Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
on
Language Instruction
Editor
Lidia Woytak
Editorial Advisors
Christine M. Campbell * Gordon L. Jackson * John Hedgcock
Copyeditor
2007
This publication presents professional information. The views expressed herein are
those of the authors, not the Department of Defense or its elements.The content does
not necessarily reflect the official US Army position and does not change or supersede
any information in official US Army publications. Dialog on Language Instruction
reserves the right to edit material to meet space constraints.
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Articles
1 The RAP Project: Using Technology to Reach Advanced-Level
Proficiency in Foreign language Learning
Hussny Ibrahim
Faculty Exchange
77 Notes from an OPI Tester Trainer to DLIFLC Instructors
Why Can't They Describe?
Patricia Fay-Magiera
General Information
83 Index
89 Calendar of Events
93 Information for Contributors
The Rap Project
Dialog on Language Instruction
2007, Vol. 18, Nos. 1 & 2, pp. 1-14
Hussny Ibrahim
Middle East School II
Background
The need for high level linguists in Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) has
prompted national interest in preparing students to reach advanced to superior levels
(Malone, 2005).
A new policy at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center
(DLIFLC), which will be implemented in 2008, will require students to meet new
Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) standards of levels 2+, 2+, 2 in listening, reading,
and speaking, respectively. The ILR scale, used throughout the U. S. Government for
measuring language proficiency, provides descriptors of each base and plus level from 0+
to 5. The higher DLIFLC graduation standards are equivalent to the American Council
on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) standards of Advanced to Superior
levels.
With ILR level 3 equivalent to ACTFL’s Superior level and level 2+ identified as
that closer to level 3 than to level 2, the new goal is, in effect, to prepare students to reach
near-superior competency in reading and listening. The ability to understand hypothesis,
supported opinion, implications, and abstract linguistic formulations are major examples
of Superior level requirements.
As a further challenge, future Arabic students will be tested with a much more
rigorous MSA listening and reading examination. The Defense Language Proficiency
Test 5 (DLPT 5) is characterized by authentic reading and listening texts with strong
cultural and sociolinguistic references, based on such topics as geography, history and
politics. In addition, the authentic MSA listening texts are delivered by several Arabic
speakers with accents as varied as the countries using the language.
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Hussny Ibrahim
With these challenges in mind I started a project with Class 505 when the
students began Semester 2. On Wednesday July 13th, 2005, the students of class 505
were instructed to go to the new Multi Media Language Lab (MMLL) where they were
given the assignment, due by Friday of the same week, to search the Internet for current
Arabic news items related to the topic “Health and Science.” They were to report
their findings in a class room setting in any manner they chose as long as they used the
available technologies--Smart Board, networking facilities, and the available software
[i.e. PowerPoint, Adobe Audition, Movie maker, etc.). Their tasks were to find relevant
reading texts and to develop a list of key vocabulary encountered during their search
(i.e. idioms, expressions, sociolinguistic references, etc.). In addition, they had to write
a commentary on the news reflecting their individual interaction with the news medium.
Commentaries could range from one sentence to more than one paragraph. The results
were impressive; the variety of styles and innovations reflected students’ analytical skills,
as well as their individualized manner of interacting with and internalizing authentic
materials through the use of technology.
That week marked the beginning of the Research, Analyze, and Present project
(RAP) that evolved into a detailed methodology that makes its core curriculum the wide
world of the Internet. The teacher is a tutor, guide, and a coach, while the students are
placed at the center of the learning process. They control the learning material, select
the audio and reading texts to be studied, analyze and synthesize the information, and
explain their interactions with the texts in individual presentations that they systematically
design and deliver every Friday afternoon.
As the project evolved and the advantages became more apparent, it was
expanded into all of Department D, Middle East School II, as an essential part of the
curriculum.
The Project
The RAP project approaches theory and methodology from a simple motto that
rejects dogmatic thinking and embraces creativity-- “If it works, do it.” For example,
the Audio-Lingual Method, with its emphasis on grammar drills, which is now largely
outside the mainstream, may have a place in the MSA classroom. With a Level 2+
objective, teachers simply cannot afford to leave the intricate Arabic grammar to the
natural unconscious mechanism advocated by Krashen (Krashen, 1981). Grammar drills
and conscious instruction of grammar can be used alongside the practice of providing
the learner the opportunity to “mentally construct the grammar from extensive natural
data” (Krashen 1981). The RAP motto embraces pragmatism and empirical decisions
about the most effective foreign language methodology for each facet of learning. The
process of trial and error has been the leading force behind the implementation of the
RAP project.
The project has gradually acquired a methodology that reflects a variety of
theories, including those utilizing neurological discoveries about the brain and language
and the cognitive mechanism involved in the learning of a foreign language (Chomsky
1968 & Krashen 1981), and those emphasizing grouping and community and the need
for cultural social interaction (Vygotsky, 1991) in order to progress to advanced levels
of communicative competence. Also, this project is based on the recognition that we
are witnessing a technological revolution that will no doubt play a role in all learning
in the future.
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The Rap Project
The following pages will show how the RAP project integrates the computer,
networking, and the Internet into the language learning process. I will explain how the
RAP methodology was developed and how the socio-cognitive and cognitive concepts
influenced the progress of the project. I will attempt to assess the effectiveness of the
project through two measures. First, I compare DLPT results of class 505 with overall
MSA results in previous years. This comparison with the results of MSA classes using the
traditional written curriculum during the same timeframe may provide a reasonable tool
to help assess the program. Second, I discuss outcomes of an evaluation questionnaire
administered to the students with the assistance of the DLIFLC Research Division.
Literature Review
The RAP project was influenced by both cognitive and socio-cognitive theories of
language learning. Concepts such as “cognitive mechanism,” “socio-cultural interaction,”
“internalizing knowledge,” “social contexts,” and “communicative competence,” are
important parts of the intellectual basis of the RAP program.
“Acquisition of language requires extensive use of data” is an aspect of Krashen’s
cognitive theory used in the RAP project. According to Krashen’s “input hypothesis”. . .
we acquire the language only when we understand language that contains structure that is
a little beyond where we are now.” (Krashen, 1981). This means that acquiring language,
which relies on an unconscious cognitive mechanism, occurs when the learner receives
data, or input, somewhat more complex than one’s current ability.
According to Chomsky, “the development of an individual grammatical system
was guided by innate cognitive structure, not behavioral reinforcement. Language learning
was viewed not as “conditional response,” but as an active process of generating and
transforming knowledge.” (Kern & Warschaur, 2000).
Though holding some reservation regarding his theory, I applied Krashen’s
ideas in the RAP program by affording the students maximum exposure to authentic
reading and listening material somewhat higher than their current level. Maximizing
the learners’ knowledge and interaction was realized through cross-reading and cross-
listening, as well as the sharing of information within each group of students and through
the students’ weekly presentations in small groups. In the process of fulfilling their tasks,
the students had to read and listen to a great amount of high level material. My premise
was that this practice, done systematically and methodically, would inevitably enrich their
language; slowly and gradually, with consistent tasking, the learners would foster their
communicative competence and hence their foreign language proficiency.
