Recommends the study of "La Symphonie pastorale," a novel by Andre Gide, for moderately advanced students of French as a second language. Presents various activities to be performed before, during and after reading the story, a pastor's journal, to help students understand the ironic aspects and ambiguities of the book. (AS)

In 2002, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) published the report of an independent panel of experts into maintaining standards at Advanced Level (A-Level). One of its recommendations was for: limited experimental double marking of scripts in subjects such as English to determine whether the strategy would significantly reduce errors…

Molecular evolution provides an interesting context in which to use problem-based learning because it integrates a variety of topics in biology, biochemistry, and molecular biology. This three-stage problem for advanced students deals with the structure, multiple functions, and properties of lactate dehydrogenase isozymes, and the related…

In the United States, people get very little news about Africa, and what news they do get is about war or famine, with little historical information or context. In this article, the authors describe how they developed and implemented a Pan-African Summit simulation project in order to give their approximately 100, 9th-grade students (in five World…

While both the causes and effects of students' language learning anxiety have been a frequent focus of many investigations, few have explored anxiety in the context of upper-level language classrooms. Through a qualitative analysis of questionnaire data obtained from 21 advanced students of Spanish, this study found that, indeed, many of these…

A major preoccupation in assessment is connecting examinees' performance in assessment and nonassessment contexts. This preoccupation has traditionally been framed in terms of generalizability. This article reconceptualizes this problem from a qualitatively different perspective on human abilities and their development, namely, the Sociocultural…

To better understand the dynamics of online student test taking, including the likelihood of cheating by large numbers of students, we examined test-taking patterns and outcomes of weekly online quizzes in two large undergraduate biology lecture courses. Students taking a quiz late in a 1-3-day quiz access period performed 10-15% worse on quizzes…

Brantmeier [Brantmeier, C., 2006. "Advanced L2 learners and reading placement: self-assessment, computer-based testing, and subsequent performance." 'System 34" (1), 15-35] found that self-assessment (SA) of second language (L2) reading ability is not an accurate predictor for computer-based testing or subsequent classroom performance. With 359…

To extend the reach of the second language (L2) classroom, learners may be given opportunities to interact with native speakers through contact assignments or volunteer work organized through their L2 program. An underlying assumption of these practices is that "real-world" and classroom experience offer different but complementary opportunities…

The founder and director of the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) at Johns Hopkins University discusses reasons why acceleration is a desirable educational strategy with highly gifted youth. Cases of successful radical acceleration by mathematically gifted youth illustrate the advantages to be gained by many others if the practice of…

Suggests new approaches to the problem of listening comprehension for advanced foreign language learners. (Author)

A GLOSSARY OF 4,500 CHINESE ENTRIES WAS DEVELOPED. THE GLOSSARY CONTAINS THE VOCABULARY FROM TEXTS PUBLISHED BY YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS AND THOSE PREPARED BY THE FOREIGN SERVICE INSTITUTE (FSI) STAFF OF TAICHUNG, TAIWAN. THE MATERIALS INCLUDED ARE SELECTIONS FROM CHINESE COMMUNIST LITERATURE, NEWSPAPER SELECTIONS FROM THE MAINLAND PRESS, A SPEECH ON…

This reader is designed to introduce the student to the language of the modern Hebrew Israeli press. It assumes on the part of the student a knowledge of the basic elements of modern Hebrew structure and a basic vocabulary usually covered during the first two years of college courses in modern Hebrew. Each unit is glossed in English independently…

Describes the development, activities and evaluation of a mini-course for advanced-level high school Spanish students. (KM)