The overall goal of the 3M company in terms of the language training of its employees is to prepare individuals to be able to carry on everyday business on an international level and to develop employees who have both language skills and awareness of other cultures. The 3M Language Society consists basically of conversational language courses for…

Brief remarks about the nature of language study introduce this compendium of aims for different students and levels of instruction. The account considers language form, type, style, and use in the student's society, (2) educational requirements, (3) the student in specialized or general education, and (4) the instructional planner's effect on the…

Every individual's needs will differ, and a unit/credit system must be designed with sufficient flexibility to ensure that whatever the individual's interest in language learning, the system caters to it. The thesis of this paper is that, while a grammatical approach to language teaching cannot cater to it, a communicative approach can. A…

This volume presents the 1968 collection of working papers in the field of teaching English as a second language (TESL). It includes discussions of several practicalities in the field of English language teaching such as choosing literature and short stories for non-native speakers, criteria for selecting textbooks, educational problems involved…

This profile in outline form of the English language teaching situation in the Netherlands discusses the role of English within Dutch society and within the Dutch educational system. The predominance of English as the main foreign language is pointed out, and its use as medium of instruction at the primary, secondary, university and vocational…

This book is a comprehensive introduction for all professionals working with bilingual children. For speech therapists, physicians, psychologists, counselors, teachers, special needs personnel, and many others, this book addresses the most important issues at a practical level. It is written in simple, nontechnical terms accessible to the layman…

Papers from the 1998 Hispanic Linguistics Symposium include: "Patterns of Gender Agreement in the Speech of Second Language Learners"; "'Nomas' in Mexican American Dialect"; "Parsing Spanish 'solo'"; "On Levels of Processing and Levels of Comprehension"; "The Role of Attention in Second/Foreign Language Classroom Research: Methodological Issues";…

Many learners, especially those in a foreign-language setting, draw on the classroom as their primary forum for using and experiencing the target language, still for the most part during teacher-led instruction. Nevertheless, communicative language teaching does not provide a decisive definition of "good language use." Teachers usually take an…

Over the last 30 years, inquiry-based teaching has become a highly valued component of professional development and practitioner research in Australia and New Zealand. This volume of the Language Teacher Research Series focuses on teaching and learning experiences in those two countries, which encompass a large geographical area with diverse…

The collection of essays on aspects of Vygotskian theory focuses on the theory's application to research on second language learning. Articles include: "Theoretical Framework: An Introduction to Vygotskian Perspectives on Second Language Research" (James P. Lantolf, Gabriela Appel); Collective Scaffolding in Second Language…

A naturalistic study looked at the acquisition of English by two Japanese boys, aged 4 and 8 years, during a 2.5-year stay in the United States. Data were collected through observation and transcription of spontaneous speech in daily life. Analysis included a variety of features of language use and of the acquisition process, including attitudes…

This guide is designed for the Arabic language training of Peace Corps volunteers serving in Tunisia and focuses on daily communication skills needed in that context. It contains 15 lessons, each made up of: a teacher's guide sheet, which outlines specific objectives, contents, and materials needed; a dialogue introducing the lesson's theme; a…

This manual is designed for the language training of Peace Corps volunteers serving in Samoa, and focuses on daily communication skills needed in that context. It consists of 48 lessons, which include targeted competencies, phrase and vocabulary lists, cultural and usage notes, notes on grammar, and exercises. Lesson topics include: the Samoan…

A study investigated the use of content-based tasks as central and peripheral in second language instruction. Specifically, it examined the relative effects of such tasks that were either central to the syllabus, as sources of knowledge or skills in their own right, or peripheral, as occasional source of language practice. The study was conducted…

Following a brief review of the literature on cognates, and a discussion of six arguments in favor of using cognates as a vocabulary acquisition device, a study is described which was designed to determine whether students were able to utilize English-French cognates in listening and reading comprehension in French. Seventy-four tenth grade…