This contribution gives an account of the results of an action research in which a task-based plurilingual programme was implemented with postgraduate students of Foreign Languages and International Business. Using a mixed-methods approach, combining questionnaire, interview and observation data, we sought to explore the degree to which the…

Oral academic discourse socialization refers to a process through which students learn about the conventions and practices of their disciplinary fields while doing academic spoken practices. In this study, it refers to the interactions of the participant teachers with their peers and instructors as well as their engagement with academic texts.…

This article focuses on how to teach intercultural communicative competence to learners of English as a foreign language enrolled in a university exchange program in Europe, and help them become "intercultural speakers." The intercultural speaker can be defined as an intermediary between his or her own culture and the other's culture.…

Describes a training program for teaching assistants designed by the Department of Germanic Languages of the University of Texas (Austin) and consisting of four interrelated phases: orientation, theoretical training, practicum and evaluation. The term "Teaching Assistants" refers to graduate students who have not earned the M.A. or lack…

In response to the increasing proportion of foreign graduate students in master's programs for teachers of English as a second language (MATESL), students in the University of Northern Iowa's program were surveyed concerning the appropriateness of the programs' design. In in-depth interviews and on questionnaires, foreign graduate students were…

A survey of 43 research universities examined funding patterns for programs to train international students as teaching assistants. Program components paid for by most institutions and those paid for by a minority of institutions were identified, and costs for preterm and concurrent training programs were estimated and compared. Sources of funding…

Two cross-cultural workshops are outlined and discussed, one designed for graduate students in a training program for teachers of English as a second language and one for public school teachers and administrators. Activities used in each workshop and the rationale for their selection are described in detail. Each workshop included a combination of…

This paper is designed to help educators prepare non-native speakers of English for work in business by studying the overall effectiveness of English for specific purposes programs at the University of Michigan Business School. It describes the English for Business Studies (EBS) program established in 1986. Situated discourse research in a focus…

When foreign graduate students come to the United States for master's-level training as teachers of English as a second language, they return to their homes countries well-prepared with up-to-date teaching theory and practice. However, the teacher education programs in the United States are prepared for the students only to the extent that they…

This paper discusses the design and implementation of a task-oriented collaborative learning (and training) experimental project that was carried out with future language teachers. More specifically, a class of sixteen French students enrolled in a Masters of Education course were asked to create multimedia resources for a group of Australian…