Adult L2 learners are often encouraged to acquire new words through reading in order to promote language proficiency. Yet preparing suitable reading texts is often a challenge for teachers because the chosen texts must have a high percentage of words familiar to specific groups of learners in order to allow the inference of word meanings from…

The stereotype has it that native French Speakers are annoyed by foreign Speakers' errors in pronunciation. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess beliefs about the importance of accurate pronunciation in French held by three afferent groups: (1) 73 second- and third-semester students of French at a large midwestern research university in…

University graduates across Europe face increasing professional language and intercultural demands. In France, foreign language competence is to be assessed for incoming undergraduates and Master's graduates are required to demonstrate "mastery" of at least one foreign language. Institutions are responsible for defining…

Without a large measure of direct equivalence between structures in languages and the contexts in which they are used, language learning and teaching would be impossible. For, although English (as a foreign language) teachers urge their pupils to think in English, the lines along which they think are set for them in their mother tongue. Because of…

Administration of an attitudinal questionnaire to ninth grade students of Erie County, New York, indicated their views that foreign languages are useful, play an important role in the school curriculum, and help in understanding foreign cultures and one's own language better. (SW)

This article presents a rationale for humanizing teacher inservice education and an attitude survey used to assist teachers in exploring their attitudes and beliefs about language teaching and learning. The questionnaire consists of 53 questions. An explanation of scoring procedures is included. (CHK)

Article reported on the findings of a survey on modern languages and their usage in employment. (RK)

Two experiments assessed individual and group response to using a microcomputer for vocabulary improvement in Dutch to English instruction. Findings indicate that a compromise has to be found between a straightforward learning aid such as a microcomputer and a more general purpose instructional system with additional facilities like sound and…

Reports on a study that assigned Japanese students retrospective self-reporting tasks in which they were led to reflect upon their classroom second-language learning through self-analysis by reference to diaries, and by structured questionnaires and interviews on learning strategies, learner beliefs, and attitudes. (21 references) (Author/CK)

Investigates three important issues in kanji learning strategies; namely, strategy use, effectiveness of strategy and orthographic background. A questionnaire on kanji learning strategy use and perceived effectiveness was administered to beginner level, undergraduate students of Japanese from alphabetic and character backgrounds in Australia.…

Undergraduate students in the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain completed a questionnaire seeking their views about native speaker teachers (NST) and nonnative speaker teachers (NNSTs) on rating scales relating to language skills, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, learning strategies, culture, and civilization, attitudes and assessment.…

Presents a study completed in Quito, Ecuador that investigates the attitudinal perceptions toward English in advertising in the Ecuadorian commercial context. Findings are the result of four data collection procedures; a questionnaire administered to advertising experts, an analysis of business names in ten shopping centers, an analysis of…

Reports results of a study that looked at the attitudes of students learning to write in Japanese a s a foreign language. Suggests that, despite the challenge composition writing presented to the students and their occasional frustrations over their limited linguistic skills, they felt writing to be an effective means of self expression,…

Compares how bilingualism is perceived and how languages are used in two different groups of cross-native/community language (CNCL) families: Japanese-non-English CNCL families and Japanese-English (CNCL) families. A questionnaire survey found differences between the two groups. (Author/VWL)