Presents a procedure for making the process of writing business letters concrete, to foment development and success in second-language writing classrooms. Attention is focused on how to demystify business writing so that international students can enjoy real learning and real successes in English-as-a-Second-Language classrooms. (Auth/JL)

Addresses the question of whether any test can be defended as ethical or moral. Defines ethicality in terms of issues such as harm, consent, confidentiality of data, and fairness and presents frameworks for determining equity of educational opportunity. An assessment project in Australia is examined in relation to these concerns. (24 references)…

Studies the effect of specific teacher input, modified for comprehension, on the acquisition of science vocabulary by a recent immigrant, a 12-year old newly arrived at an English secondary school. Comprehensible input played an important part in the acquisition of this student's science vocabulary. (SLD)

Studies the relationship between Dutch students' attitudes toward German, the course material, and the teacher and students' achievements in German. Results show that students having positive attitudes achieved more than those with negative attitudes and that students enrolled in a communicative course had more positive attitudes than those in a…

Reports the results of a cross-sectional study of 67 short autobiographical essays by U.S. students of Russian at 4 levels. Linguistic measures differentiating the groups included fluency and syntactic fluency, but not accuracy. The article recommends further research into second- and foreign- language learning writing that accounts for different…

Describes how beginning language learners generated electronic mail in a foreign language, Spanish, and what the resulting texts looked like. The study uncovered different, contrastive writing behaviors and a diversity of texts and suggests that communicative activities in the language classroom pose dilemmas for students. (39 references)…

Describes the use of contrastive rhetoric theory as a framework for a methods course in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Specific examples of problem areas are discussed, examples of contrastive rhetoric between several languages are examined, and classroom activities to help students understand contrastive rhetoric are outlined.…

Examines the issue of speech rate and listening comprehension by giving control of speech rate to students and focusing on individuals instead of groups. The study concluded that when given control, students' listening comprehension improved and improved listening comprehension was achieved by slowing down the speech rate. (21 references)…

Investigated linguistic and affective outcomes of summer study abroad participation by 25 college French students. Sought to determine if significant changes occurred in two linguistic factors--oral and listening French skills--and two affective factors--integrative motivation and language anxiety after study abroad. (Author/VWL)

Discuses the use of micro stories--shorter short stories--in the Spanish language classroom. Highlights the use of one micro story--Monterrosos'"El dinasauro"--as a point of departure for teaching literary reading skill to intermediate college and secondary level students. (Author/VWL)

Argues that learner attitudes and motivation are equally important for the improvement of students' proficiency in a second language. Used pre- and post-test results in the Use of English course at a university in Nigeria. (Author/VWL)

Presents findings of an intervention designed to examine the effects of affective strategy instruction on measures of second language (L2) proficiency and self-efficacy. One group of adult English-as-a-Second-Language learners received affective strategy training; a second served as a comparison group. Data from self-report questionnaires and…

Examines synchronous computer-mediated communication used in a university environment. Compared the level of participation among students and contrasted their written German chatroom discourse with their oral discourse produced in small face-to-face discussion groups. (Author/VWL)

Discusses making public library collections accessible to Spanish-speaking users and describes the consequences that can result from inattention to linguistic and cultural accessibility. Topics include cataloging issues and solutions; labeling; shelving; signage; electronic access; Spanish language training for staff; intercultural communication;…

A teacher reflects on experiences teaching an online master's in ESOL program, offering insights about how the mode made her teach in less traditional ways, deal with more probing questions, and reconceptualize the roles of formal and informal text. (Author/VWL)