At a time when language programs around the United States are in crisis--the University of Rhode Island's Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures is realigning its curriculum to emphasize proficiency and intercultural competence within a strong liberal arts context. The result of the department's recent initiatives? More than…

TLC Pack stands for Teaching Languages to Caregivers and is a course designed to support migrants working or hoping to work in the caregiving sector. The TLC Pack resources range from A2 to B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), and will be made available online in the six project languages: Dutch, English,…

This article presents the Film in Language Teaching Association (FILTA) project, a community of practice (CoP) whose main goals are first to engage language teachers in practical uses of film and audio-visual media in the second language classroom; second, to value the artistic features of cinema; and third, to encourage a dialogue between…

As the employment of graduates appears among the performance indicators of institutions in higher education, universities are focussing more and more upon the development of employability related skills to enhance students' prospects in the job market. All UK universities are measured on the first jobs that their students acquire after graduation.…

We present a new feedback strategy implemented in a natural language generation-based e-learning system for German as a second language (L2). Although the system recognizes a large proportion of the grammar errors in learner-produced written sentences, its automatically generated feedback only addresses errors against rules that are relevant at…

We respond to critical comments and consider alternative statistical and syntactic analyses of our target paper which analyzed comprehension scores of Broca's aphasic patients from multiple sentence types in many languages, and showed that Movement but not Complexity or Mood are factors in the receptive deficit of these patients. Specifically, we…

This paper presents an interdisciplinary research project that aims at developing an electronic vocabulary acquisition system for the German and the Italian language called ELDIT (Elektronisches Lern(er)worterbuch Deutsch Italienisch). The approach for studying and practicing the vocabulary. To ensure maximum effectiveness of the learning process,…

Discusses cross-language, multilingual, and bilingual information retrieval on the Web; evaluates retrieval effectiveness of indexing and search strategies based on test collections from CLEF (Cross-Language Evaluation Forum) in English, French, German, and Italian; and suggests and evaluates database merging strategies. Appendices include…

Examines the languages (German, Italian, French) year-10 British students choose to study and shows how each language has fared to provide a basis for comparisons across languages. Also examines the results of interviews with students to determine the motive behind decisions to pursue or drop a language. (five references) (CK)

International Grammar School was founded twenty years ago on the belief in the benefits of immersion language learning for children. It offers immersion second language learning in German, Italian, French, and Japanese which continues through kindergarten into the high school years. With language as the medium and not the object of learning,…

Supports claim that linguistic and psycholinguistic accounts based on study of English may prove unreliable as guides to sentence processing in even closely related languages such as German and Italian. Results of a test of sentence interpretation indicate that English-speaking Americans rely overwhelmingly on word order, Germans rely on both…

This report focuses on the ninth year in which the Centre for Language and Communication Studies (CLCS) at the University of Dublin Trinity College offered foreign language modules to students who were not studying a foreign language as part of their degree program. The modules are designed to develop students' communication skills for purposes of…

Briefly describes how Bristol Cathedral School uses a satellite dish and videotape recorder to gain access to French, German, Italian, and Spanish language television. Class and individual activities are mentioned that utilize prerecorded programs. Techniques for management of videocassettes and for selection of programs are also presented. (LMO)

This report evolved from the results of a Croatian project of introducing foreign languages (English, French, German, and Italian) into the first grade, begun in 1991 and initially involving about 400 students. Participants from 11 European countries and Croatia were invited to attend a 4-day course, sponsored by the Council of Europe and the…

Linguistic and sociocultural issues in the concept of nationality and identification with a community in French and Arab circles are compared, with references to other European national groups. Among the concepts explored and diagrammed are father, mother, land, fatherland, people, nation, state, homeland, national community, and local community.…