Research on students with foreign language (FL) learning problems is reviewed and the Linguistic Coding Difference Hypotheses is described. The continuum of FL learning is explained and the role of linguistic variables in FL learning is supported. Recent research outcomes and a court decision regarding FL course substitutions are discussed.…

Introduces the Perseus Digital Library. The texts, maps, timelines, and other tools of the Perseus Digital Library can help students learn about Classical languages and classical culture. All the tools work together, and reference to other relevant information is offered automatically along with each page of text. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on issues raised in the late 1990's by the debate about the second major piece of language legislation in Catalonia. Catalonia is a region where devolution and language policies in favor of regional language may have reached limits that are not so much imposed by the national state as by demographic developments within Catalonia itself and…

Suggests that in light of the state of many of the minority languages within the European Union, there are numerous policy imperatives and implications that needs to be addressed in relation to further development of European language policy. Outlines briefly what these might involve by highlighting key principles and discussing these from a…

Focuses on attitudes and competencies of eighth grade native Rumansch speakers in Samedan, Switzerland. Argues that Samedan pupils--with their bi- or plurilingul backgrounds, a Romance language as a main school language, and the geographical proximity of Italian--have more positive attitudes toward French and better competencies than monolingual…

Describes a working model used to determine the target language use in a language for specific purpose test project: the Listening Summary Translation Exam in Taiwanese (LSTE/T). The purpose of the LSTE/T was to evaluate the summary translation ability of applicants who want to work as linguists in law enforcement agencies in the United States.…

Provides an historical sketch of form-focused instruction research, defines what is meant by form-focused instruction, and discusses the main research methods that have been used to investigate form-focused instruction in terms of a broad distinction between confirmatory and interpretive research. (Author/VWL)

Provides a description of preservice English-as-a-foreign-language teachers' reflective practice by examining 20 student teachers' observation reports and 20 practice teaching reports over a 6-week period while they were taking a practice teaching course. Topics, types, and development of their reflective practice as shown in the reports were…

Investigated the perceptions of the cooperative learning experience of a group of middle school learners who studied the rules and mechanics of English as a foreign language, according to the dynamic of the Student-Teams-Achievement Divisions (STAD) cooperative strategy. Subjects were Lebanese EFL learners. Results indicated learners were…

Investigates English-as-a-foreign-language learner use of high frequency verbs and particular use of the verb, "make." Examines whether learners tend to overuse or underuse these verbs, whether high-frequency verbs are error-prone or safe, and what part transfer plays in misuse of these verbs. Authentic speaker data is compared with native speaker…

Explored how third-year-level university students represented an assigned reading-to-write task as indicated by the type of papers they produced, and the relationship between the linguistic quality of those papers and the type of task representation. Findings suggest that the ability to interpret a reading-to-write task appropriately is dependent…

Investigates the context of writing instruction in a second-year, second-semester German course. Focusing on a children's story project, the researchers describe how writing is taught in the course; the relationship of writing assignments to the rest of the course curriculum; and the perceptions of foreign language writing, including its purpose,…

Examined the output produced by 46 university students of Spanish at the intermediate level during focused or unfocused communication tasks that required the use of command forms in Spanish. Also examined whether the learners who experienced the focused communication tasks would maintain linguistic accuracy during an unfocused communication task…

Provides an overview of the World Languages Other than English standards for teachers of students ages 3-18. The 14 standards are an important facet of the art and science of teaching and have been ordered as they are to facilitate understanding, not to assign priorities. (Author/VWL)

Reports data from the initial stage of a large-scale, multi-method survey of the current use of Chinese and English in the professional workplace in Hong Kong. Results indicate that reading and writing in English are demanded frequently in the professional Hong Kong workplace, but that English appears to play a less important role in workplace…