Over the last three decades neoliberal government policies have spread successfully around the world with disastrous effects on the social infrastructures of many countries. Neoliberal policies move vast amounts of public money into private hands increasing the gap between rich and poor and decimating social support services for the majority of…

Language educators are beginning to realize the need for merging affective-cognitive learning endeavors in the classroom. Language is seen as a vehicle for self-learning and expression and the language class is viewed as an appropriate environment wherein self-reflection can lead to meaningful interpersonal sharing. Confluent language programs…

Part I is a paper, "Authenticity and Communication in Foreign Language Teaching," presented at the workshop. This paper argues that improving the relationship between teacher and student is one means of promoting language study. The teacher must first of all abandon his pedestal of authority and accept his dual role as giver of a tool of…

To view knowledge of a foreign language only as a classroom tool is limiting for any young person, and especially so for the black student. "What good will study of a foreign language do me?" is a legitimate question for any student to ask. For one thing, foreign language study liberates the mind. Beginning with the first contact with a foreign…

Much attention has been given to the imbalance between thinking and feelings in the educative process. Human teaching calls for merging the cognitive and affective processes into one confluent learning experience. Language learning is viewed primarily as a means for affective reflective communication. Personal growth merges with language…

The "Language from Within" program is a collation of Gestalt strategies based on the principles of confluent education and adapted for use in the foreign language classroom. The underlying principles of confluent education are: awareness of feelings as the source of personal meaning (subject matter is learned only when the student sees…

The affective education movement and applications to foreign language learning are surveyed. Affective, or humanistic, education seeks to include self-knowledge, improved interpersonal communication, and clarification of one's values. Research studies show that thinking and feeling are intertwined. Emotion is present in the classroom and cannot be…

This article describes the evolution of a confluent language program, which provides simultaneous processes for successful language learning, self awareness, self appreciation, and interpersonal communication. The confluent language curriculum design has been successfully implemented in language classes throughout the United States and in some…