This study examined the effectiveness and usability of a scenario-based interactive practice in teaching Chinese formulaic expressions. Thirty students enrolled in Chinese classes in a U.S. university interacted with characters in videos featuring scenes recorded in Shanghai. Students were prompted to use formulaic expressions during their…

Little research has been conducted in the United States to explore male motivation to learn Spanish. In response, we conducted a study to investigate gender differences in motivation to learn Spanish among students in a southeastern United States high school. Building upon Gardner's (1985) influential model of second language (L2) motivation, we…

Interviews with "Shin Nisei," new second-generation Japanese, university students reveal how strongly motivation influences persistence in taking Japanese courses and the intensity with which these students use Japanese outside the classroom. The discussion stresses problems facing Shin Nisei students in traditional college foreign-language…

Identifies characteristics of an effective language teacher (ELT) as perceived by both language teachers and students in the Israeli educational system. Various characteristics of an ELT were identified, such as the teacher's command of the target language; his or her ability to organize, explain, and clarify; and his or her ability to arouse and…

Communication-based teaching techniques are described that lead German language students from input to output in a stimulating and motivating learning environment. Input activities are most useful for presenting speech acts, vocabulary, and grammar; output activities, for fine-tuning those areas as well as for expanding students' productive…

This paper reports the findings of an investigation of university students' attitudes toward the study of literature and culture in a foreign language program. Discussion centers on why language students consistently rate the study of literature below other aspects of their language courses. (19 references) (JL)