Search

Twelve conference papers on cultural aspects of second language instruction include: "Towards True Multiculturalism: Ideas for Teachers" (Brian McVeigh); Comparing Cultures Through Critical Thinking: Development and Interpretations of Meaningful Observations" (Laurel D. Kamada); "Authority and Individualism in Japan and the USA" (Alisa Woodring); "Study Trip to France" (Alain Lauffenburger) (in French); "Everything You Need To Know Begins at Kindergarten" (Laura McGregor); "Native Americans and Europeans, Ainu and Waijin: Culturally Relevant EFL Content-Based Social Studies Comparative History Curriculum Design at a Japanese Junior College" (Robert E. Gettings); "Folklore in the ESL Classroom" (Virginia A. Jenkins); "Redefining Our Educational Parameters" (Eton F. Churchill, Jr.); "Commonly Asked Global Issues Questions" (Jessica Newby Kawata, David Peaty, Donna McInnis, Junko Mukainakano); "Geography in the Global Issues Classroom" (Kawata); "Gender Issues in Language Education" (Thomas Hardy, Amy Yamashiro, Cheiron McMahill). Individual papers contain references. (MSE)

The role of learning strategies in independent learning, particularly second language learning, is discussed. It is argued that "learning to learn" is a necessary, although not sufficient, condition for independent learning. It is also not innate, but must be taught. The learner must learn to define his objectives, accomplish them, evaluate progress, and manage learning processes. The objectives may be linguistic knowledge, sociocultural information, or development of specific abilities. "Learning to learn" can occur in a variety of ways: before beginning, after having begun, or parallel with the learning of the language itself; collectively or individually; extensively or intensively. Training in "learning to learn" involves becoming familiar with already internalized understanding, developing metacognitive awareness, and expanding on prior learning. Ten instructional activities designed to develop these skills and cognition in learners are described briefly. (Contains 6 references.) (MSE)

Four position papers are presented that were given during a study-week dealing with questions related to language as communication, the notion of argumentation in second language teaching methodology, and ways of introducing argumentation phenomena into the language class. The papers, representing four different positions, are the following: (1) "Strategies communicatives et expression orale fonctionnelle (Communicative Strategies and Functional Oral Expression)," by Richard Duda and Marie-Jose Gremmo; (2) "Argumentation dans le discours de l'apprenant (Argumentation in Learners' Speech)," by Evelyne Berard-Lavenne and Claudine Girod; (3) "Notes sur le discours argumentatif (Notes on Argumentative Discourse)," by Michel Charolles; and (4) "La mise en scene des concepts-cles dans un discours argumente: sequences periodiques et pochoirs actantiels (The Staging of Key Concepts in Argumentative Discourse: Periodic Sequences and Acting-Relational Models)," by Jean-Luc Descamps. Examples of situational communication activities are attached to each presentation. (AMH)

This bibliography contains a list of various publications (books, journals, dictionaries, newspapers, magazines) as well as videos, CD-ROMs, Web sites, and the addresses of several French chambers of commerce that would be useful for any English speakers needing to live, do business, or otherwise spend time in France. References are in French or English, and sometimes both. (KFT)

Papers from the Proceedings of the 17th meeting of the AIMAV (Association internationale pour le developpement de la communication interculturelle) are collected in this volume. Conference papers appear either in English, in French, or in Russian. For purposes of this abstract, all titles below have been translated into English. The English-language papers presented here are: "My Method of Studying Russian," (Maria T. Bella); "The Teaching of Russian in the USSR: World-Wide Window for Soviet Non-Russians," (Goldie Blankoff-Scarr); and "Grammatical Interference of the Native Language in Russian Language Learning," (E. Popoff-Bocker). Papers in French are: "A Tentative Analysis of the State of Russian Language Instruction in France," (Irene Commeau); "The Problem of Teaching Russian Literature in Translation," (Claude De Greve); "Ann Attempt at Teaching Some Elementary Structures of Russian: Phonology and Phonetics, Transcription and Orthography," (Danielle Konopnicki-Miot); and "The Semantic Approach of the Russian Culture," (N. Stange-Zhirovova). Papers in Russian are: "The Advancement of Russian Language Teacher Qualifications with Regard to the Communicative Tasks of Instruction," (T. M. Dorofyeeva); "Some Aspects of My Teaching an Advanced Russian Literature Class in a French College," (O. M. Grabovskaya); "On Minimizing Classroom Materials," (Arto Mustajoki); "An Accounting of the Progress of Comparative Literary Criticism in the Teaching of Russian Literature," (Michai Novikov); "Two Intonation Contours in Contemporary Russian Language," (Cecilia Ode);"Teaching Russian Language in the Non-Russian European Parts of the USSR," (Shegun Odunuga); "Comprehension Tests of Russian Texts," (C. Petri); and "The Status of Russian Language Instruction in West German Schools, 1984," (Kai Sieveking). (LMO)

Papers on language difficulties encountered by migrant workers' children include: "Anomie in Bicultural Education" (Hugo Baetens Beardsmore); "An Investigation into Bilingual Education for Children from Favoured Socio-Economic Backgrounds" (Hugo Baetens Beardsmore); "Orientations of Foreign Children Relating to Placement in Special Classes" (in French) (Jean Clevy); "Contribution to Reflection on the 'Training' of Teachers with Foreign Children" (in French) (Jean Clevy); "Bilingual Education for the Children of Migrant Workers: The Adaptation of General Models to a New Specific Challenge" (Joshua A. Fishman); "Prospects for Family Training" (in French) (Jean-Pierre Lagarde); "Contribution to the Understanding of Scholastic Problems of Migrant Workers' Children" (in French) (Xavier Piolle); "An Experiment in Multicultural Education in a Portuguese Migrant Situation" (in French) (Iraci Poleti); "Critical Description of an Experiment on the Teaching of the Native Language to Migrant Children" (in French) (Bernard Py); "Placement of Migrant Children in the Genevan Community and Schools" (in French) (Micheline Rey-Von Allmen); "Migrant Languages: Linguistic Change in Progress" (Mario Saltarelli, Susan Gonzo); "Implications of Recent Sociolinguistic Research for the Problems of Migrant Worker Children" (Roger W. Shuy); "Helping Migrant Children to Communicate: Some Implications of the Council of Europe Work in Language Systems Construction" (J. L. M. Trim); and "Linguistic Problems of Immigration and Proposal for Language Instruction Appropriate to the Level of Children" (in Italian) (Teresa Di Fonzo, Patrick Van Molle). (MSE)

Papers in French, English, and Arabic address issues in Arabic language instruction for European adults, including: classroom techniques, literary Arabic and diglossia, the specificity of instruction, Arabic studies in Denmark, phonetic difficulties of instruction, Franco-Maghrebin relations and language instruction, contrastive and comparative analyses, comparison of Arabic and Bulgarian vowel phonemes, cultural elements in Arabic language instruction, contrastive textology and translation, Gulf Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic, cultural instruction through literature, goals of Arabic instruction in Europe, problems and possibilities of intensive Arabic instruction, comparison of Arabic and Bulgarian grammars, forms of the Arabic plural, defining communicative competence, and the perils of translation in Arabic instruction. (MSE)