Focuses on a European Co-operation Program designed to foster self-development in the teaching of foreign languages during the residency of established foreign scholars. The program aims to utilize an extensive network of contacts to develop structures, procedures, and learning support materials enabling language teachers to enhance their…

Provides an overview of some issues arising from the experience of introducing the early teaching of modern languages in schools associated with the Kent Primary French Project. These issues transcend the immediate question of primary modern languages and bear directly upon some key themes in the reevaluation of primary organization and…

Describes how a fifth-grade teacher intervened to bridge the language and cultural social divisions in her classroom. By experiencing a key math lesson entirely in Spanish, native English speakers quickly began to understand what it is like to not be able to understand. Teachers reported a profound effect of this experiment on the classroom. (ET)

Notes the difficulty of sorting out the root cause of poor test performance by Spanish-speaking students, and the scarcity of demonstrably effective solutions. Illustrates these difficulties by discussing low English academic engagement by limited-English-proficient students and the challenges of making the transition from native language to…

Notes that sign language is the third most used second language in the United States and that early childhood is an ideal language-learning time. Describes the experiences of one preschool where American Sign Language has become an integral part of the curriculum. Includes guiding principles, classroom do's and don'ts, and a resource list of…

Forty college students of second-year French were used to study the extent to which individual learners exercise initiative in structuring classroom talk. Textual outcomes of four typical tasks for pairs were examined. Interactions were coded in four areas (topic, self-selection, allocation, and sequencing); results showed variation in the extent…

The view that a child-centered approach to curriculum and classroom organization in primary education provides a conducive environment for second-language acquisition is endorsed in England's National Curriculum. A small study is reported that suggests not all teacher-pupil interaction promotes second-language acquisition. (Contains 24…

In second-language learning, personal goals, political and economic relations, and sociocultural circumstances will largely determine the outcome of contact and the language strategies available. This article suggests how the outcome of language and culture contact can be predicted once an understanding of the context is achieved. (Contains 22…

It is proposed that early introduction to basic French phonetic features and systematic emphasis on phonics allows students to learn to speak French clearly understandable to native speakers and relatively accent-free. In addition, this approach tends to improve listening skills. Important phonetic features to include in classwork are detailed.…

Critiques an article by Virginia LoCastro that contrasted quantitative data (using the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning, or SILL) and qualitative data (using group interviews) and finds the conclusions drawn from the comparison unjustified on various grounds. A reply by LoCastro is included. (Contains a combined total of 20 references.)…

Examines the difficulty foreign language learners of Spanish experience in distinguishing between indicative and subjunctive moods after four semesters of study. An analysis of two oral production tasks suggests that, at this intermediate level, they are unlikely to possess enough linguistic foundation to fully benefit from instruction in mood…

Indirect object doubling is the use of the pronoun "le" with a corresponding noun phrase within the same sentence ("Le regalo el anillo a Karen"). Redefining pronominalization as verb agreement leads to hypotheses that explain the construction's use within discourse. Data from an Argentine novel shows correlations between…

Investigates the acquisition of English synthetic compounding by 15 native Spanish and 11 native Chinese speakers, finding that although the production of regular plurals in English compounds was rampantly pervasive, the overall rate of correct omission of /-s/ inside compounds was roughly chance. The results are compared with previous studies.…

This study analyzed complimenting behavior in French between French native speakers and American advanced French learners in seven dinner party conversations. Data are found to provide a rich source of lessons in politeness for both sociolinguistic and pedagogic descriptions of French speech acts. (Author/MSE)

The oral proficiency interview (OPI) has been submitted to external scrutiny and has been accepted by many foreign language educators as an accurate method of assessing speaking competence of foreign language learners. An OPI is herein examined in the context of evaluating native speakers. (seven references) (JL)