Initial expectations were reasonably modest. At first the students delivered their
weekly presentations with difficulty and no fluency. According to Krashen, as cited by
Wilson (2006),
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Hussny Ibrahim
are ”ready”, recognizing that improvement comes from supplying
communicative and comprehensible input, and not from forcing and
correcting production. (Wilson, 2006).
4
The Rap Project
historical, cultural and material processes (including brain activities).
Internalization is conceived of as a representation activity, a process
that occurs simultaneously in social practice and in the human brain/
mind.
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Hussny Ibrahim
process. Through interaction with authentic texts, learners may draw upon the social
contexts afforded by the material. In turn, internalizing knowledge can be achieved
through such processes as rewriting the news and reconstructing it through summary
writing and concept formation.
In a comprehensive study on “Vygotskian Inner Speech and the Reading Process”,
J Ehrich (2006) viewed reading as a process that involves two dynamic dialectically related
components, “ R= D x C , which may be interpreted to mean that reading is equivalent
to decoding times comprehension. (Gough & Wren 1999 p 70, as cited in Ehrich (2006)
). He further elaborates: “…the written text must be analyzed from the interaction of
two contrasting processes, i.e., the analytical particularistic evaluation ( the decoding of
individual units) in conjunction with broader, more global concerns ( the use of context
and inference to establish meaning). ( Ehrich 2006).
Creating a “community” within the two teams where the students share their
own writings and engage in dialogues with their peers and teachers is one attempt to
create a simulated social context, and afford a room for sociocultural interaction. We
attempted to do that through creating a computer Drive within the existing DLI network
we called it Q Drive.
Method
Participants
The material used in the RAP project can be characterized as authentic, current,
and unlimited. All material was written or spoken by natives for native readers or listeners.
The curriculum came from the Internet, which provides a window onto the authentic
social contexts of the language. Though the topics were determined by those used in
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The Rap Project
the traditional curriculum, the RAP focus was on current events. No outdated news was
allowed. News had to come from sources accessible to very large numbers of Arabic
listeners and readers—for example, the Arabic equivalents to the New York Times, the
Washington Post, CNN, etc. Students were encouraged to read and listen to the news in
English during their free time, so they would be familiar with the same news in Arabic
and able to contextualize the meaning, and even understand new vocabulary from context
using knowledge gained through their L1 experiences. The starting point of the program
was to “Google” the term “Arabic News Media.” The teachers could help students identify
the most widely circulated Arabic media ( i.e., Asharq Alawsat Newspaper, the Arabic
BBC out of London, and the major newspapers in Arabic countries, such as Al-Ahram
in Egypt, Addustor in Jordan, and Alhyat in Lebanon.)
Task
The RAP project has three components: Research, Analyze, and Present: First,
each week, students are given a research task. Using the internet search in the MMLL
setting and equipped with proper training, students work in pairs to accomplish the
assignment. Second, the partners analyze the news item selected, discuss it together, and
develop a commentary that may vary from a sentence to a few paragraphs, depending on
the week of the course. Third, students individually present the findings to classmates
in their section, using the Smart Board, audio, and video. Other students in the section
discuss the news item and presentation with the presenter. Everything takes place in the
target language.
Students are required to learn how to use both the technology and the language
needed to select, record, and edit audio passages; to save, archive, and retrieve audio,
video, and written text; and, then, to present the findings using the Smart Board and
available programs. Each student has to write an Arabic summary of the news and have
it reviewed by a teacher. Students also must prepare a vocabulary list including terms,
idioms, expressions, etc., acquired during their investigation; they share these with their
classmates as part of the presentation. Each student has to be prepared to brief the section
in the target language, answer questions, and engage in discussion with the audience.
Each classmate is required to ask at least one question in the target language to ensure
productive discussion and interaction with the texts.
In the first stage of the RAP project students read from a script and used a certain
amount of English. After a few weeks this behavior changed; students were required
to deliver their presentation without relying on a script. This, in fact, motivated them
to seek the help of teachers for rehearsal, which ensured more correct pronunciations
and contextually appropriate use of vocabulary. In the past, pronunciation of Arabic had
always been a challenge for students. Rehearsing with the teachers, according to the
students of Class 505, as well as their teachers, has significantly helped their pronunciation.
Rehearsal has now become mandatory and is considered an integral part of the project.
As the project evolved, the rule to use only the target language was enforced during both
the presentation and the follow-up question period. Though students’ speaking abilities
were often poor in the beginning, with persistent and consistent practice, the students’
speaking performance gradually improved.. This confirmed Krashen’s observation that
speaking ability is demonstrated at a later stage of the language acquisition process.
(Krashen, 1981).
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Hussny Ibrahim
The teachers’ role in the RAP project is a critical one. All of the teachers
available were present, in a ratio of at least one to every five students, in the multi media
lab. These native speakers provided the students in the lab with unique and necessary
cultural and language resources. They contributed greatly to providing an environment
conducive to learning with a curriculum as potentially unwieldy as the Internet. Teachers
checked the students’ selections to ensure they were manageable and within the range of the
I+1 concept. If needed, they explained difficult idioms or expressions or area background
as well as the culture embedded in the language, all of which would have otherwise been
inaccessible to students because of the difficulty level on the ILR scale.
The teachers’ support was also needed in the MMLL to alleviate any sense of
frustration as students interacted with higher level audio and written texts. As student
questionnaires indicate, the project might not have succeeded if the overall environment
had not been supportive.
Through support in the MMLL and in rehearsals, teachers ensured that students’
vocabulary lists and written summaries were sound and that their pronunciation was correct.
The teacher’s job was, in effect, to help the student prepare for the presentation.
Not only did the teachers help students with pronunciation, syntax, and lexicon,
etc., but they also helped explain the culture embedded in the MSA texts, including the
sociolinguistic references, idioms, value systems, and area background such as social,
political and economic systems.
The standards represented by the ILR scale and the Final Learning Objectives
required by the military services provide both students and teachers with clear guidelines
to control and utilize the stream of authentic reading and listening materials on the Internet.
Therefore, the teachers had to be trained on the ILR descriptors, and the faculty needed
to familiarize students with the scale to help direct their efforts to complete the tasks.
The Task is one determining factor in the success of the RAP program.
Designing the task is critical to the success of the project. Unless the task is well-defined
and guided by the teachers, the students could spend hours on the Internet without
achieving the desired outcome.
