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…

To prepare learners for successful communication is nowadays one of the main goals of teaching practices of lecturers of English as a Second (ESL) or Foreign (EFL) language in the University setting. Consequently, language teaching needs to focus not only on linguistic or strategic aspects of the target language, but also on the development of the…

Some of the teaching practices of 10 foreign language teachers in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area are reviewed in this study of second language (L2) instruction. Focus is on how idioms are taught in university German foreign language courses, which textbooks and reference materials available in the German and English fields highlight…

A project surveyed the instructional materials development needs of the less commonly taught languages (LCTLs) language teaching community. The national survey in 1992 covered 82 languages and surveyed approximately 1,000 language course instructors and program directors at national resource centers and universities in the United States receiving…

Questions have been raised about the status of English as a second language (ESL) in colleges and universities, especially with regard to ESL credit, admission of ESL students, and tenure for ESL instructors. These questions prompted Portland State University (Oregon) to send a questionnaire dealing with the topic to the directors of 174 programs…

Three major concerns affect higher education in the United States: the decline in student population with some curtailment of programs, high inflation rates with constantly rising tuition, and political pressures on public colleges and universities. These factors affect study abroad programs in several ways. Public institutions may experience less…

A study examined dimensions of oral proficiency curriculum and testing (OP) in American colleges and universities for the purpose of appraising the implementability of educational policy derived from them. The framework used for this policy analysis looks at the system environment, demands and resources, the process that converts demands into…

The English programs in two schools at the University of Nancy, France, are described and compared. At the School of Science, foreign languages are compulsory in the first two years; at the School of Pharmacy, short courses in English have been introduced for students in their fourth and fifth years. Recently the objective of the Science School…

The "Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache," an examination developed by the Adult Education Centers in West Germany and the Goethe Institute to measure a student's proficiency in German as a foreign language, consists of two main parts, group testing and individual testing. The group testing section covers listening and reading…

A committee was formed to examine the need for and the possible approach to foreign language instruction for International Business and International Relations students at St. Mary's University (San Antonio). Research literature of most interest to the committee described specific courses and programs in higher education, different formats ranging…

The Department of Italian Studies at the University of Toronto focuses on language training by relating other components of foreign language study (literature, linguistics, etc.) directly to the language training process. The department features a streaming system (beginner, native-speaker, and matriculant) which places students of linguistically…

Explores recent reports on the state of education and on the language education profession's response to recommendations for improving instruction and suggests that language educators unite to clarify for the profession and for others what is being done in foreign language education. (CB)

Describes the development of and the reaction to a course in Business French at the University of Hawaii. Its success, coupled with its recognition by state and academic officials, brought about the initiation of similar courses in other languages and the development of French for travel industry management majors. (SED)

Describes two departments that house both English and foreign languages, one at a small private liberal arts college and the other at a regional state university. Discusses some of the problems that occurred when the two disciplines were combined and the surprising advantages of such a collaboration. (SED)