In 1964, Deaf and hearing stakeholders convened at Ball State Teachers College in Muncie, Indiana, to discuss the state of signed language interpreting in the United States. One topic of discussion was the competencies these interpreters should exhibit. Four decades later, Witter-Merithew and Johnson (2005) described American Sign Language…

Stereotypical notions and depictions of the German language, its speakers, and cultural practices are more persistent in instructional materials, language program advertisements, and people's minds than one might presume (Bryant et al., 2019; Chavez, 2020a, 2020b; Rothe, 2022). Overcoming such misconceptions requires educators to reconsider…

One of the most critical steps in the test development process is defining the construct, or the knowledge, skills, or abilities, to be assessed. This foundational step provides the basis for initial assumptions about the meaning of test scores and serves as a reference for subsequent validity research. In this paper, we describe the purpose of…

This paper examines the language planning situation in the Sultanate of Oman with emphasis on the planning of Arabic, English, French and German, and their choice and spread in serving different interests and purposes. The paper explores the historical, social, political, and ideological processes and complexities of the language policy and…

The issue of high-stakes testing for teachers has been a debated topic in the larger educational arena for some time now and certainly has the potential to spark a lively argument by language professionals in this "Modern Language Journal (MLJ) Perspectives" venue. In his popular text, "A Rulebook for Arguments" (2009), Weston…

The topic of this "Perspectives" column is "Requiring a Proficiency Level as a Requirement for U.S. K-12 Teacher Licensure." In 1998, the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) began to work with the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), which accredits teacher education programs…

The renewed national focus on teacher quality and effectiveness has resulted in more rigorous standards that describe the knowledge and skills required of teacher candidates across all disciplines. In the area of foreign languages, three sets of professional standards address the oral proficiency of teachers in the target languages they teach…

"Dimension" is the annual volume containing the selected, refereed, edited Proceedings of each year's conference. "Communication Beyond the Classroom" was the announced theme of the annual conference of the Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT), held April 15-17, 2010, at the Winston-Salem Marriott in Winston-Salem,…

"Dimension" is the annual volume containing the selected, refereed, edited Proceedings of each year's conference. The Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT), held its annual conference April 15-17, 2010, at the Winston-Salem Marriott in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in collaboration with the Foreign Language Association of…

This article examines what one university has done to prepare for its program review for recognition by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), a Specialized Professional Association (SPA) of NCATE. The history of the standards movement within higher…

Using TESOL's 1997 landmark publication, ESL Standards for Pre-K-12 as a building block, the new 2006 PreK-12 English Language Proficiency Standards expands the scope and breadth of ESL content standards: (1) Connects language to the specific core curriculum content areas of English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies; (2)…