The aim of the conference discussed in this report was to make a critical appraisal of the achievements of language teaching in the polytechnics and similar institutions, and to attempt to suggest lines for future development. All speakers were encouraged to be critical and provocative in order to stimulate conference discussions on how language…

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)

An analysis of the status of university level foreign language teaching and a projection for the future. Topics discussed are: reasons for the growth in professional language schools, the uneven quality of language instruction, the general second language incompetency of Americans, the importance of literature, and articulation between levels.…

Examines the question of American student adaptation to the academic aspect of overseas education, with particular reference to the University of Connecticut's Junior Year in Rouen. (AM)

Enrollment in ethnic studies courses is greatly increasing as students seek to learn the history, language, nature, problems and contributions of their own ethnic group. Language departments can aid this trend and meet students' needs by offering language and ethnic literature and culture courses. (CHK)

Reviewing the President's Commission recommendations, urges language departments to: make language teaching, rather than literary scholarship, their top priority; make intensive or immersion language courses part of the regular curriculum options; develop common standards of proficiency assessment; foster interaction among themselves; support…

Discusses the teaching of French language, literature, and culture in light of the experiences and observations of Gustave Lanson, a professor of French at the University of Paris who taught as a visiting professor at Columbia University in 1911. It is argued that French studies as a discipline needs to emphasize the pluralistic, multicultural…

Discusses the effects of section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and various state laws on the foreign language requirements of Virginia college and university programs. Foreign language instructors and departments need to be aware of their responsibilities in accommodating learning-disabled…

Outlines a program at St. Olaf College which allows language majors and others with language skills to take required humanities courses in German. This program offers students a chance to apply German skills that they have and at the same time meet their general education or major requirements. (LET)

This paper investigates the beliefs about language learning held by 53 first-month university students enrolled in Swahili compared to those of 113 students of French and Spanish. Based in part upon the research design and instrument of Elaine Horwitz (University of Texas-Austin), this paper isolates the results from a larger study of eight…

A new Spanish program proposed to Mesa College (Colorado) is described. It is a three-hour, three-quarter, limited objective (understanding and speaking skills only) career-oriented course to begin in the Fall, 1975. Among the courses proposed are: Medical Spanish, Spanish for Child Care, Farm and Ranch. (For related document, see FL006729.) (SC)

The culture of the United States has been based on assimilation, in which new immigrants tend to put aside their past, including their linguistic past, and merge with the rest of society. As the United States economy becomes more intertwined with that of the rest of the world, these patterns are changing, and there is now a greater recognition of…

The American Graduate School of International Management (AGSIM) in Glendale, Arizona, founded in 1946, has a tripartite curriculum incorporating modern language instruction, international studies, and world business. All students at AGSIM are required to achieve conversational proficiency in at least one of the eight languages taught there.…

Textbooks currently available for foreign language instruction are generally oriented toward instruction in grammar for its own sake. Until materials are developed that are specifically geared to a systematic development of communicative competence, textbooks must be adapted. This handbook is directed toward that need. It emphasizes the following…

The alternatives to the traditional intermediate or second-year courses in community colleges are three student-centered plans designed for colleges with low or high enrollment of second-year Spanish students. Plan A is a two-year program of Spanish instruction. It consists of Spanish 101 and 102 and eight four-week minicourses, including two…