Describes a fifth-semester university course in German in which students analyze the stylistic features of the language and its function in specific cultural contexts, such as films, speeches, songs, and newspapers. The course is conducted entirely in German and focuses on a single stylistic theme each week. (SED)

This essay describes the development of an English coursebook that drew upon environmental education for the content. The book was designed to assist Indonesian university students in learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL). The three authors of the present essay served as the book's three editors. The authors of the individual lessons in the…

A worldwide survey of 89 institutions teaching languages at a distance was undertaken to learn of alternative delivery systems and teaching methods (textbooks, workbooks, audiocassettes, radio, television, and others). Skills taught are compared with program components at Canada's Athabasca University. (MSE)

Communication-based teaching techniques are described that lead German language students from input to output in a stimulating and motivating learning environment. Input activities are most useful for presenting speech acts, vocabulary, and grammar; output activities, for fine-tuning those areas as well as for expanding students' productive…

Because most language teaching in China is focused on national tests, language is treated as a knowledge subject and development of communicative abilities is often ignored. This article describes activities that one English-as-a-Foreign-Language teacher used to teach oral English to university students in China. (Author/VWL)

Describes a curriculum development research project that took place in the French section of the Department of Modern Languages of the University of Salford in the United Kingdom over a 10-year period. The curriculum is motivated by three interacting theoretical perspectives on how languages are learned at an advanced level.(Author/VWL)

Second language acquisition research has led to a major emphasis on the need for learners to experience the target language (TL) in use if they themselves are to become users of the language. At the same time, there is discussion of the role of the first language (L 1) as a tool in the processing of language/culture experiences. Achieving optimal…

A study was undertaken in order to provide current data and comprehensive information about Chinese language instruction in United States higher education. This report is based on the responses to a survey in 1979. In addition to the discussion of the survey responses, an examination of changes that have taken place since a previous report in 1969…

The "teaching spectacle" approach (where the teacher is the major and only character involved in teaching and learning) often observed in university-level English as a second language classes in Indonesia must be abandoned in favor of a "learning festival" approach, which encourages complete involvement of both teachers and…

Structures of first-year French courses in Canada are similar except for contact hours. Enrollment is generally increasing, despite staff funding problems. Textbook choices change slowly, and eclectic methodology predominates. Institutional enrollments, trends, class hours, and course types are charted, and a list of textbooks is included. (MSE)

Describes a one-semester conversational course taught at Harvard University designed to teach basic oral communication skills in French with the main emphasis on teaching students to pause while speaking. (AM)

Examines how sound spectrographs provide students learning a second language direct, visual feedback that is more useful than instructors' comments on articulation. Shows spectrographs of words pronounced by native and non-native English speakers. Argues this real-time acoustic analysis is less frustrating and more productive than traditional…

The progress of three groups of university students enrolled in a first-year German course was evaluated after one completed academic year. The achievements of two control groups, a day and an evening class taught by conventional methods, were compared with those of an experimental group taught using suggestopedic methods. Additionally, for the…

Discusses reasons for enrollment growth at institutions of higher learning, including instructional quality, departmental diversification, instructional innovation, and publicity and recruitment. (AM)

The potential impact of French immersion programs on English-language universities in Canada is discussed, including the demands of increasing numbers of immersion graduates for expanded, nontraditional French-language offerings. Applications of the immersion approach to university-level second language instruction are classified, particularly…