The first listening comprehension assignment given to the students was to search,
record, and later present the headline news of the day related to the topic of Health and
Science. While some students were listening to advertisements at level 1, some were
listening to talk shows discussing culturally-loaded, superior–level topics. The latter
group could have experienced considerable frustration when trying to work with such
high level materials. These students were immediately redirected to narrow their search
by looking for the key word in a website: AL Akhbar, or The News. Once redirected, the
students started searching through the vast number of news items, which usually range
from level 1+ to 2+. The clear instructions given to the students with regard to the topic,
scope , purpose , and appropriateness for their current level, all helped make the results
promising. The broad topic Health and Science allowed students to produce a variety of
approaches. One student gave a presentation on the benefits of dates to human health.
Another made a presentation on the role of exercise in the health of infants. A third
reported on a study of job discrimination against the obese. Each used his/her own style,
selected his/her own images, and personalized their delivery of the news.
The task aimed at improving three skills--reading, listening, and speaking. While
writing was not a top priority, it later proved instrumental in internalizing knowledge
and in identifying students’ errors in structure and spelling. This prompted us to make
8
The Rap Project
writing an essential activity. The teachers sought and realized a balance in promoting all
major skills and avoided promoting one skill while neglecting the others. Students were
encouraged to use three skills during their presentation, as the tasks assigned to them
were equally distributed.
The tasks progressed as the course developed. Semester 2 tasks were less
demanding than those for Semester 3. From the start students were required to report
concrete, factual news items; by Semester 3, they had to add a commentary and express
their interaction with the news. This encouraged the use of MSA to support opinions
and argue the points addressed in the news item. One example was the Danish cartoons
that resonated in the Arab and Islamic world. During their presentations, students
conversed and exchanged ideas using high-level vocabulary learned during their research
and preparation.
Results
The DLPT Results
As stated above, Class 505 had 38 students completing the course. There were
two teams, D1 and D2, and each had six teachers. Though both teams started the course
at the same time and both participated in RAP project equally, each team had its own
dynamics and variables that affected results. Variables included the teachers, the morale
of the class, the role of military class leaders, attitudes towards the learning of MSA,
and attitudes toward the RAP project. For that reason, I analyzed results from both
perspectives— separately by team and collectively.
Looking at each group separately, in general we find that students assigned
to team D2 scored better than those assigned to team D1. Team D2 had 71.4 % of the
students scoring 2+, 2+, 2 in listening, reading, and speaking skills respectively; while
41.2 % of Team D1 students scored 2+,2+,2. 81 % of team D2’s students scored level
2 in speaking in comparison with 52.9 % of those taught by team D1 (see Table 1).
Collectively, the entire Class 505 generated impressive results with 57.9 % of the
students meeting DLIFLC’s objectives planned for 2008 (2+, 2+, 2 in listening, reading,
speaking respectively: 73 % scored level 2+ or higher in listening; 86.8 % scored 2+
or higher in reading; 65.8 % scored level 2 or higher in speaking (see Table 2). The
percentage scoring level 3 was 23% in listening and 50 % in reading; level 3 is actually
the ceiling for the DLPT. The percentage scoring level 2+ in speaking was 7.89 %. 97
% of the students met the current objective of 2/2/1+.
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Hussny Ibrahim
Table 2. Comparison of Results of Class 505 DLPT to 2005 and 2006 Classes
Questionnaire Results
I get to hear different speech. It helps to get used to new voices and
unfamiliar accents.
I had to use the word again and again which helped retaining the
vocab.
10
The Rap Project
Almost half of D2 (47 %) and 20% of D1 students reported that they used the
writing skill in their assignments and stated that the project noticeably improved their
writing. The rest of the students reported that they did not write.
Majority of the students (90.5 %) reported the activities of searching the internet
and presenting once a week enriched their vocabulary
In responding to a question about the most effective part of the project, searching
the Internet for material was the most frequent answer, writing a summary rated second,
and giving the presentation came last.
The vast majority of the students expressed appreciation for the currency of the
news encountered during the project. Some of the comments included:
The internet search is the most useful-not only are we reading and
listening to new vocab but it also helps us stay current on news which
will help with OPI.
Conclusion
As seen in the test results and students’ comments, the project demonstrated
significant progress by students learning a foreign language. Success was due to many
factors, chief among them the teachers’ commitment and students’ morale and positive
attitude. Success was not limited to improving language skills but extended to fostering
student motivation and attitude towards learning a foreign language. Stronger awareness
of and interest in current events was another valuable outcome. In addition, the program
indicated noticeable progress in students’ understanding of Arabic culture and Middle
Eastern area studies, a key component in attaining higher levels in MSA.
Through the project teachers managed to fully utilize the available technology
resources at DLIFLC. This technological environment was fostered and facilitated by
native Arabic teachers. Above all, the project showed how to maintain flexibility necessary
for further development, and the application of better ideas.
The RAP project, I believe, offered a versatile means for students to gradually
build a solid foundation in the language, from which they can attempt to reach higher
levels.
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Hussny Ibrahim
Yet, many steps need to be taken to improve the RAP project. All teachers and
students should be trained on the ILR descriptors and appropriate texts for each level to
help identify the relevant texts among the vast offerings on the Internet. To encourage
maximum participation of teachers during the Internet searches, the faculty should receive
hands-on orientation in the MMLL. All available team members should be present in the
lab to tutor and guide through the virtual Arab world. For that reason both teachers and
students should be trained to use the available software, i.e. power point, U-lead, movie
maker Adobe Audition, etc.
There should be clear written guidelines detailing the role of the students and the
teachers. The specific weekly tasks should be distributed to both students and teachers
to ensure organization and communication.
It should be explained to students early that they must approach the Arabic
media as researchers and reporters and demonstrate the ability to listen to, read, report,
and react to the news in an analytical, mature manner. Dismissing the authentic material
as propaganda will impede progress in the project and overall language learning.
The second point that needs to be addressed concerns the future of RAP within
the CALL, or Computer Assisted Language Learning in general. A natural next step of
the RAP is to take the concept of “Interacting with authentic material” one step further
towards “Interacting with other native speakers” in their own distant environment via the
Internet. I believe that in the future, such an approach will surely be dominant in some
settings to further learners’ communicative competence. This seems a possible outcome
of the socio-cognitive view of language learning. According to Warschauer (2004),
technology does not automatically cause the outcome or change, but “it can create new
social contexts that shape, or enable processes and outcomes.” Just as the invention of
the printing press created social contexts through which notions of teaching and learning
were dramatically altered, today’s technology will ultimately help shape the future of
learning foreign language. We must keep this notion in mind when we develop curricula
or adapting teaching techniques.
I hope that the concept of the project, the use it makes of technology and the
positive outcomes will tempt others to carry this work further.
References
ACTFL Foreign Language Standards Writing Team. (2002). Program standards for the
preparation of foreign language teachers. Alexandria, VA: ACTFL. Retrieved
August 1, 2005 from http://www.actfl.org
Anderson, N. (1991). Individual differences in second language reading strategies. Paper
presented at the 25th Annual TESOL Convention, New York.
