A study investigated the nature and extent of African American interest in African languages. Data were gathered in (1) an informal telephone survey of selected universities having an African American studies department and/or a sizeable number of Black students, and African-centered public schools, and (2) a survey of 234 African Americans and…

A study investigated Japanese college students' perceptions and assessments of their college English classes, and to what factors they attribute difficulty in acquiring oral English. Subjects were 189 students from a junior college and a university, in first- through third-year English conversation classes. Most were English majors required to…

Ways that teacher educators can provide opportunities for novice teachers to develop their beliefs about teaching and learning and their teaching practices are discussed. It is suggested that practical teaching experience is essential to teacher development, but that teachers must also be able to process their experiences in ways that allow time…

This paper describes the KELP (Kanda-English Language Proficiency) Project, a project for self-directed English-as-a-Second-Language learning at Kanda University of International Studies (Japan). In the study, students plan and direct their own language learning programs, using individually designed learning contracts. Examples of three kinds of…

The oral communication course for English majors at the National University of Malaysia includes testing designed by faculty and coordinated with the curriculum. This practice is based on the ideas that a teacher who has been actively involved in curriculum design is in a good position to design a test for that curriculum, and that teacher-made…

A small college in Iowa (Westmar College) undertook an experimental program to determine an experimental program to determine reading skills of underprepared students. Subjects were 20 students reading below the 12th grade level, of whom 9 were chosen randomly and offered a beginning German course instead of remedial reading. All elected to take…

South Africa's University of the Western Cape developmental program in English as a second language is described and discussed. The program was designed to improve the academic achievement of native Afrikaans-speaking first-year students by improving their English competence. The students are a high-risk subgroup of students in a general…

Languages have lost status in the educational system, and oral skills are less effectively and rigorously taught. However, a University of Leeds program providing short, intensive courses in administrative and legal French for British civil servants has been found to be very effective in developing the participants' oral and aural skills. The…

Hearings on reauthorization of Titles II, VI, VIII, X, and XI of the Higher Education Act are presented. For Title II, the college library programs, Congress seeks acceptable criteria for providing library aid based on need and to determine needs for traineeships and fellowships for professional and paraprofessional librarians. Considerations for…

The dramatic rebirth of the foreign language department in a four-year liberal arts college is documented. The process is described as having three stages: assessment of the department's curricular mission in light of the changed student constituency; development of a long-range plan for outreach and public relations activities to prepare the way…

When asked by the business department for a language component for its new area of concentration in international business, the modern language department of a small liberal arts college capitalized on a recently devised competence-based curriculum. The curriculum, established in the college's general education curriculum as an alternate track to…

Drexel University's undergraduate major in International Area Studies is described. The program has an interdisciplinary curriculum including required coursework in the departments of foreign languages, history and politics, sociology and anthropology, and business administration. All languages offered start with beginner level courses and…

In 1980, Oregon State University began a program going beyond the usual procedure for students of English as a second language (ESL), which involved putting them in intensive English programs until they could pass the Test of English as a Foreign Language and then sending them on to a regular academic program. It was found that this traditional…

Causes of language fossilization and ways to overcome it are considered. Fossilization is the relatively permanent incorporation of incorrect linguistic forms into a person's second language competence. The discussion is focused on fossilization of incorrect syntactical rules, based on experiences with learners of English as a second language at…

In a 3-year, federally-funded program, faculty at St. Olaf College (Minnesota) have developed a series of behavioral and natural science courses in which students with at least the fourth semester of foreign language do a portion of the course readings in the second language and meet once a week to discuss them in that language with the regular…