An interview with the current president of the Alliance Francaise reviews the evolution of French cultural outreach since World War II, related initiatives by the French government and private agencies, important activities of the alliance, and specific areas in which research on the role of French is needed. (MSE)

Describes the establishment of the very visible and successful Five College Foreign Language Resource Center, focusing on the grantsmanship, equipment, benefits and pitfalls of a consortial approach, involvement with high schools, and a planned summer colloquium. (Author/CB)

Describes and reviews the Dutch National Action Programme (NAP) on Foreign Languages, instituted in anticipation of the demands of the 1992 Single European Market. The increasing demand for foreign languages is confirmed, some shortcomings of the current program regarding French and German language learning are identified, and recommendations for…

Discusses the question of separate incorporation versus Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) control of the Commission of Intensive English Program Accreditation. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the teaching of languages other than English to those Australian learners who come from monolingual or primarily monolingual English speaking backgrounds and who have had little contact with other languages or few opportunities to use a foreign language in authentic communication during their school years. (Author/VWL)

Discuses the foreign language department chair's fractured time, department's space in the university, and the complicated action of putting a united front on the diversity of opinion and levels of involvement characteristic of faculty members in any foreign language department. (Author/VWL)

Offers inventive strategies to help foreign language department chairs encourage scholarly development in their colleagues and maintain a place of their own in the research community. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the foreign language department chair's role as middleman encircled by demands from students, faculty, and administration. Provides ideas about dealing with deans, especially in the use of part-time faculty; support for and lack of recognition of faculty research; and technology and the role of a good teacher. Decries the demand for…

Discusses the need to address the ambiguities regarding literature in the standards-based foreign language curriculum. Suggests that by allowing students to explore personal responses to language and literature, it will easier to forge crucial connections across the undergraduate curriculum and to reassert the usefulness of a coherent program in…

In a week marked by a high-profile meeting between President Bush and China's President Hu Jintao, the College Board signed an agreement with the government of China intended to boost the numbers of Chinese-language teachers in American public schools through teaching exchanges, professional-development programs, and new instructional materials.…

Despite the widespread use of digital video and, increasingly, multimedia in listening instruction throughout second language programs, little is known about how learners attend to dynamic visual elements in comprehension. A lack of research in how listeners engage with videotext retards the development of computer-based listening skills. This…

The growth of KFL (Korean-as-a-Foreign-Language) programmes in the US college setting has been truly remarkable in the last three decades. However, despite the gradual and steady growth of the non-heritage student population, the predominant group has been heritage students in most KFL programmes. In addition, teaching these two groups of students…

This article gives the reasons for, and the history of, the conceptualization of intensive French. The major characteristics of core French and French immersion are reviewed, giving the principal advantages and limitations of each program. The findings of empirical research that most directly affect the development of communication skills are…

The Foreign Language Standards of Learning identify essential content, processes, and skills for each level of language learning in Virginia's secondary schools. Included are specific standards for levels I through IV of French, German, Spanish, and Latin, as well as generic standards adaptable for levels I through IV of other modern languages,…

This paper reports on two studies that investigated the effectiveness of a contrastive analysis type of pedagogical intervention, which aimed to promote interlanguage development in the use and understanding of English possessive determiners (PDs) among adolescent second language (L2) learners. The first research question asked whether explicit…