Byrnes, H. (1984). The role of listening comprehension: A theoretical base. Foreign
Langauge Annals 17:317-29
Chamot, A.U. & Kupper, L. (1989). Learning strategies in foreign language instruction.
Foreign Language Annals, 22(1), 13-24.
Chamot, A. U., Barnhardt, S., El-Dinary, P. B., & Robbins, J. (1996). Methods for teaching
learning strategies in the foreign language classroom. In R. L. Oxford (Ed.),
Language learning strategies around the world: Cross-cultural perspectives (pp.
175-187). Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press.
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Chinnery, G., M, January 2006. Emerging Technologies, Going to the MALL: Mobile
Assisted Language Learning. Language Learning and Technology 10(1).
Chun, D.C, & Plass. J.L. (2000). Networked multimedia environment for second language
acquisition.
Ehrich, J., F. (2006). Vygotsky. Inner Speech and Reading Process. Australian Journal of
Educational & Developmental Psychology 6, 2006, pp 12-25 [website: http://
www.newcastle.edu.au/group/ajedp/
Kern, R., & Warschauer, M. (2000). Theory and practice of network-based language
teaching. New York: Cambridge University
Krashen, S. (1981), Second language acquisition and second language learning. Oxford:
Pergamon Press.
Meskill, C., & Rangelova, K .(2000). Relocating the “cognitive” in sociocognitive views
of second language learning. London: Peter Lang-Verlag.
Malone, M., Christian, D., & Johnson, D. (2005). Attaining high levels of proficiency:
Challenges for foreign language education in the United States. Center for
Applied Linguistics, Benjamin Rifkin, Temple University. http://www.cal.
org/resources/digest/attain.html
Omaggio, Hadley, A. (2001). Teaching language in context (3rd Ed.) Boston: Heinle and
Heinle
Simon, P. (2001, October 23). Beef up the country’s foreign language skills. The
Washington Post.
Vandergriff, Ilona ( January 2006) : Negotiating common ground in computer-mediated
versus face to face discussions. Language learning & Technology ,10(1). San
Francisco State University
Vandergrift, L. (2006). Listening: Theory and practice in modern foreign
language competence. http://www.LLas.ac.uk/resources/goodpractice.
aspx?resourceeid=67
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind and society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Vygotsky, L. (1991). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Warschauer, M., &, Kern, R. (2000). Theory and practice of network-based language
teaching. New York:Cambridge University.
Warschauer, M. (2004). Technological change and the future of CALL. In S.Fotos &
Brown (Eds.), New perspectives on CALL for second and foreign language
classrooms (pp.15-25). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Wilson, R. (2006). A summary of Stephen Krashen’s “Principles and Practice in Second
Language Acquisition”. Language impact http://www.languageimpact.com/
articles/rw/krashenk.htm
Acknowledgment
I am grateful to Dr. Martha Herzog for editing this paper, and for her invaluable
insights and advice throughout. I thank Dr. Gordon Jackson in the Research Division at
DLIFLC for his support in administering the students’ questionnaire. My gratitude also
goes to the teachers of department D in Middle East School II, especially the teachers
of D1 and D2 teams. Without these exceptional teachers the project would not have
succeeded.
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Hussny Ibrahim
Author
HUSSNY IBRAHIM, Department Chairperson, Middle East School II, Defense Language
Institute Foreign Language Center, Presidio of Monterey, CA 93944-5006.
Specializations: Development of DLPT5, Target Language Expert in the joint
DLI/MIT Machine Translation Project, language analysis.
14
Russian Arms Control Speaking Proficiency Course
Dialog on Language Instruction
2007, Vol. 18, Nos. 1 & 2, pp.15-25
Wesley Reed
Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Fort Belvoir, Virginia
Introduction
15
Freeman, Krasnyanskaya, and Reed
Agency (a DTRA legacy organization) were assigned to support Project Provide Hope.
Under this Department of State humanitarian relief program, teams were sent to each
of the 15 former Soviet Republics to deliver medicines and other humanitarian aid.
They were among the first (in some cases the first) Americans ever to set foot on the
free soil of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). DTRA linguists have since
conducted hundreds of various challenging “adhoc” missions. Each linguist assigned
to DTRA has the opportunity not only to see history in the making, but to play a key
role in the actual events themselves. For those linguists who have been selected by
the DTRA Linguist Recruiters, the road begins at the Russian Arms Control Speaking
Proficiency Course (RACSPC) at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language
Center (DLIFLC), Monterey, California.
The RACSPC Program was originally established in 1990, as the Intermediate
Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty Course. For more than a decade, it would see few major
changes. The course incorporated many of the features that continue to make the
RACSPC so successful: low student-to-teacher ratio; mission-focused training; real-
world activities, such as interpreting excursions, etc. However, by 2002, for various
reasons, it became clear that a general restructuring was in order. These are some of the
key changes made to the program:
16
Russian Arms Control Speaking Proficiency Course
• Improved standardization, establishment of, and adherence to, the Curriculum and
Syllabi.
• The Diagnostic Assessment (DA), which gives a more comprehensive look at linguists’
strengths and weaknesses, is conducted three times per course, in addition to the Oral
Proficiency Interview (OPI)
• Homework load specifically identified and tightly controlled
A RACSPC-Prep Program has also been devised, in order to ensure students
have the best opportunity possible to be successful in the course. From the time our
recruiters identify future students until they arrive at DLI can be over a year. A member
of our staff at DTRA engages these linguists and offers them various training materials
they can use to prepare in advance. In the near future we will begin using a web-
delivered training platform to “push” this training out to the field. The RACSPC Staff
is creating the course materials (texts, digital audio for listening comprehension, tests,
etc.) that will be loaded into this system.
In the DTRA Language Training Program, we are always looking for new and
better ways to train our military linguists. We remain on the cutting edge in the use of
technology, and are helping to drive some the most promising and forward-thinking
initiatives in language education, including Diagnostic Assessments. This, combined
with steadfast adherence to sound methodologies (with emphasis on fundamental skills)
has resulted in our program being widely acclaimed as the “Model Program for DoD”.
The RACSPC is our flagship program and proof of what can be done when DLI faculty,
agency participation and the proper support, including funding, are brought to bear on
real-world requirements. Thanks to the efforts of the RACSPC Staff, I am confident
that we will continue to enjoy the success we do today. In the following articles, their
expertise and professionalism are evident, as in all they do.
RACSPC Purpose
Course Description
Our course focuses on training in the active communication skills and lasts
235 training days. This equates to 47 weeks of training for five days each week.
The graduation requirements are 2+ in Listening Comprehension / 2+ in Reading
Comprehension, successful completion of the Diagnostic Assessment, and the DTRA
approval.
A specialized program consisting of 300-level courses designed to prepare
select students for the mission of working as English-Russian interpreter-inspectors,
interpreter-escorts and interpreter-monitors for DTRA, On-Site Inspection Directorate,
under the provisions of current and future arms control treaties and agreements.
