This article provides a report on NetMeeting as an appropriate fourth-generation tool for interactive language learning in distance mode. It follows on earlier research by Wang and Sun (2000, 2001) on the most urgent problem facing distance language education--lack of provision of oral-visual interaction and the emergence of a fourth-generation…

This report describes the design and development of the MASTER program, an autoinstructional model to supplement introductory foreign language courses, and examines its application in two French language courses offered at Brevard Community College. The first sections contain introductory material, a review of the literature on second-language…

The Supplemental Language Study Group (SLSG) program at Colorado State University (Fort Collins, Colorado) is described. The program was developed following a student's expression of interest in learning "exotic" languages unavailable in the standard foreign language curriculum at the university. This student-run club offers several…

Spanish, English, and American Indian languages in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico and bilingualism and language contact in the region are addressed in a collection of articles. Approaches to research in the languages of this region are discussed in articles by Valdes, Lope Blanch, and Brandt. Cultural and sociolinguistic…

The evaluation of Utah State University's distance education course in French as a second language consists of two separate reports, one of the instructional materials used and the other based on a later site visit. Evaluation of instructional materials focuses on a commercially available textbook and related student workbook and audio tapes, an…

"Application Performance," a supplemental drill in the Japanese language program at Oregon State University, is described as a way to develop students' communicative competence. The approach is a type of role play, with pairs of students preparing a dialogue according to a situation provided by the instructor and then performed in class.…

Interpreting, or oral translation, can be used in undergraduate second language study as a technique for developing oral skills. The technique can produce both sound linguistic judgment and confident oral and written performance that last beyond testing. It integrates four essential elements of oral/aural skills: comprehension, phonology/fluency,…

Student replies to a questionnaire evaluating the use of the language laboratory revealed positive attitudes regarding the effectiveness of the individual practice the lab provides. They emphasized the need for a language lab monitor. Cross tabulations examined attitudinal differences among old and new users, professorial encouragement, and…

This handbook presents the perspectives of more than 60 leading authorities on the study and practice of adult and continuing education. The following are among the papers included: "A Selective History of Adult Education Handbooks" (A.L. Wilson, E.R. Hayes); "The Concept of Critically Reflective Practice" (Stephen D.…

Recommendations for integrating instruction in business and foreign languages to prepare future business workers to deal with increasing need for international business-related exchange include: exchange with business instructors abroad; insight into other countries' cultural traditions; and exposure to native speakers. (CB)

It seems irrefutable that the world is progressing in concert with computer science. Educational applications and projects for first and second language acquisition have not been left behind. However, currently it seems that the reputation of completely computer-based language learning courses has taken a nosedive, and, consequently there has been…

A study investigated the nature and extent of African American interest in African languages. Data were gathered in (1) an informal telephone survey of selected universities having an African American studies department and/or a sizeable number of Black students, and African-centered public schools, and (2) a survey of 234 African Americans and…

A study investigated Japanese college students' perceptions and assessments of their college English classes, and to what factors they attribute difficulty in acquiring oral English. Subjects were 189 students from a junior college and a university, in first- through third-year English conversation classes. Most were English majors required to…

A small college in Iowa (Westmar College) undertook an experimental program to determine an experimental program to determine reading skills of underprepared students. Subjects were 20 students reading below the 12th grade level, of whom 9 were chosen randomly and offered a beginning German course instead of remedial reading. All elected to take…

Examination of ways college second language teaching must adapt to new student needs looks at changing characteristics of students, their new educational goals and expectations of higher education, effects of these shifts on the classroom, new time considerations, the need to find creative ways to meet diverse student goals, and use of technology…