Investigates the relationship between metalinguistic awareness and second language (L2) proficiency of university-level learners of French. Learners' performances on two grammaticality judgment tests and on a test of L2 proficiency were examined in the context of demands made upon these two components according to whether the learners had been…

Surveyed 49 intermediate-level French-as-a-Foreign-Language college students to determine whether they preferred extensive reading or grammar instruction for language acquisition and practice, and why. Students overwhelmingly preferred reading as more pleasurable and more beneficial for language acquisition. They considered grammar instruction…

Argues against a unidirectional model of foreign language learning whereby only theories and hypotheses generated from second language acquisition (SLA) research influence language teaching and classroom practice. Suggests that the voices of developing practitioners can shed new light on the question of focus on form versus focus on meaning.…

This article discusses traditional methods, such as the grammar-translation, and modern methods, the communicative approach, for teaching English-as-a-foreign-language in China. The relationship between linguistic accuracy and communicative competence, student-centered orientation, and the role of the teacher are highlighted. (Author/VWL)

Describes the objectives, methodology, and resources for a college German course, taught in English, that examines the concept of "outsider" and is aimed at fostering critical thinking, ethical relations, and understanding of contexts. It traces representations of cultural groups in literature and the visual arts. Students learn to question…

Introduces a computer-assisted business translation course, developed as part of a grant. Discusses course goals and mechanics, choice of software and texts, educational backgrounds, classroom activities, strengths and weaknesses of computer assisted translation and evaluates the success of the course(Author/VWL)

California's Proposition 227 (1998) has affected the education of many English language learners (ELLs). However, the extent of Proposition 227's influence on special education planning and practice is unclear. ELLs who have moderate to severe disabilities face major communication obstacles. The present qualitative study looked specifically at the…

This study investigates performance on oral tasks across two groups of francophone learners with different ESL instruction. It reports on second language (L2) ability gains in intensive instruction and regular instruction. To date, gains in oral proficiency have not been reported in such programs, nor has there been a comparison across two…

This article examines the sociolinguistic competence of French immersion students. We first present an overview of the range of variation found in L1 speech and make a distinction between vernacular, informal, formal, and hyper-formal variants. We then compare the use of these forms in the speech of Canadian francophones and Grade 9 and 12…

Second-language acquisition theorists caution educators that higher second-language competency skills can take anywhere from five to eight years to attain realistically for any individual acquiring competency in a second language. There are many other variables like age of arrival in the United States and standard of education from home country…

Research on student questions in L2 classrooms has shown conflicting results. Some studies report that foreign language teachers use direct answers and others express concern about ESL teachers' overuse of ineffective display counter-questions. Here, student questions and their resolutions were analyzed in more than thirty hours of first through…

Although we have entered into the 21st century, most institutions of higher learning have not yet realized a routine integration of technology into regular classroom pedagogical practices. This article highlights two of the main concerns of university-level foreign language faculty with respect to incorporating technology into everyday classroom…

This article discusses cross-cultural oral interviews and how they can be used in the foreign language classroom to help students understand the differing, often culture-specific perspectives of language use among people speaking another language. By conducting interviews, or by teaching students the interview process, instructors can provide…

Research into the teaching and learning of language and content in mainstream classrooms research tends to treat content as a fixed body of knowledge to be (re)constructed by learners. There is little research which seeks to understand how language and the curriculum are constructed and related in interaction by learners. In this paper, I report…

Much of the content-based language teaching (CBLT) literature describes the benefits to be gained by integrating content with language teaching aims and rejects the formal separation between "content" and "language" as a pedagogic necessity for language learning. This paper looks at interactions in classrooms in English schools…