17
Freeman, Krasnyanskaya, and Reed
• Communicative skills including one-on-one conversation for at least one hour each
day, discussions of current news, and round table discussions: FL 364 Communicative
Skills (5 Credits): Conversation (1:1), News, Round Table Discussions
• Interpreting and Translation, including real-world interpreting activities in the
local area: FL 365 Interpreting and Translation (5 Credits): Real-world Interpreting
Training
• Extended Grammar: FL 370 Grammar (2 Credits)
• History and Area Studies: AS 383 History and Area Studies (3 Credits)
• An overview of Treaties and Agreements: MS 384 Treaties and Agreements (3
Credits)
Our graduates receive a total of 18 upper-level college credits for their 47-week
course work.
Course Development
In 2002, when for various reasons, it became clear that a general restructuring
was necessary, a new course development program was worked up and it is now
approaching its completion. It does not mean that DTRA RACSPC faculty will stop
this program. All the textbooks and other materials will be updated and modified
continuously. The core materials have already been developed in all the courses, the
textbooks for the instructors and students have been published in Vocabulary, Speaking,
Listening Comprehension, Consecutive Interpreting, Geography of Russia. In addition,
a commercial textbook has been selected for History of Russia.
The DTRA system of instruction materials (SIM) consists of the ranked
multitude of interconnected elements of the structure. These elements are distinguished
on the basis of certain characteristics, united by their general function, control, and
interaction with the environment. Ilyina (1972) considers that all the SIM’s possess a
certain structure that characterizes the way these elements are organized into a system.
Thus, this structure presents a stable combination, mutual influence, and interaction of
the elements of the integral system.
In compliance with general principles developed by Lyakhovitsky (1972),
the SIM in the DTRA RACSPC contains two subsystems: 1) a subsystem to organize
instructor’s work; 2) a subsystem to organize student’s work. Both subsystems are united
into the SIM to teach Russian as a foreign language (RFL) that is defined as a complex of
didactic means to teach and to learn RFL These two subsystems are interconnected and
function on the basis of the goal and content of instruction, methodology, approaches
and techniques in the teaching / learning process.
18
Russian Arms Control Speaking Proficiency Course
The student subsystem is subordinated to the instructor one, but within each subsystem,
its elements are coordinated with each other.
For the purpose of development, the elements of the SIM to teach RFL were
considered mainly from the logic point of view that stipulated the sequence, nature
and interconnection of the SIM components. However, selection and organization of
language material and its comprehension be the students, development, reinforcement
and realization of their skills in different modalities were considered from linguistic,
psychological, and pedagogical points of view.
19
Freeman, Krasnyanskaya, and Reed
without involving personal feelings and emotions, however, requiring limited socio-
cultural competence; text produced – two-three full paragraphs; trimester II: grammar
(revision and reinforcement of elaborate morphological and syntactical structures);
authentic materials for reading and listening on levels 3-4 in compliance with ILR
(1985); speaking: themes of levels 2-3 in compliance with ILR (1985) – abstract
topics (discussing societal issues, formulation, clarification, explanation, and support
of an opinion on the societal issues; formulation and support of hypothesis); role-
plays presenting complicated or conflict situations that occur in the societal everyday
life reflecting speaker’s societal experience without personal feelings and emotions,
but requiring appropriate socio-cultural competence; text produced – three-four full
paragraphs and extended discourse; trimester III: grammar (revision and reinforcement
of elaborate morphological and syntactical structures); authentic materials for reading
and listening on levels 3+-5 in compliance with ILR (1985); speaking: themes of
levels 2+-3 in compliance with ILR (1985) – abstract topics (discussing societal issues,
formulation, clarification, explanation, and support of an opinion on the societal issues
and human values; formulation and support of hypothesis; participation in discussions);
role-plays presenting complicated or conflict situations that occur in the societal and
personal life of an individual reflecting speaker’s societal experience with or without
involvement of personal feelings and emotions, and requiring extended socio-cultural
references; text produced -- extended discourse and discussions;
3. linguistic and methodological characteristics of grammar and vocabulary
to be studied that were taken into consideration while developing exercises and tasks
to create and reinforce knowledge and skills of the language aspects and to develop,
reinforce and realize skills in different modalities in each trimester; it should be noted
here that Russian is, in fact, one of the most “grammar-oriented” languages with a very
rich and detailed vocabulary;
4. psycho-physiological peculiarities of the students, on the basis of which the
rational and effective modes of instruction were developed for each trimester.
20
Russian Arms Control Speaking Proficiency Course
а) semantic value, b) word formation value, c) collocation ability, d) frequency in
usage, e) correspondence to the goals and tasks of each trimester, f) typical use in each
modality; that have already been developed, tested, and applied by Krasnyasnkaya
(1985), Barcroft (2004) and others in the USA and abroad.
VI. IM modality orientation stipulates that all the textbooks (except “History
of Russia”, “Geography of Russia” and “Government Structure of the Russian
Federation”) for each trimester provide students with the appropriate tools to develop,
reinforce, realize their skills in different modalities within a framework of a specific
topic, the theme being the same, but materials being different and diverse for speaking,
listening comprehension, reading comprehension, and consecutive interpreting in each
weekly cycle.
VII. IM concentric lay-out and cyclic structure of exercises, tasks, and
activities in the textbooks are accepted for introduction, reinforcement, and realization
of any materials. The chapters of a textbook are characterized by the cyclic structure,
i.e., weekly cycles corresponding to certain topics are stereotyped in their structure, but
inside each weekly cycle maximum possible diversity and number of exercises, tasks,
and activities are offered.
VIII. IM variability provide rational differentiation of instruction, i.e., two or
more variants and volumes of IM in a textbook for specific conditions of teaching RFL
taking into account the level of student preparedness.
IX. Natural combination of all the forms of classwork and homework RFL
instruction presupposes strict coordination of classwork, homework, individual and
additional tasks for the students. All these forms of instruction are integral because the
homework is a continuation and consequence of the classwork, additional tasks being a
necessity for the students with lower linguistic skill, levels, while individual tasks, being
used for the advanced students, are designed to raise their linguistic levels higher than
the program requirements.
Х. Intensive, rational, and proportional application of all the IM’s in all
the links of the instruction process provides high efficiency of training and proves
systematic nature of RFL teaching process. Unconditionally, the key IM is a properly
developed textbook, since it is a textbook that represents a principal component of
the instruction process and functions as an intermediary in the “student – textbook –
instructor” didactic system.
The students’ reaction to this course is reflected in their ESQ’s: “All aspects of
the course were great and challenging.”, “The course materials are unique and effective.
The curriculum is challenging, but effective, and the teachers’ skills are of high caliber.
They are tireless and professional”, “It is hard to criticize this course. I think that the
teachers are probably the best at DLI, and as far as the materials are concerned, I think
that we had all what we needed.”
