scholarly journals A Critical Review of China’s Foreign Language Program Development: The Perspective of Language Needs

2019 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 21-44
Author(s):  
Gong Tongxi ◽  
Guo Yi
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Program Development ◽  
Critical Review ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
International Exchange ◽  
Language Program ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Language Needs ◽  
Undergraduate Programs

Recent years (2014–2017) have seen an explosive growth in foreign language undergraduate programs in Chinese universities, apparently in response to China’s development needs. However, without a precise analysis of China’s foreign language needs, it is impossible to evaluate whether the recent developments in foreign language education will be able to meet the nation’s development needs. This article addresses this issue by calculating China’s foreign language needs through a holistic assessment with 14 indicators. The calculation, mainly based on the practical use of foreign languages and China’s international exchange requirements, identifies the top 10 foreign languages urgently needed by the country and demonstrates the different functions of these foreign languages. In light of China’s national foreign language needs, this article ends with a critical review of foreign language program development in recent years.

MLA Foreign Language Proficiency Tests for Teachers and Advanced Students

PMLA ◽  
1962 ◽  
Vol 77 (4-Part2) ◽  
pp. 31-42
Author(s):  
Wilmarth H. Starr
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
American Association ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Modern Language Association ◽  
Language Program ◽  
Modern Language ◽  
South Central

I. Brief History of the Project: Since 1952, the Foreign Language Program of the Modern Language Association of America, responding to the national urgency with regard to foreign languages, has been engaged in a vigorous campaign aimed in large part at improving foreign-language teaching in our country.In 1955, as one of its activities, the Steering Committee of the Foreign Language Program formulated the “Qualifications for Secondary School Teachers of Modern Foreign Languages,” a statement which was subsequently endorsed for publication by the MLA Executive Council, by the Modern Language Committee of the Secondary Education Board, by the Committee on the Language Program of the American Council of Learned Societies, and by the executive boards or councils of the following national and regional organizations: National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations, American Association of Teachers of French, American Association of Teachers of German, American Association of Teachers of Italian, American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages, Central States Modern Language Teachers Association, Middle States Association of Modern Language Teachers, New England Modern Language Association, Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Northwest Conference on Foreign Language Teaching, Philological Association of the Pacific Coast, Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association, South Atlantic Modern Language Association, and South-Central Modern Language Association.

Towards a Model of Learner Variation in Autonomous Foreign Language Learning

1979 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. S. Rodgers
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Learning Systems ◽  
Design Model ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
The Third ◽  
Short Piece ◽  
Language Needs

My intent in this short piece is to provide a context for consideration of learner variables in foreign language learning. I first propose a question set outlining the major issues, as I see them, arising in the design of learner-based foreign language learning systems. I then present a simplified three-part design model comprising knowledge considerations (language needs assessment), instructional considerations (learning access alternatives) and learner considerations (characteristics of learners). A review of some recent work in the first two of these prefaces the discussion of the third, learner considerations. A brief state of the art report on research in learner variables is followed by some speculation on next directions in the determination and description of learner variables within a general design model for learning foreign languages.

scholarly journals The Development of the Linguistic Persona in the Context of Professionally Oriented University-Level Foreign Language Education

2021 ◽  
pp. 123-136
Author(s):  
Liudmila Konyakhina ◽  
◽  
Lora Yakovleva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Professional Communication ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Language Programs ◽  
University Level ◽  
Foreign Language Programs ◽  
Foreign Language Instructors

The article discusses a number of issues related to developing the linguistic persona and intercultural competency and focuses on educational ideas, strategies, technologies, and practices that embody intercultural approaches to foreign language education. To ensure the high quality of foreign language education, our priorities must include the development of competences in the area of professional communication in foreign languages. In that regard, the article identifies pedagogical conditions conducive to fostering the socio-cultural competence and the successful development of the learner’s linguistic persona. The authors present mechanisms of implementing the said pedagogical conditions in the following areas: a) developing communication skills and competencies of foreign language instructors; b) modeling situations with communication barriers in diverse ethnocultural environments; c) acquiring and selecting ethnocultural information; d) integrating in-class and out-of-class activities in a foreign language; and e) establishing a good rapport between an instructor and her students. The authors go on to describe the methodological basis for designing the content of foreign language programs, identify optimal approaches to teaching and learning foreign languages, and reflect on the context of the intercultural paradigm in university-level foreign language education.

