This article reports a 2-year case study (2003-2005) on teachers' instructional practices, and the impact of teacher understandings and training upon the teachers' implementation of the Communicative Oriented Curriculum (COC) initiative in the context of a major curriculum innovation in teaching English to young learners in Turkish state schools.…

This article discusses the changing cultural fabric in Kansas. The author sees this change as an opportunity to strengthen and expand the Adult Basic Education and English as a Second Language programming. By taking this approach, adult education will appeal not only to best practices where authentic community-based approaches are indeed more…

The reasons why a child should learn a foreign language, and particularly, which foreign language study should begin in elementary school, are discussed. The kinds of programs generally available in elementary schools are described. Sources of information and assistance for parents who want to start language programs in their schools are given.…

Discusses implementation of a FLEX program called Beginning Foreign Language at Mooresville High School, including administrative scheduling, room assignments, budget, general and specific objectives of course, materials, testing, and grading. Concludes positive aspects outweigh unresolved problems. (BK)

Describes public forum held in Fayetteville, AR in 1979 designed to give the general public the opportunity to air pro and con opinions on value of foreign languages in public school curricula. Expressions from newspaper readers, television viewers, and forum participants suggest there is a general belief in the value of foreign language study.…

Discusses development of ESL programs in Western Canada, including increase in teacher training and curriculum development in order to help integrate immigrants into the mainstream. (BK)

An elementary school principal describes her school's successful effort to virtually eliminate a reading gap between black and white students by concentrating on strong discipline and literacy programs, supplemented by music and foreign language programs that are believed to improve cognitive ability.

This paper reports a videotaped self-observation of a 47 minute ESL reading lesson. The focus of the lesson was on intensive reading. The entire teaching session was videotaped; the videotaped data were analyzed using (a) ethnographic microanalysis, (b) selective verbatim transcripts, (c) Seating Chart Observation REcord (SCORE), (d)…

This study is an ethnographic account of the brief career of an Argentine former engineer without pedagogical experience who was hired as a middle school Spanish teacher in a small, conservative community in the northeastern United States. The focus of the case study is on how his attempts to become a teacher on the job both affected his own…

Study in language, literature, and culture has long been a defining feature of education in the liberal arts. Speaking, reading, and writing have traditionally stood at the heart of education because the arts of language and the tools of literacy are key qualifications for full participation in social, political, economic, and cultural life. Today…

This report presents the findings of a longitudinal study of English as a Second Language (ESL) students at the City College of San Francisco (CCSF) conducted during the summer of 2007. The study used College records to track all students who first enrolled in CCSF's credit and non-credit ESL programs in 1998, 1999, and 2000 for seven years …

Contemporary best practices in the profession encourage teaching as much as possible in the target language, but when university faculty were observed teaching Spanish, the majority spoke English during instruction and many engaged in frequent code switching (alternations) between English and Spanish. Findings indicate that instructors used…

A study investigated factors that facilitate innovation in intensive English programs at 43 universities, based on administrators' perceptions. Results indicate program aspects felt to influence innovation, successfully implemented innovations, and perceived qualities of innovative policies and practices. A complex set of variables emerged. (MSE)

In this article, the author describes the genesis of the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations (AFMLTA) and "Babel." With regard to the origin of the title of the journal, its name refers only indirectly to the Tower of Babel in Genesis. It comes in fact from the affectionate nickname that had been given to the…

This article describes the efforts of an intensive English programme to design a class that addressed the challenges of bringing authentic English into the curriculum. This class exposed students to a variety of authentic English language input, while providing support. Through this class, students volunteered with various community organizations.…