This paper describes learner response, as indicated by questionnaires, to a package of tape-based listening materials in French, Spanish and Italian. The learners were in "community classes" (2 hours per week) at a wide variety of levels. Their response was, in general, cautiously favorable, and indicates the general acceptability of such…

Ways are described that Michigan Technological University has responded to the national need of internationalizing the engineering curricula by integrating engineering coursework with courses in area and international studies and ensuring the development of proficiency in several foreign languages. The university's approach focuses on Germany.…

Designed for intermediate to advanced students learning French, this unit provides practice in reading comprehension while presenting basic facts about Paris. The student material is written in French; the teacher material is written in English. Nine student sections offer facts about Paris including: history; geography; museums, monuments,…

The convergence of several lines of psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic research suggests possible explanations for age-related influences on language acquisition. These factors, which include cognitive development, sociocultural context, affective factors, and language input, can be helpful to language educators. By being alert to the cognitive…

A study investigating the relationship between motivation, study time, and student achievement in second language courses has as subjects 97 tenth- and eleventh-grade English speakers in introductory French, German, and Spanish courses. Two surveys measured motivational factors and the amount of time spent studying the second language. Motivation…

This paper explains the principles involved in tape editing and recording for foreign language teaching and in the assessment of the quality of the finished product. Three major points involved in tape making are discussed: (1) compilation of a listening text (requires familiarity with foreign language learning and teaching, as well as an…

A bibliography on politeness as it relates to second language learning and intercultural relationships contains 188 citations of books, papers, articles, and monographs. Several aspects of politeness are covered, including acquisition by children, gender and power differences in polite behavior, and its relationship to communicative functions such…

An examination of existing data was conducted to determine the effects of different kindergarten options on subsequent academic achievement in French immersion programs. It was concluded that there was no evidence for any superiority in outcomes for full-day bilingual as compared to half-day French kindergarten. No clear trends emerged in the…

Fifty-four current and recently-completed research projects related to bilingual education and funded by the National Institute of Education (NIE) are described. In addition to a 200- to 300-word abstract, each project description includes the name and address of the project director, the funding amount, duration of project, and the NIE project…

BUSINESSMEN IN NEW ORLEANS CITED POOR SPEECH AMONG NEGRO APPLICANTS FOR SECRETARIAL AND STENOGRAPHIC POSITIONS AS THE MAJOR REASON FOR NOT HIRING THEM. AS A RESULT, ST. MARY'S DOMINICAN COLLEGE EMBARKED ON AN 8-MONTH PROGRAM IN 1965 TO TEACH STANDARD SPEECH TO 90 YOUNG WOMEN, 75 OF WHOM WERE NEGRO. STANDARD SPEECH WAS TAUGHT AS A SECOND LANGUAGE.…

From the end of World War II to 1964, immigration trends in Belgium were largely governed by the need to supply workers for the coal industry, which led to an influx of Italians, Greeks, Spaniards, Turks, and Morrocans. In 1971 there were approximately 200,000 foreign workers in Belgium; the majority of these were Italian. Relying heavily on…

Under the 1969 Compulsory Education Act in the Netherlands, immigrant parents of school age children are obliged to enroll them in a primary school. Chief problems in the education of these children are the Dutch language, and a great cultural diversity in the children's backgrounds. Another problem relates to length of residence -- although the…

The task is to carry out the final development of a computer-based system for automated instruction of the new speech sounds of second languages, and to field-test this system for two language pairs: English speakers learning Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish speakers learning English. This report describes the first evaluation experiment of the Mark…

Research carried out at the Department of Educational and Psychological Research at Malmo (Sweden) dealing with major subject-oriented projects is described in this report. Included are discussions of projects on individualized mathematics teaching, instructional methods in German, studies of factors that affect concept formation and learning,…

Considers reasons why schools have not successfully involved parents in bilingual education programs. Considerations to be addressed to improve the situation include (1) the concept of parent involvement; (2) the major characteristics of parent involvement in bilingual education; (3) the reconceptualization of parent involvement; and (4) the role…