This study evaluated the role of music in acquiring foreign language vocabulary using suggestopedia techniques with 40 technically gifted students. The study found that the effectiveness of different types of music depended on student characteristics including gender, musical ability, foreign language learning ability, and feeling states. (DB)

Provides an example of how literary theory and standards-based classroom practice can promote active reading experiences with the text as well as interactions with other members of the class. (Author/VWL)

This article answers some frequently asked questions about bilingual education. Suggests that a large percentage of the public is unaware of the benefits of bilingual education. (Author/VWL)

Describes the development of a technique for teaching English and intercultural awareness to students in a small liberal arts college in Japan using drama. (Author/VWL)

Chronicles one English-as-a-foreign-language teacher's experiences directing an all-student cast from North-East Normal University, Chang Chun, in three performances of an English translation of Moliere's The Miser. (Author/VWL)

Describes the Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program. GLOBE is a worldwide network of teachers and students representing over 6,500 schools in more than 75 countries. It is an excellent vehicle for learning a foreign language while exploring science, mathematics, social studies, and technology, providing a…

Reviews current views about the status of grammar learning through task work and suggests that grammar learning can be addressed at different stages during task performance: prior to the task, during the task, and after the task. Examples are given of how this can be achieved in materials' design and in the classroom.(Adjunct ERIC Clearinghouse on…

Reports a study of Japanese students' perception of traditional methods versus the natural approach and total physical response (TPR) methods for learning English, and their preferred styles of learning. Subjects were Japanese students attending intensive language schools in the U.S. Students generally preferred innovative methods, such as…

Investigates a preemptive focus on form, occasions when either the teacher or a student chose to make a specific form the topic of discourse. Found that in 12 hours of meaning-focused instruction, there were as many preemptive focus-on-form episodes (FFEs) as reactive FFEs (i.e., corrective feedback). (Author/VWL)

Discusses issues central to instructor's conceptualizations of curricula for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writing instruction, citing findings from interviews with skilled ESL instructors in countries where English is the dominant language. Focusing on curriculum options in the Adult Migrant English Program, shows how Australia has taken…

In this article, the author discusses Steven, a classic example of an individual who was torn between two cultural worlds. His mother was Puerto Rican, but she was raised in upper New York State. She and his birth father divorced, she remarried, and the family moved to Puerto Rico, because the company for which Steven's Anglo stepfather worked was…

In this article I invite a reconceptualization and expansion of the field of second language acquisition (SLA) by examining possible intersections between SLA and the area of language instruction currently referred to as the teaching of heritage languages. I discuss the ways in which the opportunity of broadening SLA-and-instruction research can…

Narrow reading means reading in only one genre, one subject matter, or the work of one author. The case for narrow reading was first presented over twenty years ago (Krashen, 1981). Narrow reading, it was argued, has the advantage of providing the developing reader with a familiar context, that is, familiar background knowledge that helps make…

Academic language is the linguistic glue that holds the tasks, texts, and tests of school together. If students can't use this glue well, their academic work is likely to fall apart. According to the author of this article, "academic language" is defined as the set of words and phrases that (1) describe content-area knowledge and procedures; (2)…

This article suggests a set of strategies for developing the sociocultural competence of language learners. These strategies extend the notion of coping strategies, or strategic competence (Savignon, 1972, 1983, 1997), to include the intercultural dimension articulated in current goals for U.S. world language education. Adopting the integrative,…