As a result of training, the DTRA RACSPC graduates not only meet the
requirements of the Agency in their proficiency (2+ / 2+ / 2), but also receive higher
scores.
Conclusion
If designed carefully and professionally, any course of RFL can become a vital
means of fulfilling a specific foreign language education mission for the DoD. Recent
21
Freeman, Krasnyanskaya, and Reed
changes and developments in the DTRA RACSPC underline the importance of: a)
special selection procedures established to assemble highly-trained professional faculty,
and b) professional, thorough, systematic, and science-based approach to the course
development. When students are given a tool they need and can easily use, they can
fulfill their tasks confidently and with higher motivation, the direction of this motivation
being the same for the students.
A properly designed textbook in hard copy as well as available in soft copy
stipulates application of tapes, CD’s, DVD’s, videos, movies, grammar charts, role-
play scenarios, etc. to develop, reinforce, and realize, language skills in the appropriate
modalities as well as to check up on them at any stage of the instruction process. This
allows an instructor and students to intensify the process of teaching / learning RFL, to
use time rationally and effectively, to make this process omnigenous, to raise motivation
of both instructors and students.
As a whole, curriculum, syllabi, SIM, and the entire instruction process in DTRA
RACSPC can address today’s pressing need to improve foreign language expertise of
the military and civilians to meet the requirements of the DoD and can serve as a model
for advanced-level foreign language training with specific cultural work focus in other
languages.
References
22
Russian Arms Control Speaking Proficiency Course
APPENDIX A
8. Translation 21 9-15
2. Vocabulary 31 16-31
4. Speaking 80 16-31
7. Translation 48 16-31
23
Freeman, Krasnyanskaya, and Reed
7. Translation 42 32-45
APPENDIX B
The score reports (a new DLPT-5 and OPI as of 02/16/06 and 06/19/06)
Student Listening Reading Speaking
0192 3 3 2
0455 3 3 2
1232 3 3 3
3849 3 3 2
4427 3 3 3
4519 3 3 2+
7319 3 3 2
8110 3 3 2+
8792 2+ 3 2
9028 3 3 3+
24
Russian Arms Control Speaking Proficiency Course
Authors
25
Development of Interactive Listening Lessons
Dialog on Language Instruction
2007, Vol. 18, Nos. 1 & 2, pp. 27-38
Maria Ortenberg
Abdelfattah Boussalhi
Curriculum Development Division
27
Maria Ortenberg and Abdelfattah Boussalhi
writing need to be taught separately. Whether the particular teaching environment we are
working within supports integration of skills or not, the same teaching rationales apply.
This deliberate emphasis on listening in this article aims to highlight the particular issues
involved in teaching listening, whether integrated or taught separately.
Thus, this paper attempts to analyze the inherent difficulties of listening
comprehension and to find some practical ways to help learners overcome them.
During the past decade listening comprehension has been transformed from
the stepchild of language teaching into its most favored offspring. Many scholars have
been researching the phenomenon of L2 listening from many different angles, trying to
find pedagogically effective ways of taming this whimsical and psychologically illusive
child. And although a lot of progress has been made in pinpointing some of listening
comprehension’s most important characteristics, there is still a long way to go before
effective methods of teaching this skill will find their way into the classroom.
Why should the listening skill be taught as a separate modality and why can’t
it be acquired through communication as part of the speaking practice? What are the
characteristics of oral input, and how is it different from written input? What are some
of the specifics of the cognitive processes involved in listening? And finally, how can
answers to these questions facilitate teaching learners to become better listeners?
These are the basic questions which form the foundation of the present day
research on this topic.
“Listening is like a popcorn popper. Like popcorn, words change when they
hit the hot coil (the listener accomplishes the change)” (Michael Rost, 2003). What we
retain as a result of listening will always be our version of what we heard. How close
this version is to the speaker’s intent depends on our ability to process audio information,
which in its turn is affected by multiple factors.
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Development of Interactive Listening Lessons
“It is not so much that speech sounds contain meaning; it’s rather that speech
sounds trigger meaning in the mind of the listener” (James Nobblitt, 1995). As listeners,
we rely on support from our general intelligence and measure meaning against our inner
“cognitive map.”
“Information that does not fit the cognitive schemata of the listener is simply
not processed” (James Nobblitt, 1995). How can FL learners compensate for missing
cultural schemata, and how can teachers provide a learning environment that can help
the learners to bridge this gap?
Both top-down and bottom-up processing take place simultaneously, due to the
interactive nature of the listening process. While top-down processing (compensating
with real-world knowledge for the inability to decode unfamiliar input) has become
the most used approach in pedagogy, bottom-up processes “such as linguistic decoding
and lexical access that take place when the auditory speech signal is first encountered”
(Catherine Doughty, 2003) seem to be of primary importance for successful listening at
higher level.
Debra Hoven (1991) suggests a classification of the three interrelated aspects
contributing to the difficulty of listening comprehension:
All of the above-mentioned factors should help teachers select materials and
provide tasks that will create a challenging learning environment, not setting up students
for failure, while guaranteeing some degree of success.
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Maria Ortenberg and Abdelfattah Boussalhi
More Is Not Necessarily Better
There is no doubt that in order to become a better listener one has to listen more.
But more is not necessarily better. “Much of the academic listening to which learners are
exposed is more like written texts than spoken, with the structure of the formal written
paper underlying it” (Debra Hoven, 1991). Acoustically enhanced recordings, which are
commonly used in the classrooms, “and which are useful for establishing norms… do not
provide practice in dealing with the redundant signals of everyday, situational, listening
comprehension” (James Nobblitt 2003).
It is now generally understood that authentic materials should be used in the
classroom in order to recreate the social and cultural schemata much needed for enhancing
listening skills. Authentic recordings of news, which have been a popular teaching tool
for many years now, are only one facet of all the available text types and all the variations
of spoken language. On the other hand, authentic materials alone are not a panacea, and
may lead to frustration and failure, if not used judiciously.
• The sequential mode: linear presentation of information that takes the students
to areas that would not be discovered by browsing or other adventitious means;
• The relational mode: access to relevant reference materials such as
dictionaries;
• The creative mode: learning by doing, stressing communicative
competence.
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Development of Interactive Listening Lessons
And last but not least, the importance of accompanying genuine texts with
genuine tasks is continually stressed in the literature, such as critiquing, summarizing
(Rubin), and providing the purpose for listening (Doughty). All researchers agree that
computers provide “an excellent medium for balancing the analytic or form-focused study
of language with synthetic or content-focused learning environment” (James Nobblitt).
Computers also combine auditory, visual, and textual information with interactivity. All
of this helps recreate context, provide conceptual support, and reduce stress by allowing
students to work at their own pace.
