This book explores the idea of "intercultural competence", which, despite its current popularity across various discourses, has remained a vague and oscillating concept. Interculture lacks a universal definition and "competence" is not only a cognitive construct but also includes psychological traits such as attitudes,…

Second language instruction in the U.S. and Europe is in difficulties. The choice of a second language is artibrary and the motivation dubious. In Europe and now also in the U.S., attention has turned to the planned interlanguage Esperanto, which offers a maximally regularized structure, is considered "easy" by learners, and has the…

The absence of a uniform system of education in the United States is accompanied by freedom in testing. Two types of testing procedures are described: the multi-level standardized tests produced by the Educational Testing Service and experimental use of the cloze procedure. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

Surveys show that literature is virtually absent from secondary level second language (SL) programs; at the same time it is often asserted that literature used to dominate these programs. The thoughts of authorities and educators in Ontario, Great Britain, the United States, the Canadian province of Ontario, and Germany over the period of 100…

The dual mandate of modern language learning is considered to be linguistic competence and scholarly expertise in literature or in philology. The need for the systematic study of culture in modern language studies is discussed, and programs in the United States and Great Britain are compared. (MLW)

This analysis of the crisis facing the United States because of a general lack of interest in foreign language study deals with several facets of the problem. Its 12 chapters address the following questions or issues: (1) the traditional conflict between Americanization and cultural and linguistic pluralism; (2) the shift in the world economic…

Discusses the benefits of incorporating African-Caribbean contributions to U.S. history and culture at the level of higher education, such as promoting global interconnectedness, correcting misinformation about African Americans, recognizing and profiting from knowledge acquired by ancient civilizations, and strengthening economic competitiveness.…