The focus of this highly quantitative investigation is the analysis of the differences observed, both in methodological approach and in language choice in the classroom, during five years of classroom visitations. The study reflects information collected from two very different institutions with radically distinct populations: a rural setting with…

This paper uses narrative accounts to explore intercultural experiences and the perception of the self by second language (L2) users. The analysis follows poststructuralist and postmodern theories of cultural and language identity. Extracts from the autobiographies of three chicano writers from the 1980s to the new millennium, Richard Rodriguez's…

This article discusses three types of films and their use in the second language classroom. The description film is objective and static, and elicits adjectives and adverbs. This kind of film should be presented three times, each time followed by a different set of learning exercises. The culture film - characterized by descriptions, scenes from…

This volume is the result of a two-week session organized for 30 British teachers of French, aimed at the rediscovery of French culture and language. The teachers were exposed to French language and culture through a series of round tables with a representative of French business, government, politics, and the like, and through personal interviews…

Becoming bilingual as defined in this book is a process by which an adult acquires an additional language in the environment in which it is spoken, surrounded by the culture in which it is used. The book seeks to present the learner with an integrated and systematic treatment of his task--linguistic, cultural, and practical--in learning a new…

This study explores the different meanings of "ahora" (now) and "ahorita" (right now) in Spanish usage by a migrant community of mushroom pickers in Mexico and the United States. Both terms are used as temporal expressions in Mexican Spanish spoken on both sides of the border. They are discourse markers. After studying groups…

This brief paper discusses the following: video as the core of 2 courses for Hausa; techniques employing new and old technologies for making these videos tools for total cultural immersion; and problems encountered and not always solved satisfactorily. The videotapes were recorded in Nigeria and cover a wide variety of speech styles and aspects of…

This book analyzes the distinctive language and culture of the Internet. It offers a study of the fusion of linguistic, visual, and technological dimensions which characterize the World Wide Web. Recognizing that Internet language is being created at a prodigious rate, the authors set out to equip teachers and educators with a key to understanding…

Explores the application of a process-based methodology in reading of recent fictional text, Ishiguro's "The Remains of the Day," with international undergraduates. Illustrated by practical tasks on narrative voice designed to build awareness of metadiscursive markers and their functions, this article makes a case for a methodology that is…

Although proficiency is a primary goal, the objectives of second language (L2) teaching are also to enhance learners' understanding of the nature of language and culture (National Standards, 1999). This study, based on interviews with 13 American women living in Venezuela, explores nonnatives' perspectives on factors that influence their…

A discussion of points raised by Dell Hymes in his article "On Communicative Competence" leads to a proposal for a clearer and more comprehensive theory of communicative competence based on two models, a matrix of discourse analysis and a model of communication interaction. Pedagogical implications of the theory are considered, including the…

While the goal of language teaching has been the development of practical communication, most language tests have stressed mastery of discrete linguistic skills. Oral language performance-based testing requires test-takers to use and perform in the language in actual communicative situations. The variations in communication created by the…

There is a large and growing demand for English language teaching to be provided specifically for the needs of a particular subject, profession, or occupation beyond the approach to English as a general educational and cultural subject. It is possible to isolate and define technical, technological, and scientific English, all with common features…

Errors in the spoken French of immersion students, reflecting a fossilized interlanguage and language transfer, are attributed to an erroneous assumption underlying immersion instruction: that students acquire the second language in the same way they acquire their native language. An improved syllabus aimed at second-language learners is…

Addresses issue of whether free voluntary reading (FVR) is appropriate for programs whose primary goal is development of academic second-language competence, such as university-level programs for international students. Argues that FVR does have a place in these programs, even though FVR often means reading light fiction; competence gained via FVR…