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Maria Ortenberg and Abdelfattah Boussalhi
Delivery/Auditory Processing Features
32
Development of Interactive Listening Lessons
In the process of acquiring a foreign language, students may also develop a
habit of attributing their own pronunciation to certain words, following their own native
language patterns in the case of cognate languages, or other dominant foreign languages
they have learned. This attributed pronunciation may act as a filter when listening to
the same words used by native speakers, and thus students miss words that they would
otherwise know.
Oral speech does not necessarily draw from the same registers as written speech,
and thus also includes lexicon that is listening-specific. In spoken communication, speakers
tend to use or borrow more dialectal usage. A typical foreign language student is mostly
exposed to the standard variety of the language in question, thus being sheltered from a
whole spectrum of dialectal and register variation. This does not mean that a student should
be exposed to all varieties of a particular language, but rather to the typical variations
occurring across topical domains at the desired proficiency levels.
Syntactical Features. Syntax may not necessarily present more difficulties in
listening, but may present rather different ones, and in some cases, syntax may be less
of a challenge in listening. One reason for this comparative advantage is that syntax in
listening tends to be minimally embedded, particularly in speech that originates in informal
or unrehearsed situations. Speech that is delivered from prepared notes is usually similar
in syntactic structures to written texts.
Another advantage that listening may provide in terms of syntactical features
concerns those features whose functions are not marked by visible forms in reading texts,
but are rather determined by contextual meaning. In this case, the listener is spared the
misconstruction, and is given immediate access to the right pronunciation, and therefore
to the functional meaning of the word. One example can be found in Arabic, where the
passive verb form is not marked in the written form, and as a result, a struggling reader
may misunderstand a sentence, because he may read the verb as active. In listening,
this difficulty disappears, since passive pronunciation is distinguishable from active
pronunciation. On the other hand, syntactical markers that have written forms do present
more difficulties in listening. Case suffixes, and number or gender markers, for example,
may not be easily detectable in aural form, particularly for beginning and intermediate
proficiency levels.
The biggest syntactical challenge in listening is that conversational speech
does not necessarily follow standardized (written) syntactical structures. If a student is
looking for a sentence that has a standardized beginning and end, he may not always be
successful. Oral speech is full of so-called incomplete sentences and false starts. A speaker
may start an utterance, but may stop midstream, or restart his utterance in accordance
with his thinking process or the dynamics of the interaction. Unprepared speech may also
be characterized by non-standard grammatical features, where word order may change
or “sentence” components get deleted, such as asking a question in declarative form or
without an interrogative particle.
Discourse Features. Coherence in aural discourse is attained through a variety
of means, both in terms of the linguistic devices and the underlying text organization
used. Listening texts do use common cohesive devices found in written texts, such as
conjunctions and pronominal references, but they also rely on other cohesive devices
specific to verbal communication. Similarly, frequency and meaning of cohesive devices
common also to written discourse are different in listening. In English, for example, “as
I said” or “actually” are more common in verbal interaction.
33
Maria Ortenberg and Abdelfattah Boussalhi
Any text, be it written or spoken, draws from the same linguistic code. The code
may branch out at certain points, but the code is sustained by a core of items, functions
and relations. If you take a written text from a language and an aural one from the same
language, you are bound to find similar lexical items, sentence structures and cohesive
devices in these two texts. Such uni-skill features form the core textual features, which are
also found in listening texts. In typical traditional teaching materials, much of the focus
in aural materials is on the core textual features, leaving out large elements of listening
text features. This targeting of core textual features also affects teachers’ selection of
materials, as they focus more on edited aural texts and on carefully delivered texts.
For a well-rounded set of listening materials, students need to be exposed to all
types of authentic listening texts, and be made aware of the major delivery and listening-
specific textual features.
As Figure 1 shows, the listener in his encounter with the listening text has to deal
first with the delivery features. If the listener is not familiar with the particular delivery
features he has to deal with, he will not be able to access the actual content. Delivery
constitutes the first layer of the text a listener has to deal with, once the delivery issues
are clarified, after which content will become more accessible.
But the majority of learning will need to take place in the middle layer, where
all the listening-specific textual features come to light. The role of the teacher and the
materials developer is to highlight the language of speaking and listening in all of its
lexical, structural and discourse elements. One of the challenges in this area is that the
34
Development of Interactive Listening Lessons
teacher will have limited resources to address these particular listening-specific features,
and she may need to do her own analysis of authentic texts.
This does not mean that listening materials should not target core textual features.
Core textual features are present in every text, and need to be addressed in accordance with
the teaching objectives. But the lesson that we can take from this layer image of listening
is that raising proficiency levels in listening would need to pay particular attention to the
distinctive textual features of listening, as the other features can be addressed through
other skills.
• Orientation mode-L1;
• Instructive mode-L2;
• Evaluative mode-L3;
• Projective mode-L4.
Child addressed the linguistic qualities of written texts representing each mode,
making it easier to define language-specific features for each level. At the same time the
linguistic and non-linguistic specifics of oral speech that a listener may be exposed to
remain unexplored. The above research is an attempt to define listening-specific language
features across languages, and the actual development of listening lessons for GLOSS
has provided us with rich data concerning language-specific features for each mode for
a variety of text types.
35
Maria Ortenberg and Abdelfattah Boussalhi
As a result of our research we have concluded that we can successfully apply
the text mode theory to listening materials, while understanding that the linguistic
descriptors of each mode will be drastically different from those characteristic of reading
materials. The most obscure issue remains the issue of delivery – both its linguistic and
para-linguistic aspects.
According to the ILR, delivery issues are addressed only above L3*. Up to L3
the listener is only supposed to deal with normal rates of speech, no interference, and
standard dialects. While it may be fair for a testing setting, it is not very helpful for a
real-life situation. We are convinced that for teaching purposes we should start exposing
our students to delivery issues from the very beginning. We should certainly use good
judgment and common sense in selecting only the most typical and common occurrences
of speech samples for each text mode and text type.
Based on all the characteristics of audio texts, the following deciphering skills
are crucial for a successful listener: ability to decode the auditory stream, ability to hear
idea units, automatic access to a wider range of vocabulary, spontaneous knowledge of
schemata, and effective compensatory strategies.
Developer/Teacher’s Tool-Box
In addition to all the usual tools used by the developers of reading lessons
such as linguistic explanations, area study notes, tips, hints, and detailed feedback,
some additional tools are necessary to address the difficulties associated with aural
comprehension: paraphrasing, providing a slower version, a clearer version, a standard
(dialect) version, and parsing. How to facilitate instruction using these tools in the body
of the lesson is up to the developer’s judgment, but the main goal is to teach students
useful strategies, to give them the necessary understanding and knowledge to deal with
unabridged, unedited authentic audio texts, and to help them transfer the acquired skills
into real life situations.
Developer Pitfalls
There are some pitfalls that materials developers have traditionally fallen into.
One of these pitfalls is to plan a listening a lesson on the basis of a transcript of the audio
instead of using the actual audio as the basis for the planning. The problem with transcripts
is that, while they provide easy access to the content of the text, they reveal little about
auditory processing problems or listening-specific textual issues. Solely relying on the
transcript, a developer would miss a variant pronunciation of a word, for example.
