This article reports the results of a survey conducted in 1992-93 of foreign language programs and issues in middle schools. Members of professional organizations representing state and local foreign language supervisors were surveyed to ascertain the nature and extent of exploratory and sequential course offerings, as well as supervisors views on…

Briefly discusses the theoretical and empirical literature regarding the "negotiation of meaning" as a construct, presents and discusses selected findings from a longitudinal study of an intact Spanish conversation course at the college level relative to learner-to-learner conversation and the "negotiating of meaning," and…

Advocates the concepts of performance and teamwork among college and university language faculty to develop and maintain pride, recognition, and high professional status in the face of the typical "poor relation" status of the foreign languages and literature field in the university family. (CB)

Describes a university's strategy for screening and hiring talented language faculty, including required qualifications, interviews at professional conventions, candidate ranking, on-campus visits, and existing faculty evaluation of potential faculty. (CB)

Explores differences between college English and foreign-language departments' treatment of literature and culture education, making a case for enhancing foreign language pedagogy's transmission of culture and literature through restructured academic territories, reorganization of authority, and redistribution of resources. (19 references) (CB)

Suggests an innovative technique for the graduate curriculum in literature and language that can help new faculty members develop not only culture courses but also competency in interdisciplinary scholarship, discussing course organization, varieties of interdisciplinary study, and the professional development seminar. (20 references) (CB)

Describes a university's use of a multilingual cable network as a foreign language instructional resource by incorporating series, news programs, and commercials into foreign language courses. (CB)

Gives history and impact of magnet schools on second-language learning. Language magnets serve as an effective means for drawing parents and their children to new schools. These schools have contributed to the expansion of language learning opportunities and have affected the quality of language teaching and learning in the United States. (36…

Examines several key issues that parents must know about their children learning a second language, including the benefits of knowing a second language; the benefits of learning second languages in elementary school; how languages are taught to children; whether second languages will interfere with English ability; how parents can help; and how…

Landeskunde, or cultural studies, in Germany is a discipline trapped in a circle because the only avenues of development open to it relegate it to a subsidiary role within language education. If it is to develop in the long term, it will be necessary for it to define its objectives independently of language learning. (Contains five references.)…

Proposes ideas to help enhance the visibility and role of college foreign-language departments, highlighting four goals: becoming a department that offers intellectual opportunities to students and intellectual value to other departments; using every possibility to publicize the importance of the department's areas and accomplishments; assuming a…

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) sees discourse as a form of "social practice", in which language use is seen at the same time as socially influenced and influential. Another characteristic of CDA is that it is engaged and committed; it intervenes in social practice and attempts to reveal connections between language use, power, and ideology. The…

The paper surveys a number of projects and documents that are attempting or have claimed to describe a "long-term view" of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learning in schools. A long-term approach involves mapping needs and common pathways and measuring (assessing and reporting on) progress across learners, classes, and year levels.…

A discussion of articulation in second language education between instructional levels looks at the current state of articulation, issues in the transition from secondary to higher education, and proposes a new approach that shifts the focus from product to process. Three forms of articulation are distinguished: vertical; horizontal; and…

This digest discusses some of the practical implications of using alternative methods of assessing students in foreign or second language classrooms. First, assessment and testing are contrasted, and assessment is defined as an ongoing strategy through which student learning is not only monitored, but by which students are involved in making…