Outlines the history of semantically based programs that have influenced the design of computer assisted language instruction (CALI) programs. Describes early attempts to make intelligent CALI as well as current projects, including the Foreign Language Adventure Game, developed at the University of Delaware. Describes some important…

Investigation of the retention of school-learned French language skills in Dutch students over a period of four years following training revealed that global receptive skills actually improved. Only lexical and grammatical skills attrited, although students' self-perception of their skill retention was much more negative. (Author/JR)

A study compared the effect of reading aloud to grade two French immersion students with that of participation in the normal language arts curriculum during a three-month period. Reading aloud was found to be a simple but effective adjunct to formal teaching methods for accelerating second language acquisition. (29 references) (Author/MSE)

Explores governance problems, caused by conflicts between political and academic demands, within foreign language departments. The broader philosophical, pedagogical, and professional contexts of governance resulting from an expanded view and definition of foreign language study are considered, highlighting the situation in West Germany. (39…

Discusses a recently developed post-admissions testing battery, for Ontario colleges and universities, that tests students' listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills through integrated texts and tasks that simulate academic language use. The battery yields placement and diagnostic information about students' readiness to undertake academic…

Presents a framework for dealing with errors in natural language sentences within the context of automated second-language teaching. Using a feature grammar, it is possible to describe various types of errors in a uniform framework, clearly define an error, and analyze the error source. (24 references) (Author/CK)

Examines how second-language learners compensate for their target language deficiency in communication using the One to One Principle of interlanguage communication. Results indicate that target language aspects not adhering to one-to-one mapping between semantic and surface elements are problematic to the learners and are seemingly acquired late.…

Presents the results of a study of Francophone pupils in the French schools of Windsor, Ontario. The article gives examples of nonstandard features pervading students' French vocabulary and syntax and concludes that a hybrid vernacular may be emerging as a result of the Canadian sociolinguistic situation, creating a challenge to the teaching of…

Compiles the main findings of the Oxford Project on Diversification of First Foreign Language Teaching. This project examined pupils' and teachers' experiences of diversification, set in the context of local and national developments in language policy, and investigated matters affecting decisions as to which modern foreign language(s) to offer.…

Focuses on foreign language teaching in higher education in China. Topics include political difficulties resulting from the Cultural Revolution, the return of the first group of foreign teachers to China in 1977, and current foreign language programs. Although foreign language teaching in China is advancing, better teachers and equipment are…

Focuses on strategies of second-language learners who communicate among themselves. Pairs of students were left alone in a room with a sound recorder and instructions to describe a specific object. The communication strategy they selected to describe an object with no common referent was to paraphrase the object's function. (11 references) (CK)

Reports on a study that monitored and corrected the writing of bilingual Fransaskois students and immersion graduates in the same class. The study's objectives were to determine whether francophones and anglophones made similar or different mistakes and whether the two groups could be taught together without prejudice. Both groups made similar…

Examined the beliefs and practices of special education, credentialed bilingual, and bilingual-waivered teachers of Latino language-minority students. Found that no group supported a single view of literacy instruction or assessment. Differences between groups (primarily bilingual and special education teachers) were evident in beliefs about…

Reports on three studies of the learning strategies of adult students of second languages. The research identified two distinct approaches to vocabulary learning that differed in aspects relating to independent study, self-initiated learning activities, recording of lexical items studied, review of these records, and practice of vocabulary outside…

Advocates that language anxiety can play a significant causal role in creating individual differences in both language learning and communication. This paper studies the role of anxiety in the language learning process and concludes that the linguistic coding deficit hypothesis errs in assigning epiphenomenal status to language anxiety. (57…