A discussion of teaching culture through the use of films focuses on how German Cinema films can be used successfully as a required extracurricular activity in German second-language-instruction. This kind of extracurricular activity is seen as a two dimensional educational experience. From the students' point of view, everything about seeing a…

Lists of topics and elements in American English are provided for use in developing English as second language (ESL) materials and lessons. The 128 lists are presented under five categories: (1) examples of grammatical forms; (2) common communicative situations, topics, and functions; (3) aspects of American culture; (4) metalinguistic factors…

Several frequently used oral language constructions are discussed in order to discover how frequently native speakers use these constructions, to observe which form of a disputed construction native speakers choose, and to review several widely used English as a Second Language (ESL) textbooks to determine whether or not they address these…

Outlines 12 differences between American and Chinese culture. The different connotations of five lexical items are discussed. Social behavior discussed includes 1) response to a compliment or offer; 2) greetings; and 3) sending gifts. The Chinese and American forms of expressing time and location, and of confirming the premise of a question are…

The purpose of this study was to describe the pronunication of American college students learning French. To gather the data a set of 21 sounds, all theoretically in contrast with English sounds, was chosen. These were elicited in a series of sessions during the subjects' first semester of French. The subjects recorded their pronunciation on…

Existing literature on pronunciation instruction in English as a second language is reviewed, revealing that significant attention to the improvement of American English pronunciation among foreign students has been lacking. For the teacher's benefit, an analysis of basic phonetics is presented, laying a foundation for understanding pronunciation…

It is proposed that Canadians have a long history of bias against immigrants and their behaviors and values and have not come to terms with multiculturalism, even in the ESL classroom. Illustrations are provided from quotations from late nineteenth and early twentieth century sources. (MSE)

It is proposed that Canadians have a long history of bias against immigrants and their behaviors and values and have not come to terms with multiculturalism, even in the ESL classroom. Illustrations are provided from quotations from late nineteenth and early twentieth century sources. (MSE)

Investigates expressions of gratitude in Japanese and American English, focusing on the sociocultural factors influencing the deeper level of these expressions. Data are collected through the written answers to the discourse completion test, which has ten different situations designed to elicit a variety of expressions of gratitude from the…

A project to develop instructional materials for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction is described. It consisted of development and testing of materials on the correct use of American idioms to limited-English-speakers. Twenty-five idioms were selected for use as the basis of the script for an instructional videotape. The idioms were…

Describes the monolingual nature of the United States in a multilingual world. Proposes a partial solution--a National Foreign Language Center which would utilize current technology to allow quick access to information about any language. (LMO)

An applied research paper on how Canadian English differs from British and American English. Highlights ways for teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) to demonstrate these differences to their students. The notion of Canadian identity is also explored. A 3-item bibliography is included. (Contains 15 footnotes.)

This article examines the controversy over the alleged sexism of "French in Action" (1987, 1994) within the context of key differences between French and American feminist thought. Read within a French cultural context, this text can be more accurately perceived as a postmodernist, feminist critique of Hollywood's heterosexual romance…

Through a year-long critical feminist ethnography, this article examines the challenges faced by beginning K-12 ESOL teachers in the United States as they grappled with the significance of their own racial identities in the process of negotiating the inherent racialization of ESOL in their language teaching contexts. I foreground the significance…

The Founding Fathers of the United States placed great importance on the learning of foreign languages and on excellence in reading and writing English. Sacrifices in the curriculum in favor of English were justified by the desire that Americans speak and write English as well as the British. Above all, the Founding Fathers were concerned with the…