Three elements to be considered in computer-assisted language instruction courseware design are: (1) environment; (2) visuals; and (3) timing. Computer-generated environments must be dynamic, flexible, challenging, and engaging. Visuals must be easily readable, uncluttered, consistently laid out. Program time should be balanced with real time.…

Canada, a nation of 25 million people, uses two official languages, English and French, to recognize the country's two founding groups. In addition to an official bilingual policy, Canada has a policy of multiculturalism that encourages ethnic languages and cultures. (RM)

The unique interethnic contact situation provided by the Israeli Shelef project and its consequence in changes of ethnic stereotypes among Shelef participants is examined. The results confirmed the hypothesis that the participants' tendency to generalize and to relate to people categorically would decrease over the course of the year. (Author/EGS)

Discusses five approaches to multicultural education. For each of first four (education of culturally different; education about cultural differences; education for cultural pluralism; bicultural education) delineates assumptions about underlying values, change strategies, intended outcomes, and target populations. Fifth approach is multicultural…

Students registered in courses for English for special or occupational purposes usually already have a good command of the language. Their objective is not to acquire fluency in the language as such, but rather to learn to use the language adequately in specific professional contexts. The filed of international negotiation and peacekeeping…

An ethnographic study examined slang as spoken on campuses of two universities in the United States, one on the West Coast and one in the Midwest. Subjects were students from Intercultural Communication classes, who served as participant/observers and data gatherers. Subjects were instructed to collect slang terms that they heard on campus and,…

This paper explores behavior patterns that inhibit effective communication in everyday, educational, and business cross-cultural settings. Opportunities to change these inhibiting patterns, metaphorically referred to as "stumbling blocks," into building blocks or tools for successful intercultural understandings are discussed in the…

This brief paper describes a special, informal seminar for international students that used an adjunct instruction model to focus on technical terminology in the field of instructional technology. Foreign students are enrolled concurrently in two linked courses--a language course and a content course with the two courses sharing content base and…

This paper presents suggestions for a 60-hour course in intercultural communication that develops cognition skills needed to understand life in foreign countries. The initial part of the course is intended to heighten the participant's awareness of his or her own "home-culture"; the latter part concentrates on assumptions, values, and…

The perceptions and practical experiences are important influences when creating and developing online learning experiences in cross cultural contexts. In this study, 15 educational designers studying for their Master's Degree were asked to contribute their interpretations to an ongoing study of what meaning and interpretations were generated from…

This case study examines the cross-cultural learning experiences of two Chinese students at a major university in the Eastern United States. The study participants were a graduate student and his wife, both of whom had graduated from prestigious Chinese universities. At the time of the study, they had been in the United States for less than two…

This paper examines the effect of foreign language instruction on middle school students' attitudes toward "the other." The primary purpose of this case study is to describe the process of culture learning as it takes place within a middle school foreign language program. Culture learning is a particular type of human learning related to the…

A discussion examines the importance of communication between non-native speakers (NNS/NNS), reviews relevant theories and issues in intercultural interactions and NNS/NNS interactions, and explores methodological issues in interpreting linguistic and interactional data. The intent is to explore features of communication between NNSs from…

This document reviews the existing literature on intercultural communication (ICC) and ties it to teacher-student classroom interactions, exploring ways that teachers can respond to cultural incongruities and reduce the cultural clashes they experience between themselves and students from different cultural backgrounds. Section 1,…

Reconceptualizes a cultural perspective for science education that offers an account of life in a science classroom by characterizing students' experiences as crossing borders between subcultures. Contains 160 references. (DDR)