Anthropomorphized robots are regarded as beneficial tools in education due to their capabilities of improving teaching effectiveness and learning motivation. Therefore, one major trend of research, known as Robot- Assisted Language Learning (RALL), is trying to develop robots to support teaching and learning English as a foreign language (EFL). As…

Learning a FL [foreign language] may be frustrating for some young learners; however, integrating fun in learning would encourage them to develop positive attitudes towards learning a language (Ellis & Brewster, 1991). Stories are an effective and enthusiastic technique in teaching young learners; they inject lots of amusement and help…

Describes a curriculum design approach, "the ill-structured problem," based on real life situations, that was used for a summer gifted foreign language program for fifth- and sixth-grade students in the Chesapeake Public Schools, Virginia. Elements of problem-based learning are described, including the problem comes first, the problem is…

An outline of the Spanish curriculum used in grades 4-7 in the Radford, Virginia schools is presented. It consists of outlines of the course content for each year of the four-year program. The content is divided into two categories: listening comprehension, geared to a specific textbook, and the grouped skills of speaking, reading, writing,…

An outline of the French curriculum used in the Radford, Virginia schools is presented. It consists of outlines of the major and supplementary materials and linguistic content used in each year of the four-year Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) program. A brief introductory section describes the program's origins and instructional…

The objective of this study is to assess whether arts-based curriculum facilitates the acquisition of English as a Second Language without sacrificing proficiency in the first language (in this case, Spanish). The paper has two chief parts, one theoretical, the other empirical. In the first part, similarities between authentic arts-based…

Describes an innovative Japanese elementary school foreign language (FLES) program introduced at the Laboratory School of the University of Pittsburgh. Lessons focused on thematic vocabulary presented within a context, a language function associated with the context, and some attention to the grammatical or syntactic structure necessary for…

The curriculum is designed to introduce Korean language and culture in grades 4 and 5, and consists of a teacher's manual and student activity book. The teacher's manual contains: an introductory section describing the curriculum's content and objectives, making suggestions for classroom interaction and discussions, and listing needed…