American students enrolled in a beginning Spanish program in Mexico were tested to see whether they benefitted from the foreign study; this premise has been questioned in the past. Results indicate that the group learned three semesters of Spanish in 3 1/2 months. The need to communicate forced students to learn. (CHK)

Reports on an experiment, conducted on 63 students of English, which sought to determine whether certain students within heterogeneous population groups can be expected to make significantly more rapid gains than others, and whether scores on a standardized proficiency test can identify students who will make greater or lesser gains. (Author/AM)

Explores episodes of classroom interaction in which there is unplanned attention to form. Data consist of periodic recordings of learners in intensive English classes over a period of 8 weeks. Analysis of data points to a strong connection between attention to form and subsequent use of those forms and indicates that this connection is affected by…

A teacher describes an intensive Spanish course and the methods used to create the kind of exposure to total culture a student would have visiting a Spanish country. Pronunciation and speaking are practiced through use of songs, records, tapes, and poetry; students write essays; and language and culture are interrelated. (CHK)

This study examined the relationship between language learning strategies and factors such as proficiency, teacher perceptions, gender, aptitude, learning style, personality, and motivation among 520 adults studying various languages at the Foreign Service Institute. It found a low but significant relationship between cognitive strategy use and…