This article presents an analysis of tracking data collected over eight years on 43,000 users on "Icelandic Online (IOL)," seven open, guided online courses in Icelandic as a second language. The main objective in this study is to (a) map out retention for all the "IOL" courses, (b) compare retention on the same course…

English language tutoring and/or self-access centers are services commonly offered as curricular support to English language program students in educational environments worldwide. This paper argues that the theory of self-directed learning (SDL) from the field of adult education should be considered alongside the equally-important areas of…

The faculty and administration at Drake University made the decision in 2001 to alter radically how language instruction was delivered and received, beginning by disbanding the long-standing Modern Language Department. The dissolution of the department and the new pedagogy caused ripples of concern and shock among language instructors and…

In this conversation, two U.S.-trained German language and culture educators discuss their approaches to intercultural communicative competence (ICC). Working in different educational settings -- in a German and Global Studies program at a public university in the U.S., and at the Institute for Intercultural Communication of a German university…

At a time when language programs around the United States are in crisis--the University of Rhode Island's Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures is realigning its curriculum to emphasize proficiency and intercultural competence within a strong liberal arts context. The result of the department's recent initiatives? More than…

This paper describes a project-based oral activity trialled with Year 1 and Year 2 students of the Spanish Degree Programme at the University of York. The objective of the activity aimed to develop students' speaking confidence through the completion of an authentic task based on the concept of authentic assessment. This task was implemented…

In contrast to the waning interest in learning languages other than English (LOTEs) worldwide, mainland China is pursuing to diversify LOTE education because of the 'Belt and Road Initiative.' In response to language policy shifts, individual stakeholders in local contexts such as universities have to take actions to initiate LOTE programs or…

This study represents program-level action research. A U.S. university Spanish language program had a goal for students to reach the ACTFL (2012) Intermediate Mid level after 2 years. An empirical question that resulted after regular end-of-year testing was whether the students were doing their best on assessments. To investigate this, 253…

Changing public demands and decreasing enrollment numbers have challenged the traditional concept of teaching languages, cultures, and literatures in the U.S. Although nationwide enrollment numbers in German programs have been declining, "global" German Studies programs such as the ones at the University of Connecticut and the University…

In today's interconnected world, many career fields--such as diplomacy, national security, and business--need individuals with knowledge about world languages and cultures. To address these areas of needed expertise--both at the federal level as well as in the education, business, and nonprofit sectors--the Higher Education Act of 1965, as…

In 2016 the University of Padova and its Language Centre ("Centro Linguistico di Ateneo" -- CLA) became involved in the two-year "Cultura e accoglienza" Project (see Dalziel and Piazzoli in this volume), the aim of which was to encourage around 30 refugees and asylum seekers to pursue university studies by means of a…

This qualitative study explored the impact of reading on writing in a collegiate French culture course that emphasized genre-based writing pedagogy. In particular, the study focused on how 19 advanced collegiate learners of French used model text resources in writing a letter-manifesto and what their perceptions were of participation in…

This paper describes an alternative and unique format to the customary culture and civilization course taught at the upper levels in a university foreign language curriculum. The semester-long course employed a content-based design that combined language instruction and learning with authentic music generated during distinct historical eras in…

This study attempts to build on the little work that has been done so far on empirically and systematically researching what language and culture exchange (LCE) in the classroom between students of different foreign languages means to those students. It describes the context and method used to build such an exchange and after reviewing relevant…

The purposes of the present study were to examine the language errors in a writing of English major students in a Thai university and to explore the sources of the errors. This study focused mainly on sentences because the researcher found that errors in Thai EFL students' sentence construction may lead to miscommunication. 104 pieces of writing…