To meet graduation requirements, public school students in Florida must participate in and pass any statewide, standardized assessments required for a standard diploma or earn identified concordant scores or comparative scores, as applicable, for the cohort year in which they entered in ninth grade (M-DCPS, 2024). One of the statewide assessments…

Describes modifications to the four original requirements of the foreign language program at the International School of the Americas, an experimental school located 150 miles from the Mexican border. (SR)

Describes the University of Arizona's plan of action for defining and testing second language proficiency at the fourth semester level (a college requirement). Tasks include (1) reviewing proficiency literature; (2) redefining the second language requirement by using the ACTFL proficiency guidelines; (3) developing testing techniques; and (4)…

Proposes, on the basis of a host of curricular factors, a stratification of foreign language programs in U.S. institutions of higher learning into two graded and curricularly distinctive phases. The initial phase would be comprised predominantly of nonmajors who enroll in beginning courses to satisfy a language requirement. The professional phase…

Language is important in the public life of the United States because of four factors: globalization; the global diffusion of democracy and self-determination; the wave of immigration to the United States from all corners of the world; and the unique role America plays as the sole military and economic superpower. These conditions make it…

Discusses research regarding College of Liberal Arts students at the University of Minnesota where there are proficiency requirement-based second-language programs. Research results provide data that compare qualitative results on reading, listening, writing, and speaking proficiency tests of students from the proficiency requirement program at…

Reviews effects on faculty, teaching assistants, curriculum, and students of the proficiency-based foreign language requirement instituted at the University of Pennsylvania. Although important and valuable changes have occurred in the language learning and teaching environment, caution is urged in creating realistic and well-understood standards…

A new program at Boston University that identifies students who would have great difficulty fulfilling their foreign language requirement is described. This program offers an alternative sequence of courses designed to help these students achieve foreign language learning success. (LMO)

The trend toward the development of functional communication skills and a longer sequence of language study has been hastened by an awakened public interest in modern foreign languages and by the emphasis given to language development in the National Defense Education Act. Both the immediate and the long-range objectives of foreign language study…

In Florida, foreign language teaching has consistently followed national trends. Currently, there is a renaissance in language study. Enrollment has increased dramatically at all educational levels, due to a mandated state university system entrance requirement and two programs, the Florida Academic Scholars Program and Foreign Languages in the…