The effect of evaluation method on English as second language (ESL) learners' revisions of their compositions was investigated. Teacher comments, peer evaluations, and English-speaking peer reformulations were compared. Judges rated the revised compositions of 9 advanced and 14 intermediate college ESL students using the ESL Composition Profile.…

This booklet is designed for eleven-to-fifteen year old students who are in, or who have just completed, a French immersion program. It addresses two concerns of students and their parents: (1) how well students are achieving in French, in English, in other subjects, and in their overall intellectual development; and (2) what possibilities exist…

The second language learning methods of Southern Baptist missionaries in Zambia are described. Instead of studying the new language in a school setting, the student receives a week of orientation and is then placed in the community and expected to practice communicating with the native speakers at every opportunity. The student follows a course…

A study is presented which attempts to clarify the notion of communicative proficiency in a foreign language and which outlines an instructional model that incorporates the insights of the study. Communicative proficiency is defined as fluent mastery of the foreign language in different contexts. The definition was operationalized into discourse…

Studies of age differences in second language learning ability are collected along with commentary on the results. The 12 papers describe long and short term studies of children and adults that focus on the optimal age for second language acquisition, the effect of different teaching methods and environments on age differences, and theories that…

The place of poetry in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) and the role of linguistics are considered. It is suggested that poetry teaching has a place in advanced EFL learners' progreams as a means of extending the learners' knowledge of the language and increasing their sense of appropriateness and sensitivity to language use. The value…

The implications of family communication styles for teaching English as a second language (ESL) are explored. Family interaction types differ according to culture and social class. Factors in family interaction influence the way a second language is learned and the way it can best be taught. Two basic family types are distinguished: the personal…

A study of the possible transfer of reading skills from a first language other than English to English, called script-carryover effects, focused on two aspects of the written language: (1) the manner in which the script represents information about sound and meaning, and (2) whether or not the script uses the same graphemic characters as English.…

Ten commonly-held positions concerning language learning and teaching and counter-positions for each are presented with the counter-positions supported with experiences from a first-year French classroom. The positions challenged are: (1) it is inappropriate to mix English and the target language in the same spoken sentence; (2) students cannot…

The common links in language learning theory relating to school content areas are the notion of input comprehensible to the learner, the distinction between language usage and use, and the concept of cognitive/academic language proficiency in contrast with basic interpersonal communication skills. This suggests that a laboratory-based science…

Three program types for foreign student second language instruction in Canada involve sheltered subject-matter instruction at (1) a university, (2) a university adjunct or support program, and (3) a private "visa school" established solely to prepare foreign students for university or college entrance in Canada or the United States. The…

Teaching Spanish while either restricting classroom use of the textbook or ignoring application of the computer is a losing proposition. Withdrawn from the typographic-video world that engages them daily, students are deprived of their most comfortable means of knowledge acquisition. Typography and visual images can be an immeasurable aid in…

A socio-educational model of second language learning suggests that the learning of a second language involves both an ability and a motivational component and that the major basis of this motivation is best viewed from a social psychological perspective. The motivational component is influenced to some extent by factors that affect an…

As an exchange professor the author gives his impression of German courses in the American college and proposes a methodology which he considers would be more fruitful. (Text is in German.) (TL)

Patterns of foreign language retention among young children who have been removed from a language contact situation for a period of time are studied. (PP)