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Focuses on a telecourse funded by the Florida Department of Education to assist the State's 67 school districts in training teachers in effective English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teaching strategies to fulfill a requirement established by a consent decree in 1990. Showing videotapes of teachers applying learned strategies in the classroom increased teachers' awareness of ways to meet the needs of ESL students. (12 references) (CK)

A discussion of the implementation of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) second language proficiency guidelines in Florida's public schools and colleges includes a brief review of literature about the guidelines, background information on the oral proficiency movement, and a description of the effects of the movement in that state. Major criticisms of the guidelines are outlined. The emergence of the oral proficiency movement in the last decade and the evolution of the guidelines are explained. The integration of the guidelines into some areas of Florida's foreign language curriculum, teaching methodology, and testing at all levels is described, and results of a survey of 15 second language programs concerning implementation of the guidelines are reported. The popularity of oral language competitions in the public schools is noted. It is concluded that the guidelines and the oral proficiency movement have been influential in the state, and will continue to be so despite some initial resistance. (MSE)