scholarly journals NATIONALLY ORIENTED FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING IN THE CONTEXT OF THE LINGUO-DIDACTIC PARADIGM OF THE 21ST CENTURY

2020 ◽  
pp. 37-48
Author(s):  
N. Zaichenko
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Learning ◽  
Foreign Language Learning ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Subject Matter Content

The article deals with modern views on the concept of “nationally oriented foreign language teaching”, presented in the linguo-didactic discourse of domestic and foreign scholars of the last decades. The author reveals and characterizes its evolution as one of the basic concepts of Russian and Ukrainian language education as foreign languages. It is found that they relate to the subject matter, content, and operational components of this phenomenon. There are significant changes in the views of scholars on taking into account students’ native language in teaching these languages by speakers of languages with different systems. There is a growing interest in didactic and linguistic data processing of the analysis of Chinese and Russian (Ukrainian) languages and their practical implementation. In terms of content, priority is given to culturally oriented and ethno-psychological aspects of mastering foreign language in a monocultural and multicultural educational environment. The innovative approach to this issue is also manifested in the increasing attention of researchers to the peculiarities of cognitive, mental and educational activities of Chinese-speaking students, formed by the national linguistic and methodological tradition, which is radically different from the national communicative and active lingvodidactic paradigm and needs appropriate methodological correction. Prospects for further study of the issues raised in our investigation are related to the research of a number of “new” terms in the terminological field of the basic concept of “nationally oriented foreign language learning”, as well as from the normative and codification side.

scholarly journals INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO THE TEACHING OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AT LEVELS B2 - C1 (FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF THE TEXTBOOK)

2013 ◽  
pp. 49-61
Author(s):  
E. B. Yastrebova ◽  
D. A. Kryachkov
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Communicative Competence ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Basic Features

The article analyzes how professors and students of MGIMO-University’s School of International Relations perceive innovations in language teaching.As a synergy system, language teaching relies on selfdevelopment based to a great extent on innovations, which can be initiated either from the inside or from the outside. To identify the basic features of innovations in foreign language teaching, the authors conducted a survey of professors and students of the School of international Relations. The results suggest that for most respondents the main purpose of innovations in foreign language teaching and learning is to attain a significantly higher level of communicative competence, which is seen as feasible only if fundamentally new teaching materials and computer technologies are used. According to the survey, the success of innovations largely depends on their source (innovations ‘from the top’ and innovations ‘from the bottom’) and commitment on the part of professors and students to participate in them, the latter being often prompted by their discontent with the state of play. Innovations ‘from above’ tend to be more encompassing and affect the entire system of language education, whereas innovations ‘from the bottom concern the teaching process per se. Though the survey suggests that it is innovations ‘from the top’ that tend to be more successful, the authors conclude that language education as a synergy system adopts only non-shattering innovations that address its most vital needs, thus encouraging its sustainable development.

Modern technologies of teaching a foreign language in the higher education system.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tat'yana Dmitrenko
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Education System ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Higher Education System ◽  
Intercultural Communications ◽  
Language Classes ◽  
Modern Technologies

The textbook is devoted to the consideration of modern technologies of teaching foreign languages in the conditions of updating language education in higher education. The article presents modern innovative technologies of teaching foreign languages that contribute to the intensification of the educational process and the activation of educational activities in foreign language classes. It is recommended for students studying for a master's degree — future specialists in the field of intercultural communications.

The Creation of a Rubric for the Evaluation of Language Teaching and Learning Videogames

2019 ◽  
pp. 313-341
Author(s):  
Douglas A. Agar ◽  
Philip J. Chappell
Keyword(s):  
Language Development ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Language Pedagogy ◽  
Sociocultural Model ◽  
The Creation

This chapter reports on the creation and evaluation of the Language Education Videogame Evaluation Rubric (LEVER) which, it is hoped, will be of benefit to those involved in the teaching and learning of foreign languages. Based upon a sociocultural model of language development, this research is unique in the manner in which it draws on up-to-date best practice in the domains of both language pedagogy and videogame design. This chapter will then report on the application of the LEVER to two titles which have been created to teach a foreign language, in order to both to test the games for quality and the rubric itself for rigour and ease-of-use.

scholarly journals A Content Analysis of the Studies on the Use of Flipped Classrooms in Foreign Language Education

