Examines the shift in the role of the college and university language department head from that of colleague and leader to manager, resulting from changing institutional and professional culture. Argues department chairs must read recent research on department leadership, learn about changes in higher education and the faculty's role, and…

An investigation of the place of oral testing in large institutions' foreign language programs found common problems, including large classes, multisectioned courses, and use of inexperienced teaching assistants as evaluators. Most institutions using oral testing coped with the problems. Recommendations for improving test use and administration…

Addresses the need of devoting, during the next two years, more time to a special kind of foreign language departmental planning. This planning may determine the strength of foreign language programs at colleges and universities at the turn of the century. (GLR)

An assessment plan to evaluate student outcomes of foreign language studies and four other disciplines at the State University of New York is presented. Measurement vehicles, including the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages rating scale, and assessment plan materials, such as the foreign language course handbook and portfolio…

Proposed and existing models of research and professional development through which language faculty can participate in the reward structure are surveyed and evaluated for their applicability to the small multilingual, primarily baccalaureate department. All existing models are found to be burdened by political drawbacks, and a new model is…

Describes problems and attempted resolutions encountered in administering an effective study-abroad program in Paris, France, discussing program rationale, selection and preparation of students, academic life, and social life. (28 references) (CB)

Addresses problems posed by native speakers in Chinese courses and an Australian university's attempts to meet students' needs, including identifying and directing native speakers away from courses designed for nonnative speakers and a special purpose course for those native speakers who do not necessarily have a unified language experience. (CB)

The topic of minority groups is presented as a subject matter for a fourth-semester college German course combining culture with an introduction to literature. A course on Turks is described and textbook treatment of the topic is reviewed. A list of selected works on and by minorities suitable for German courses is appended. (18 references)…

Argues that the concept of using different approaches to teaching foreign language literature to undergraduates and graduates may do a disservice to those who see the study of foreign literature as literature through language. Discusses teaching strategies to facilitate such integration. (19 references) (CB)

Describes a university's approach to determining, testing, and certifying students' proficiency levels for foreign language reading-for-research courses, focusing on the effectiveness of using the 1986 ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines in developing the university's guidelines. (28 references) (CB)

Describes the establishment of the very visible and successful Five College Foreign Language Resource Center, focusing on the grantsmanship, equipment, benefits and pitfalls of a consortial approach, involvement with high schools, and a planned summer colloquium. (Author/CB)

Discuses the foreign language department chair's fractured time, department's space in the university, and the complicated action of putting a united front on the diversity of opinion and levels of involvement characteristic of faculty members in any foreign language department. (Author/VWL)

Offers inventive strategies to help foreign language department chairs encourage scholarly development in their colleagues and maintain a place of their own in the research community. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the foreign language department chair's role as middleman encircled by demands from students, faculty, and administration. Provides ideas about dealing with deans, especially in the use of part-time faculty; support for and lack of recognition of faculty research; and technology and the role of a good teacher. Decries the demand for…

Discusses the need to address the ambiguities regarding literature in the standards-based foreign language curriculum. Suggests that by allowing students to explore personal responses to language and literature, it will easier to forge crucial connections across the undergraduate curriculum and to reassert the usefulness of a coherent program in…