The first field testing of the Adult Basic Education Oral Language video tapes, conducted during 1968-69, included five television video lessons and used three testing conditions: a classroom condition with video exposure, a classroom condition with video exposure and follow-up drills conducted by a teacher, and a home condition with video…

Background: Integrating reading in foreign language (FL) classes is sometimes a difficult task because of lack of appropriate methodology and poor textbook support. In addition, college students find many readings too difficult to understand or not interesting. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate how a teacher-researcher…

These Proceedings document an educational research forum held at Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) on December 8, 2004. Table of contents and 26 research studies of high school teaching are included. Studies include: The Use of Authentic Materials in the K-12 French Program (Katherine Elizabeth Baird), Surveying Students: What…

This digest reports on a study that examined the impact of participation in a two-way immersion program on the language and achievement outcomes of former program participants and on their current schooling path and college plans. The study explored outcomes for three groups of students: (1) Hispanic students who began the two-way program as…

Investigation of the predictive ability of motivational and attitudinal factors in high school students' continuation of foreign language study revealed that both factors, as well as grade level, course grade, interest in culture, and interest in fulfilling college entrance requirements, distinguished continuing from discontinuing students. (29…

Compiles the main findings of the Oxford Project on Diversification of First Foreign Language Teaching. This project examined pupils' and teachers' experiences of diversification, set in the context of local and national developments in language policy, and investigated matters affecting decisions as to which modern foreign language(s) to offer.…

Describes a study that is investigating the teaching of learning strategies to high school and college students enrolled in beginning level Japanese classes and high school students in beginning level Russian and Spanish classes. Learning strategy instructional materials correlated to each curriculum were implemented by participating teachers, and…

Foreign-language cinema has generally been relegated to a minor role in language education. This paper reports on and analyses the results of a survey of attitudes towards foreign film among UK university students of French, German and Spanish. The findings reveal students' limited exposure to and relative lack of familiarity with non-anglophone…

The 2008 Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, a joint conference with the Michigan World Language Association, focused on learning about the diverse backgrounds and needs of today's students and discovering new ways to help them succeed in reaching the goal of language proficiency. A wide variety of workshops and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose and demonstrate an evidence-based scenario design framework for assessment-based computer games. Design/methodology/approach: The evidence-based scenario design framework is presented and demonstrated by using BELLA, a new assessment-based gaming environment aimed at supporting student learning of…

An adult continuing education course in introductory Spanish is described. In planning the course, special attention was given to making course objectives realistic for the target population; rather than undertake a traditional college-level syllabus, academic and grammar-oriented in nature, the course was designed to provide students with basic…

Texas Schools, Inc. (TSI) developed a pilot program in bilingual education for Mexican-American vocational workers in the Department of Diesel Mechanics at Texas Tech University. This study assesses the transfer of technology in that environment using quantitative and qualitative measures. TSI, a technical and vocational school in Lubbock, Texas,…

A study of language and literacy activities and attitudes in a southern California bilingual community and the resulting development of more culturally relevant writing instruction for junior and senior high school students of that community is reported. The initial task was an ethnographic survey of the community, focusing on its language…

A study investigated the use of classroom strategies to improve students' attitudes about language study while improving their practical use of the language. Secondary school students of Spanish completed an interest survey, and then were involved in language class activities including writing paragraphs, watching a recorded television show,…

Chicano student dropout and persistence is discussed in terms of the theories of Tinto and Astin on student integration and involvement. An overview of each theory is presented with references to Chicano student retention, and a review of the literature on Chicano students is provided. The studies reviewed here identified Chicano student…