This article deals with part of a project set up to investigate the assumptions and beliefs about communicative language teaching of a group of primary language teachers in the Darling Downs Region of Queensland, Australia. The project was conducted by a questionnaire, interviewing six randomly-selected teachers, and videotaping the six teachers'…

Explores autonomy and interaction in first-language (L1) attrition, examining the attrition process on the basis of verb formation data produced during attrition by Hebrew-speaking children immersed in a second-language (L2) environment (English). Contact with L2 and reduced exposure to L1 caused fragmentation in L1 and erosion of its linguistic…

Outlines a case study of how one teacher attempted to incorporate strategy training into his secondary school English reading classes. The teacher attempted strategy training in questioning, clarifying, and predicting strategies and vocabulary recognition techniques for less proficient English students with mixed success. The teacher was…

A Chinese English-as-a-foreign-language learner in Taiwan was tutored online by two American preservice teachers. Discourse patterns in the student's essays were perceived very differently by the preservice teachers and the student's Taiwanese instructor. Deeper psycholinguistic analysis revealed connections between the student's linguistic…

Describes an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) freshman composition course in which students read a mystery novel, "The Alienist," and researched and wrote about its historical setting. Reactions to the course are described by the students, who were experiencing content-based instruction for the first time. Activities applicable to…

Illustrates the advantages and difficulties of using multimedia in the second language French classroom from the point of view of both the teacher and the learners. (Author/VWL)

Analyzes the effect of training on perception of English vowels by native speakers of Basque and Spanish. University students who took a training course in English phonetics completed questionnaires and vowel perception tests. Findings confirm that training exerts a positive effect on the perception of English vowels and that this effect is also…

Examines the concept of authenticity and the way this notion has evolved in language testing and general education. Presents a study looking at the importance of authenticity for test takers, and shows that test takers are willing and able to identify the attributes of a test likely to affect their performance. More research is needed if the…

Because most language teaching in China is focused on national tests, language is treated as a knowledge subject and development of communicative abilities is often ignored. This article describes activities that one English-as-a-Foreign-Language teacher used to teach oral English to university students in China. (Author/VWL)

Notes that children with limited English proficiency are a growing group in Head Start; asserts that teachers must be alert to issues of language and culture that go hand-in-hand with second-language acquisition. Presents strategies including partnering with families, catching up with latest research, maintaining tradition, promoting independence,…

Describes the pedagogical approaches of 4 Grade 9 core French teachers and compares students' results on tests of general French proficiency and achievement tests, based on the objectives of a multidimensional project-based instructional unit used by all 4 teachers. Observation data suggest that the teachers were implementing this approach in very…

Tracks policy forces and developments over the last decade that have brought Australia's English-as-Second-Language (ESL) program to a state of terminal decline. Considers the nature of, and impetus for, the national collaborative effort around literacy, and outlines how this agenda may provide a way forward for ESL into the next century (Adjunct…

Examined how well elementary teachers with English-language learners implemented five standards of effective teaching. Classroom observations and student surveys indicated that in classrooms where the standards were moderately used, students perceived more cohesion, higher perceptions of their reading ability, and significantly less difficulty…

Presents the theoretical principles, integration, and final evaluation of a multimedia program tailored for an intermediate Italian language course. The program, designed as a metaphorical journey, contextualizes the themes of the course while bringing the student into contact with real Italian cities and people. Provides a sociocultural context…

Reports a study that describes and classifies actual teaching practices used by 18 English-as-Second-Language teachers in Australian classrooms. Data were collected through observations of three lessons and subsequent interviews with the teacher. Almost 300 individual practices were identified. (Author/VWL)