A survey conducted in a large, predominantly white suburban high school in the midwest investigated student attitudes toward study of Russian and other foreign languages. Respondents were 815 students of Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and Latin at three levels of instruction. Students were first asked to rank the reasons they chose the…

The lexical approach to teaching Russian grammar is explained, an instructional sequence is outlined, and a classroom study testing the effectiveness of the approach is reported. The lexical approach draws on research on cognitive psychology, second language acquisition theory, and research on learner language. Its bases in research and its…

A handbook compiled for use in a one-day workshop on oral proficiency testing for teachers of Russian gives an overview of oral proficiency assessment principles and the available techniques. One section explains the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages/Educational Testing Service (ACTFL/ETS) Oral Proficiency Interview process and…

This paper examines the integration of Business Russian into the Russian curriculum at Michigan State University (MSU) and the creation of a capstone sequence of Business Russian courses at the advanced level. The establishment of the basic goals of the school's business language instruction and the needs of the students are discussed. The paper…

A discussion of language teacher education focuses on the importance of making formative curriculum evaluation and curriculum development an integral part of the teacher education program. The paper begins with a description of the Russian Teacher Reeducation Program in Hungary, at Janus Pannonius University, a rigorous inservice program for…

A study investigated: (1) the average language proficiency level as determined by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) attained by 271 college seniors majoring in 6 languages (Spanish, French, Russian, German, Japanese, Italian); (2) current and projected uses of the ACTFL OPI by…

Activities that have helped to make the Watervliet (New York) High School Russian language education program highly successful involve return visits by former students who are using their Russian language skills in various ways after graduation. These graduates include student teachers of Russian, college students taking Russian to satisfy a…

This paper shows how satellite television programs can be used to advance Asian students' listening ability in English. Particular focus is on news broadcasts. The paper is divided into three sections, an introduction, some concluding remarks, and the substantive discussion headed "Using News Broadcasts in the EFL (English as a Foreign…

In response to rapidly falling foreign language enrollments, the State University of New York College at New Paltz designed and actively promoted a language immersion program in the summer of 1981. The program consisted of instruction in twelve languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian,…