This paper focuses on the speaking proficiency of advanced foreign language learners. It looks at performance on two different tasks: oral presentations and group discussions. Success in giving an oral presentation in front of an audience is assessed with the help of evaluations, which are then measured against various linguistic phenomena…

Language learning strategies (LLS), here defined as specific actions or mental procedures that assist in fulfilling language learning goals, have attracted increasing attention as one of the factors that impact second language acquisition. A key reason for their appeal is that language learning strategies can be manipulated to an extent that most…

Report on an advanced listening comprehension exercise series for independent study developed at the Goethe Institut at Iserlohn, West Germany. (RS)

Report on a research project to classify various language registers as related to advanced instruction of English as a foreign language; supported by the English Curriculum Section of the Language Bureau, Public Service Commission of Canada. (RS)

Directed to the classroom teacher, this paper focuses on three primary aspects of the teaching task at the advanced level: (1) definition of reading skill goals, (2) techniques for reading skill improvement, (3) classroom procedures." (Author/FB)

A study shows that advanced ESL students explore and clarify ideas and attend to language-related concerns primarily after their ideas have been delineated. These results call into question the prescriptive approach to writing instruction that is overly concerned with correctness. (MSE)

Introduces a recorded skit entirely based on the responses of one speaker, the lines spoken by the other being suggested by the context or left to audience's imagination. Suggests this material for use with advanced students and proposes various classroom activities leading to a reconstruction of the dialogue. (MES)

This article discusses an approach that uses Socratic questioning to instill grammar awareness in advanced, academically bound second-language learners. Natural versus formal teaching and learning of language forms is reviewed, the theoretical framework is discussed, and the pedagogical concepts on which the theoretical framework is based is…

Presents a description of the application of the five "Cs" (communication, culture, communities and comparison, and communities) of the Standards for Foreign Language Learning (SFFL), in an advanced Brazilian literature course. Demonstrates the development of reading, writing, comprehension, and speaking skills through the cognitive…

Presents a quiz for use in the advanced English classroom that introduces language learners to a variety of amusing slang expressions and idioms. The learner is led to consider the possibility of a little-known rule in English: male=positive, female=negative, and is offered an opportunity for discussion and vocabulary building. (Author/VWL)

Explains how sentence-combining exercises can improve advanced English as a second language (ESL) students' writing. (MM)

Analysis of advanced English-as-a-second-language students' responses to proficiency tests and conversational cloze tests after a six-month residency in England revealed that, while written multiple-choice tests clearly showed linguistic improvement, the oral cloze tests separated out subjects more effectively. (Author/CB)

This study looked at current reading strategies used by Spanish learners in fourth- and fifth-semester college Spanish. Students ranked strategies they found most useful. No single strategy was chosen by an overwhelming majority of students; however, a mean ranking revealed that instruction in skimming and word guessing proved most useful to…

Describes the second-year French program at the University of California, Berkeley, which attempts to bridge the gap between intermediate language courses and upper-division writing courses by incorporating such strategies as semantic mapping to promote higher-level thinking, help students to organize their writing, and foster the development of…