreign language program. The negative approach would consider the diminishing demand for foreign languages for basic communicative needs in the United States and the conviction on the part of the public that it only needs one…

This is a summary of a roundtable on Chinese language teaching which focused on the history and present status of Chinese programs at institutions represented by the discussants. Discussion centered around the following points: (1) types of students taking Chinese; (2) methodology; (3) enrollment; and (4) career opportunities. A paper is also…