This article examines how political discourse, language ideologies, recent Chinese curriculum reforms, and their representations in the media are inextricably related. Using the "Speak Mandarin Campaign" as background for the inquiry, I focus on textual features of the various media sources, TV advertisements, campaign slogans, official…

Assorted techniques are offered for introducing authentic German video into the intermediate language curriculum. Television commercials, weather forecasts, and news programs are described as tools for enhancing listening comprehension and expanding students' cultural awareness. Various preparatory activities and follow-up assignments are…

Discusses the advantages of using news items coming from both the visual and the print media--television and newspapers--in English-as-a-foreign-language instruction. Attention is focused on the thought-provoking tasks that can be derived from viewing, reading, and analyzing. (Author/VWL)

Teachers of French as a second language are warned that the television news magazine, while offering a convenient format and some important information for instruction, may be limiting in its perspectives and assumptions. Careful attention to the program's varied content is as important as attention to its style. (MSE)

Three exercises in the use of newspapers in the French classroom encourage attention to such things as page layout and composition as well as content. There are suggestions for using French radio news magazine shows and television news to develop a sense of the larger organization of language and information by the media. (CNP)

Reviews the history of the use of advertisements as instructional material, indicating that they appear almost exclusively in advanced level textbooks for adults and that they are seldom exploited according to clearly defined objectives. Discusses various modes of utilization and suggests criteria for the selection of such materials. (MES)

Truly current, up-to-the-minute video by native speakers using the language for real communication can make the language and culture come alive for students. With the explosion of broadband Internet access through cable and DSL, better connections in schools, faster low cost computers, and better graphics adapters, access to authentic video on the…

A study investigated the effectiveness of structured viewing of television news on listening comprehension in English as a Second Language (ESL), as compared with the effectiveness of standard listening comprehension materials. Subjects were 66 students aged 18-22 in diverse disciplines, 34 in the experimental group and 32 in a control group.…

This collection of papers shows how intercultural competence can be realized in the classroom. The 17 chapters include the following: (1) "The International Partnership Project" (Carol Morgan); (2) "Teaching Intercultural Communicative Competence through Literature" (Eva Burwitz-Melzer); (3) "'Up the Hills of…