This paper explores the attitudes of undergraduate language learners and their lecturers towards the introduction of an attendance policy in an Irish Higher Education Institution. It also analyses the relationship between the introduction of this policy and student performance (average grade) and progression (pass rates). The policy was introduced…

Although the importance of communicative competences in the workplace is conjured up in most discussions, there is little empirical research (in Germany) describing formal and informal communications in companies and branches with a high percentage of immigrant workers, particularly in the production sector. The study group "Deutsch am…

Students learning foreign languages in the United States generally have little exposure to the target language outside the classroom. Web-based technology can facilitate language learning in context by offering easily accessible, authentic materials. This paper introduces MIMEA (Multimedia Interactive Modules for Education and Assessment), an…

In this article, we set out to assess QuADEM (Quality Assessment of Digital Educational Material), one of the latest methods for evaluating online language learning courseware. What is special about QuADEM is that the evaluation is based on observing the actual usage of the online courseware and that, from a checklist of 12 different components,…

This report is a quantitatively-based but ultimately purely descriptive study of foreign language modules designed to teach Irish students French, German, Italian, or Spanish in preparation for study, travel, and/or work experience abroad in order to enhance their academic qualifications, vocational prospects, and potential for future mobility. It…

This is the fourth module of 10 in the German Headstart program. Each of the 2 units in the module contains objectives, exercises, and a self-evaluation quiz. In addition, there are several supplementary exercises and self-evaluations. The objective of this module is to familiarize the student with expressions for exchanging money, telling time,…

This is the fifth module of 10 in the German Headstart program. Each of the 3 units in the module contains objectives, exercises, and a self-evaluation quiz. In addition, there are several supplementary exercises and self-evaluations. The objective of this module is to enable the student to use and understand: (1) courtesy expressions; (2) time…

This is the sixth module of 10 in the German Headstart program. Each of the 2 units in the module contains objectives, exercises, and a self-evaluation quiz. In addition, there are several supplementary exercises and self-evaluations. The objective of this module is to familiarize the student with expressions connected with various kinds of…

This is the seventh module of 10 in the German Headstart program. Each of the 2 units in the module contains objectives, exercises, and a self-evaluation quiz. In addition, there are several supplementary exercises and self-evaluations. The objective of this module is to enable the student to use all the services of a German post-office, such as…

This is the eighth module of 10 in the German Headstart program. Each of the 2 units in the module contains objectives, exercises, and a self-evaluation quiz. In addition, there are several supplementary exercises and self-evaluations. This module deals with a single situation, visiting a German family in their home. The exercises are intended to…

This module provides cultural information that will be helpful to military personnel in understanding some aspects of the German way of life. The topics covered in the booklet are: housing, postal services, forms of address, courtesies, getting around, driving, hotels, restaurants, beer and wine, recreation, entertainment, health spas, shopping,…

Reviews several German computer assisted instruction (CAI) programs and describes an experiment in CAI to discover if immediate reinforcement in self-pacing would enable the students to perform better on the final examination. The experiment was carried out with two homogeneous sections of second-semester students of German in high school.…

This is the ninth module of 10 in the German Headstart program. The single unit in the module contains objectives, exercises, and a self-evaluation quiz. In addition, there are several supplementary exercises and self-evaluations. The objective of this module is to familiarize the student with some of the terminology used by military personnel in…

This module provides additional material principally for women in the military and female dependents. The three dialogs in the module take place at a cleaner's, at a drugstore, and at the hairdresser's. The vocabulary and dialogs are intended to familiarize the student with words and phrases which might be needed in a situation when the post…

This report focuses on the ninth year in which the Centre for Language and Communication Studies (CLCS) at the University of Dublin Trinity College offered foreign language modules to students who were not studying a foreign language as part of their degree program. The modules are designed to develop students' communication skills for purposes of…