Ellis (2003) identifies four key criteria that distinguish a "task" from the types of situational grammar exercises that are typically found in the more traditional language classroom. This study investigates how well teachers were able to design tasks that fulfilled these four criteria (Ellis, 2003) at the end of a year-long…

Listening plays a crucial part in the learning of overseas students in the United Kingdom. Students can never follow a lecture or discussion in English without listening. Traditional classroom teaching in listening limits students' time and space. However, the Web-based listening course accommodates listeners a great deal, enabling them to access…

The increasing linguistic diversity among both international and domestic students in English-medium universities creates new challenges for the institutions in addressing the students' needs in the area of academic literacy. In order to identify students with such needs, a major New Zealand university has implemented the Diagnostic English…

This article discusses components that can make study abroad programs more effective so that students successfully improve their language and culture competency and gain a more sophisticated understanding of the host culture. First, the authors offer ideas for language instructors at home on how to integrate culture learning into the classroom and…

Describes development of the IES Model Assessment Practice (MAP), a set of detailed criteria to use in evaluating IES study abroad programs and discusses how IES is beginning to implement MAP. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the issues entailed in measuring bilingual competency in individuals and measuring the outcomes of bilingual education. Measurement instrument types are reviewed briefly and existing research is cited. The indications on bilingualism are taken from a 1967 seminar in Moncton, New Brunswick; the bilingual education indications, from the…

A statement of valid, acceptable goals and optimum characteristics of foreign language in the elementary school (FLES) is embodied in a section on guidelines for the subjective evaluation of FLES programs and in a field survey evaluation form. Description of ways and means of achieving the stated goals and specifications for measurement and…

This article gives guidelines for the evaluation of foreign language departments that should lead to an upgrading of the profession. (CFM)

The evaluation design for the Austin Independent School District 1982 summer school program for elementary retainees is described. The evaluation is meant to focus on short-term skill mastery in reading and mathematics and the long-term achievement growth of the participants. Separate reading objectives and materials in Spanish and English…

This position paper states that it is the responsibility of Pennsylvania's Department of Education to make foreign language (FL) study part of the core curriculum and to develop well-articulated programs that make mastery of a foreign language possible for every student, in order to prepare him to meet the challenge of today's complex society. In…

The third implementation year of foreign language magnet programs in two elementary schools in the school district of Kansas City, Missouri, is evaluated. The schools, New West and Melcher, each had site task forces to develop planning outlines, which emphasized the teaching of foreign language to students and the exposure of students to foreign…

A design for the evaluation of ESEA Title VII bilingual programs in the Austin Independent School District is presented. The following topics are included: (1) Evaluation Design Review Form; (2) decision questions including the actual questions addressed on three levels: the Office of Education-Level, the system-level and the project-level; (3) a…

The handbook is a service publication for teachers of French as a second language. Each of five articles addresses a specific issue. "Teaching and Learning Strategies" (Walter A. Lazaruk) reviews the four skills approach used in second language learning. A communication model of teaching, used alongside study of the language itself, is…

This guide provides instructional and evaluative materials intended to help the classroom teacher improve the curriculum. Chapters include materials on articulation, evaluation, stating behavioral objectives, beginning a foreign language at the elementary level, the role of foreign languages in the junior high school, teaching culture, evaluation,…

The nature of educational accountability, seen as an organized, systematized process of self-evaluation, and a review of available standardized tests for foreign language programs are examined in this paper. Teacher accountability is seen to rely exclusively on the judgement of the teacher and administration within the school itself. The author…