THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF THE MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION (MLA) FOREIGN LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY TESTS FOR TEACHERS AND ADVANCED STUDENTS ARE THE SUBJECTS OF THIS FINAL PROJECT REPORT. FOLLOWING AN ACCOUNT OF THE EVENTS THAT LED TO THE AWARDING OF A GOVERNMENT CONTRACT TO MLA TO DEVELOP NATIONALLY STANDARDIZED QUALIFICATION TESTS AND A…

The history, linguistic development, and chief characteristics of the French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish languages are presented in short, informative sketches as guidelines for foreign language study. The article also briefly analyzes major literary works and cultural highlights of areas where the languages are spoken. (DS)

This report on foreign language textbooks used in junior and senior high schools in California during the 1968-69 school year tabulates data by classification of students and schools. A complete breakdown of all textbook titles for classes in Chinese, Hebrew, Japanese, and Portuguese is provided. Only the major textbooks used in French, German,…

Designed for those involved in teacher education, the writing of instructional materials, educational administration, research, and library accessioning, this 712-item bibliography with abstracts acts as a current guide to authoritative and useful books concerned with foreign language teaching theory and practice. Although most of the books cited…

Analyzes the computer program, "Question Mark," produced in England and designed to be a testing tool for large second-language classes. Using this tool, it is possible to create and edit up to 500 questions using any one of 8 different question types. The program also can provide a running score for students using it. Notes that student…

Examples of four kinds of elementary school programs in second language instruction are described: eight Foreign Language in the Elementary School (FLES) programs, one Foreign Language Experience or Foreign Language Exploration (FLEX) program, one partial immersion program, and one total immersion program. An introductory section provides…

Four games for use in the foreign language classroom are described. The first, "A Shopping Game," by Gordon Hartig, is played on a game board in the German classroom and provides practice in producing sentences with the preposition "in," which in some instances takes the dative and in others takes the accusative. A diagram of the game board is…

This guide gives information on reference sources for foreign periodicals and also lists a brief selection of weekly and monthly publications covering subjects related to the general sciences, economics, industry, politics, and the social aspects of the country in question. Section 1 lists principal, general guides to bibliographies of foreign…

This handbook illustrates how the classroom teacher can make efficient use of tests, discusses the main purposes tests can serve, treats principal kinds of testing devices especially useful in language instruction, and includes a section on the interpretation of test results. Chapters include: (1) the importance and place of testing in the foreign…

This annotated bibliography provides a guide to books on the theory and practice of language teaching. Instructional materials for classroom use are not included. Eight sections of materials are contained in the work: (1) language, (2) language teaching, (3) English for speakers of other languages, (4) French, (5) German, (6) Italian, (7) Russian…

An examination of the influence of early bilingualism (German and Italian) on personality, social behavior, perception, and linguistic competence of four- to six-year-old Italian preschoolers (N=65) found no significant differences in social behavior, but some differences in terms of self-confidence, self-control, memory, and oral skills. (CB)

Compares indirect "wh"-questions and independent relatives, points to the absence of a clear-cut boundary between these two types of construction, and argues for the indispensability of semantic and pragmatic analysis for syntactic theory. The article emphasizes that it is the answer to a question that supplies the determinate element…

Reports on a survey conducted by the Association for Language Learning (ALL) of 199 foreign language teachers in England and Wales concerning the implementation of the National Curriculum in Modern Foreign Languages. Teachers felt that the major strengths of the curriculum included emphasis on the target language and enhanced status for foreign…

Analyzes data on the acquisition of German by Italian and Spanish speakers. Findings reveal that children learning a first language and adults learning a second language build up syntactic structure in much the same manner, and propose that the weak continuity approach of language acquisition accounts for all instances of syntactic acquisition.…

Papers presented at a conference on the use of simultaneous, consecutive, and other forms of interpreting as features of foreign language teaching and learning in British higher education include the following: "Liaison Interpreting as a Communicative Language-Learning Exercise" (H. A. Keith); "Interpreting and Communicating:…