Attitudes toward foreign language study of 200 high school students in the Panhandle (northwest) section of Texas were surveyed. In this rural and agricultural area, the percentage of Mexican Americans and Blacks is quite low. Forty-eight percent of the students believed foreign language study was more difficult than other areas, and 57 percent…

Ninety-one English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students in grades two through twelve and 781 native English-speaking students in grades two, four, and six participated in a study to examine the relationships among word identification, reading comprehension, and listening comprehension of ESL students and to compare word identification and reading…

A Foreign Language Enrollment Motivation Inventory was administered to 400 secondary school foreign language students in Minnesota. The following considerations were found to be influences on decisions by students to continue or not to continue language study: (1) language classroom activities, (2) interest in speaking the target language, (3)…

This volume catalogs a series of tapes which are the result of a two-week session organized to enable professors of French to renew their contact with French language and culture within a sociolinguistic context. The participants interviewed 193 natives of Tours according to the following themes: municipal government, education, women in French…

This paper describes results of a questionnaire administered to over 700 students registered in lower-division Spanish courses in November 1973 at the University of Texas at Austin. The purpose of the questionnaire was to survey student attitudes and to move toward a means of evaluating beginning and intermediate level courses. On the basis of the…

The author feels that this study reaffirms the importance of attitude as one of the factors explaining the degree of proficiency a student achieves in learning a second language. Four groups of students representing 80 countries were administered (1) a direct questionnaire on which they were asked to rate the importance of 14 possible reasons for…

This study seeks to determine how commonly-quoted values of foreign language study are actually perceived by students and professors who have taken undergraduate foreign language courses and to determine the implications this information might have for college curriculum planners. Some 177 students and professors participated in the study by…

The educational system of Finland is undergoing great reform, and one change is for compulsory inservice teacher education. This study is concerned with inservice education of foreign language teachers. Dimensions of rote-meaningful learning and reception-discovery learning are discussed; teachers preferred the meaningful-discovery type. It seems…

Displays and analyzes a research questionnaire investigating the many contexts and situations in which French is being taught in order to determine present day motivation of British students studying French. Comments on the relationship between studying French and career structures in higher education. (PMJ)

Examines the inferencing procedures used by university-level second language (L2) learners of French to guess at the meaning of unfamiliar words in a written L2 text. The article combines qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and compares the strategies used by students assessed as high or low in French proficiency relative to their…

Profiles students' awareness of the functions and influences of expert input in their writing. Data include results of a survey of foreign-language and English-as-a-Second-Language writers' beliefs about feedback behaviors known to interact with revision processes. Results indicate that each group perceives expert response as serving distinct…

Discusses a study revealing that experienced language teachers of English as a Second Language perceive that it is important to develop and maintain a positive whole-group feeling among their students. Identifies relevant areas in the field of social psychology and discusses eight facets of the group development process in language classes. (Six…

Reports a study of first-year A-level college students studying a foreign language in southwest England. The results concern students' perceptions of the way they chose their A-level subjects and of those subjects a few weeks into the courses. Results reveal a lack of confidence among the girls despite their superior academic qualifications to the…

Examines the extent to which foreign language use should play a prominent part in a course. The article discusses subject knowledge; factors affecting students' language skills; course objectives, structure and content; student reaction to questions about tutor input and the topics appropriate for teaching in the foreign language; and perceived…

As part of a national policy to increase access to modern foreign/ second languages at the elementary level, voluntary generalist elementary teachers with some proficiency in relevant languages were provided intensive professional development in language teaching methodology with a view to heir implementing the policy in their schools. Presents…