Demonstrates the dangers of an Americanized world expanding through the importation of American English. Suggests that linguistic sameness creates a loss of identity and deprives people of specific cultures and languages to call their own. (Author/VWL)

Language departments have a natural niche in undergraduate and graduate programs. The process of cross-cultural travel and conscious explorations of responses to difference constitute a unique contribution that foreign languages and literature departments can make to higher education. The article discusses implications of this contribution in…

Expectations regarding teacher-student relationships, classroom interactions, testing and evaluation, and academic integrity vary widely around the world. Understanding these differences can be critical to enhancing the academic success of ESL (English as a Second Language) college students. Faculty working with ESL students often ask: "Why won't…

There is a dearth of research involving advanced second language (L2) learners in the USA [Brantmeier, C., 2001. Second language reading research on passage content and gender: challenges for the intermediate level curriculum, Foreign Language Annals 34, 325-333; Young, D.J., 2003. Workshop on overcoming anxiety in the foreign language classroom.…

A transcript is provided of a radio program broadcast February 24, 1978, on the state of foreign language education. The participants in the discussion were leaders in the field, teachers and students from many parts of the United States and from all educational levels. The subjects covered are: some problems facing foreign language programs; the…

This paper describes the Foreign Language Alternative Program (FLAP) of Bellevue Community College, in Washington state. The program is designed to provide students with alternative choices best fitted to their individual needs, and is thus individualized and equipped to deal with both academic and vocational programs. The first year of a given…

A selective review is presented of the most recent theoretical pronouncements and practical applications of the interdisciplinary approach that are of significance to foreign language teachers and learners. The central focus is on problems and solutions within the two broad areas of institutional structures and curricula. Fifteen conclusions and…

An argument for counseling college-bound students in the senior year of high school rather than in the freshman year in college concentrates on: (1) adequate description of the languages taught in colleges, (2) importance of various languages in career planning, (3) identification of student linguistic potential, (4) study of a third language in…

This report summarizes a study published in 1967 by Harvard University which assessed foreign language proficiency of U.S. college seniors majoring in French, Spanish, Italian, German, and Russian. The measures used were the following: the MLA Foreign Language Proficiency Tests (Form A): Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing; the Modern…

A self-paced introductory French course sequence offered at Francis Marion College (South Carolina) was begun in response to nontraditional students' difficult study schedules and varied language backgrounds and knowledge levels. This program of individualized instruction has objectives identical to that of standard French instruction at the same…

A study of large group language instruction in Nigeria draws on experiences of 33 teachers providing remedial English second language instruction in Nigerian universities. The report presents: teacher experiences and perceptions of class size (often over 100); a questionnaire used to investigate practices in and attitudes toward large classes;…

English language assessment of non-native speakers of English (NNS) who apply for undergraduate study in the United States is examined. The analysis focuses on: the assessment of reading in light of its importance across the undergraduate curriculum, and the establishment of a base-line level of reading proficiency to which the proficiency of NNS…

At Concordia College's Institute of German Studies (Minnesota), an immersion program, a 1-month course entitled "German in the Business World" concentrates on development of written and oral communication skills needed in firms dealing with German-speakers. As part of its emphasis on banking, insurance, and business, the course includes…

The University of Rhode Island, through the cooperation of its College of Business Administration and Department of Languages, has undertaken efforts to market its business language program. The target group consists of the incoming freshman class, all of whom must have completed 2 years of high school language study and do some college work in a…

The purpose of this report is to present work done in the language module projects of the English and German degrees at Roskilde University Center (Denmark). Project work is the essential structuring ingredient of foreign language degrees at the Center. The collection of papers included in this issue attempts to provide information on what has…