Suggests that robust foreign language departments, such as Spanish, must support other languages or end up as the only language offered on campus other than English. (Author/VWL)

Captures the complexity of incorporating new technologies in an advanced foreign language course. Describes the activity in which participants engaged to acquire cultural knowledge through use of the Internet. Examines how the instructional context advanced learning. Findings suggest learning can be assisted by computers when this use is supported…

Discusses how languages other than English are perennially under pressure not only in Australia but in the United States as well. Focuses on how the eighteen City university of New York system--better known as CUNY--implemented a blueprint for the future to help foreign language programs from disappearing. This included reorganizing language…

Provides results from a survey sent to all North American institutions offering Italian language courses to investigate the internal organization and training procedures for teaching assistants of Italian. (Author/VWL)

Curriculum surveys are used periodically to validate the use of Advanced Place Program[R] (AP[R]) Exams as assessments of skills required for advanced college-level study. In the case of AP German Language, the target level is third-year college language study. This article presents results from a 2003 curriculum survey completed by third-year…

This digest provides useful information on starting an elementary school foreign language (FLES) program. Individual sections address the following: (1) cautions in planning a FLES program; (2) initiating the planning process; (3) designing the program, with special attention given to scheduling and language choice; (4) programs that lead to high…

This bibliography lists publications concerned with bilingual education and immersion programs and how they are used in and outside of Canada. In the beginning, an overview is provided of publications from related disciplines that have brought crucial recognition to the fields of bilingual and immersion education. These include: second and foreign…

The guide is intended as a practical aid in professional development programs for teachers and administrators involved in implementing Alberta's (Canada) new French second language curriculum. Its content is based on research in professional development for second language teachers, and it offers possible formats for workshops relating to…

This handbook, developed in connection with a California State University Project, provides 30 communication activities for the Japanese classroom to assist teachers of Japanese in implementing communication-based instruction. It is designed so that teachers can easily identify and use an activity that corresponds to the language area currently…

This curriculum guide for Indiana's Latin education programs is intended as a model for the integration of communicative, cultural, and linguistic learning in Latin curricula and instruction and an aid in designing proficiency-based curricula and instruction. It establishes the proficiency expected at the end of each of four instructional levels…

This report discusses the evaluation of the academic English language program at the International University of Japan (IUJ), focusing on some common evaluation problems and approaches taken at IUJ to solving them and drawing on recent theory. The first of these techniques is a systematic approach to program data collection using varied kinds of…

A discussion of FLES (foreign language in the elementary school, including introductory, exploratory, or immersion) looks at the challenges that need to be identified and met for successful planning and implementation. The role and importance of FLES in the 1990s is briefly reviewed, FLES program types are outlined, and FLES is examined in greater…

The administration of French immersion program in an elementary school in Alberta, Canada, by anglophone principal with little or no knowledge of French is examined in this study. Interviews with eight anglophone elementary school principals found that a lack of knowledge of French was not perceived as a barrier to effective implementation of…

The traditional upper-level course in French civilization at Utah State University was abandoned in favor of a course entitled "France Today," taught once a year to a consistent enrollment of students majoring in a wide variety of disciplines. The content varies somewhat each year, but the class typically begins with several class…

This digest considers the problems of foreign language instruction in small high schools and discusses possible solutions. A critical challenge for American education, pointed out by reform reports of the 1980's, is improvement of instruction in foreign languages to instill language proficiency. These national concerns have been translated into…