A teacher training packet (teacher's edition) on assessment of students in bilingual programs, is directed to undergraduate and graduate students and inservice participants. In addition to state-of-the-art reviews, the packet contains: a course syllabus, a pretest and answer key, a glossary, learning objectives, a list of recommended readings,…

This article discusses the incompatibility between the goal of communicative competence (defined more narrowly as minimal approximative communicative competence) and current practices of syllabus design, and suggests more relevant alternatives. Foreign language instruction is still dominated by the teaching of language structure for its own sake,…

From a consideration of variability in language-learner and language-user data, the concept of proficiency is considered in relation to models of second and foreign language learning. Proficiency is defined in relation to four separate dimensions: grammatical well-formedness, speech-act rules, functional elaboration, and code diversity. This…

This paper discusses a systematic strategy for developing oral skills from situational readings in a first year foreign language course. Aspects considered are: sequencing readings into the course, grammar component, vocabulary component, student preparation, outline of two day instructional treatments, the role of the teacher, and student…

A description is presented of forty classroom-tested activities for motivating students to practice listening comprehension and speaking skills in any foreign language. Some of the activities include practical suggestions and follow-up activities. All the activities are preceded by a statement of purpose, categorized by proficiency levels…

In the first study of this series, it was found that children who have difficulty in primary French immersion are distinct from children having a primary reading disability, minimal brain dysfunction, hyperactivity or primary emotional disturbance. The present study was undertaken in order to cross-validate the findings of the first study, to…

The Swedish-English Contrastive Studies project was begun in 1972 in the English Department of Lund University. The project began with an analysis of errors, of which this is the first report. The approach to error analysis is primarily an attempt to: (1) establish the areas of English grammar, lexis, and phonology which cause difficulty to…

Procedures used in foreign language teaching are discussed from the point of view of developing communicative strategies in students. Literature on communicative competence is reviewed and the implications for foreign language instruction are discussed. It is shown that: (1) from the very beginning of language instruction, the classroom setting,…

This study focused on linguistic analyses used in the PIF Project (Project in Error Analysis, Interlanguage Studies and Contrastive Linguistics), an ongoing study of learner language and a project in foreign language pedagogy. For the project, 120 Danish learners of English were divided into 12 groups representing different Danish educational…

This monograph discusses the problem of the language barrier in scientific and technological development in terms of several parameters describing the flow of scientific information from one language to another. The numerical values of the language barrier parameters of the model are calculated in the field of information on second language…

This paper describes the experience of two children, native-speakers of Hebrew, in a language center in England. The language center provides a total immersion program in English for a multi-lingual population of children aged 5 to 12 years. The small-group and individualized instruction, the instructional materials and facilities, and the close…

The nature of educational accountability, seen as an organized, systematized process of self-evaluation, and a review of available standardized tests for foreign language programs are examined in this paper. Teacher accountability is seen to rely exclusively on the judgement of the teacher and administration within the school itself. The author…

A third volume of a highly articulated set of language materials defines achievement level 2 in the control of Spanish syntax while providing descriptions and interrelationships of vital syntactic structures and expected student performance. The noun phrase, predicate phrase, verbal aspects, adverbials, relativization, noun modification,…

An operational definition of the standard for learner achievement at Level 2, with respect to the skills of reading and writing, was proposed for Spanish as one aspect of a research project. The method described, serving as the basis for articulation of level achievement, deals with general procedures, proposed operational definition of reading…

This paper describes the activities to develop norms for the interpretation of tests designed to indicate proficiency in English for Amerindian children attending grades 3 through 6 in the Bureau of Indian Affairs' schools. The objectives of the test battery are described. The first is to identify the Amerindian child who needs special training in…