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sevil Filiz ◽  
Aycan Benzet
Keyword(s):  
Content Analysis ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Flipped Classroom ◽  
Classroom Instruction ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Foreign Language Education ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Flipped Classrooms ◽  
Performance Perceptions

Teaching foreign languages via flipped classrooms, in which the typical elements of a course are reversed, has been apopular pedagogy recently as the modern digital technology is flourishing unprecedentedly. The aim of this study isto review a selected sample of 50 studies on flipped classroom instruction in foreign language education publishedfrom 2014 to 2018 in Turkey and abroad. A content analysis was conducted for each study in terms of study years,study types, study locations, foreign languages taught, language skills taught, research methods, sampling, data tools,data analysis procedure and variables through a ‘Research Classification Form’. Results showed that studies weredone mostly as articles in 2016 in 14 countries mostly in Turkey using quantitative research designs commonly. Inthese studies, flipped classroom instruction was implemented for teaching all skills of English as a foreign language.Samples generally consisted of higher education students with lower than 50 as a sample size. In these studies, asquantitative data collection tools, achievement tests were utilized and as for analysis procedures, mean and standarddeviation were used predominantly. Additionally, the variables of Attitudes towards Foreign Language Lessons,Academic Performance, Perceptions, and Writing Performance were frequently researched. The findings obtainedfrom this study are expected to contribute to future studies conducted on flipped classrooms in foreign languageteaching.

De Behoeften aan Moderne Vreemde Talen en Differentiatie in Doelstellingen Voor Vreemde-Talenonderwijs

1977 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 58-71
Author(s):  
Maria Oud-de Glas
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Language Teaching ◽  
Foreign Language Teaching ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Technical Schools ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Actual Use ◽  
Language Needs ◽  
The University

At the Institute for Applied Sociology of the University of Nijmegen, an investigation into foreign language needs of several groups in Dutch society has been carried out in 1975 through 1977. Questionnaires were submitted to these different groups, e.g. to former pupils of secondary schools. The questionnaire consisted mainly of a list of 24 descriptions of situations in which foreign languages are used. In these descriptions the significant features of language situations are systematically varied. For each situa-tion we asked if and how frequently it occurs and if the knowledge of the languages learnt is sufficient for this kind of situation. The results of the investigation show large differences in language needs (defined as actual use of the foreign language and shortcomings in the knowledge of that language in certain situations) both between the former pupils of the different types of secondary schools as well as between the languages most commonly taught in Dutch schools, French, German and English. More specifically it was found that the actual use of foreign languages occurs more frequently among former pupils of certain vocational schools (especially technical schools) than among former pupils of general secondary schools. French appears to be used less frequently than German and English. English is used by a somewhat larger group than German, but this does not hold for all groups. Former pupils of technical schools use German as much as English. The resulting data can be used to choose objectives for foreign language teaching. There is however no simple and direct way from language needs to objectives. In choosing objectives on the basis of findings on language needs, one will have to decide which measure of language needs is taken into account and how this measure (or these measures) is (are) used. If we decide for example to take the size of the group that has actually used a foreign language in one of the situations as a criterion for the choice of that situation as a part of the objectives of language teaching, we will then have to decide where we draw the line between situations that are and situations that are not important enough to be chosen. In other words, we have to decide how large the group of language users must be. It is evident that there is no shorter way from language needs to objectives than a carefully argued choice of measures and of the use of these measures.

HANDBOOK OF UNDERGRADUATE SECOND LANGUAGE EDUCATION. Judith W. Rosenthal (Ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2000. Pp. xxii + 380. $99.95 cloth, $39.95 paper.

2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-126
Author(s):  
Leila Ranta
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Education ◽  
Colleges And Universities ◽  
Language Program ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
Second Language Education ◽  
American Students ◽  
Undergraduate Programs

This edited volume was inspired by Rosenthal's belief that it is becoming increasingly more important for American students to know more than one language and that greater collaboration among educators at colleges and universities will not only be beneficial for the programs and their students but will also “promote a more language-competent society” (p. ix). Unfortunately, because of institutional or disciplinary boundaries, many educators involved in a particular type of second language program may be unaware of colleagues with similar concerns. This book attempts to bridge this gap by showcasing a wide variety of undergraduate programs that share the aim of promoting bilingualism among their students.

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