Another common pitfall in developing listening lessons is solely concentrating on
core textual features found in other skills, such as core lexical meaning or core structural
uses. While this is naturally of value to the learner, audio text will be better used if focus
is extended to the special textual challenges of listening texts, such as spoken idioms or
spoken discourse connectors.
The last pitfall that we will include here is common to the development of
materials in all of the other skills. It concerns the tendency of developers to establish
36
Development of Interactive Listening Lessons
priorities in selecting linguistic features to cover in their resource on the basis of pre-
determined lists, be it textbooks or individualized list of priorities, rather than on linguistic
features that arise from the texts themselves. This is particularly relevant if the organizing
principle behind a course or a set of materials is driven by textual difficulty and not by
grammar topics. If linguistic features are explored by the developer as they arise from
the text, and if enough topics are sampled at each incremental level of difficulty, a more
realistic distribution and categorization of linguistic features will emerge.
At the end of the day, feedback in the form of developer input or commentary
on the text earmarked for the learner should integrate all the of the layers of the audio
text, but in the order of the priorities that occur in the text and in dozes (through different
activities). It is possible that a particular audio segment is so standard in all of its aspects
- in delivery and in linguistic choices - that all a developer can draw attention to are
core textual features, such as one would encounter in a prepared speech. Nevertheless,
a rich listening resource should sample as many listening text types as possible. With
such sampling, a learner would be exposed to a variety of listening challenges across the
functional and topical spectrums.
Conclusion
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Maria Ortenberg and Abdelfattah Boussalhi
References
Child, J. (1987). Language proficiency levels and the typology of texts. In Defining and
developing proficiency: Guidelines, implementations, and concepts. Edited by
Byrnes, H. and Canale, pp.97-106.
Hoven, D. Towards a cognitive taxonomy of listening comprehension tasks. .
Available [Online]: http://jcs120.jcs.uq.edu.au/~dlh/pubs/SGAV91.htm.
Noblitt, J. S., Ph. D Cognitive approaches to listening Comprehension. Available [Online]:
http://www.unc.edu/cit/iat-archive/publications/noblitt/noblitt3.html.
Peckham, B. The Global Project, University of Tennessee. Listening comprehension:
Some Notions and Strategies. Available [Online]: http://globegate.utm.edu/
french/globegate mirror/rtvintro.html.
Ortenberg, M.; Boussalhi, A.; Combacau, P. (2004). Developing GLOSS Lessons. Dialog
on Language Instruction, 16 (1 & 2).
Rost,M.(1991) Listening in Action: Activities for developing listening in language
teaching. New York: Prentice Hall
Rubin,J. (1994) A review of second language listening comprehension research. The
Modern Language Journal.78(2),199-221. In NFLC Listening Symposium
Materials, 2003.
Morley, J. (1991). Listening comprehension in second/foreign language instruction.
Teaching English as a second or foreign language (2nd ed) Boston: Heinle and
Heinle.
Authors
38
How to Enhance Students' Proficiency through Movies
Dialog on Language Instruction
2007, Vol. 18, Nos. 1 & 2, pp. 39-48
It is now a usual practice with the DLI faculty and students to use multimedia to
enhance students’ proficiency on all skill levels from Basic to Advanced. This practice
started just a few decades ago from merging Internet materials on to video or cassette
tapes, as well as CDs or DVDs, initially taking authentic materials from real-time SCOLA
programs. Tovar and Barbudo (2002) have well traced this trend.
My experience with basic course students, especially when dealing with high
tech materials, has shown me that at best the use of video or internet scripts has been
tantamount to either a guessing game going from known to unknown, or a scanning/
skimming technique focusing on comprehension of the context. On the other hand, my
experience in the advanced course tells me that such contextual or factual knowledge
alone will not lead my students beyond Level 2, precisely because they already have
reached that level. These students are now required to upgrade themselves to Level 3
or above, which requires them to deal not just with the hypothetical, interpretative, and
evaluative, but with area studies, as well. How do I, or for that matter, my students handle
the pressure thus imposed on us to get to the higher level? The following discussion is
an attempt to answer such a perennial, though self-imposed, question in the upper levels
of foreign language education.
The actual answer, however, can be found in results shown by my students who
have gone through the process of getting to the higher level.
39
Kyung Sook Lee
Preparing a Film Session
There are several points you must keep in mind before you use a movie as
teaching material in your drama hour:
1. Beyond fun. You are likely to finish the entire hour just in fun. “Wow, we had
a lot of fun watching that movie! That’s a thriller!” Your students might make statements
such as these, as though they had been in a movie theater and learned nothing—language-
wise, that is. Since students can grasp the content, however vaguely, only through the
scenes on the surface of the screen, they will want to watch the scenes without interruption.
Most students find interrupting the movie annoying. The question arises as to how not
to lose your students in the entertainment aspect of the movie. You will need to know
how to lead your students to those not-fun parts, so to speak, that are made of images,
color-tones, effects of music, sound or even noises, whether in the background or out
front, facial expressions and gestures of the performers and their dialogues, all of which
in fact make up the total scenario. These parts, in my judgment, play a crucial role in
mediating between the linguistic meanings and contextual situations, especially when
the movie is action-oriented such as the movie Shiri. Perhaps, the nonnative audience
such as our students, although on a higher level of foreign language education, have
to rely heavily on these nonlinguistic parts, or the “fun” parts, in order to savor the
“actions” to their heart’s content. Even so, the actions should be educationally valid for
any serious language students who are, by definition, not an audience whose goal is to
be entertained only. In other words, serious study can be compatible with fun, but not
with sheer entertainment.
2. Choosing comprehensible input. Before you select a movie, get a general
idea of the proficiency level of your class. This seems a plausible task; yet if you neglect it,
the result will be disastrous: if the text is far above their level, you will violate Krashen’s
formula (i + 1), and your students will lose their interest. If the text is below their level,
no doubt they will get easily swept into the very entertainment aspect, and become bored.
Either way, the minds of students are coaxed into an easy going attitude which ends up in
an urge to get over with the hard job of learning. I, personally, witnessed this happening
in many classes, and the students never made Level 3. Perhaps, American students
learn better, while “having fun”; but I am not too sure that applies to any higher level of
education, even in America and in particular at the Institute as it is seriously engaged in
foreign language education and with a highly intensive curriculum.
3. Language-specific situation. The merit of showing a movie, as we all know,
lies in exposing our students to colloquialisms, slang, and dialect and, at the same time, to
current terms, which reflect changes in the target language and culture. However, we must
understand that our students in learning Korean, a Category IV language, have to acquire
an extra language system, if they are to achieve Level 3 or above, i.e., the Sino-Korean
words that are embedded in the dual system of Korean, (and for that matter, of Japanese,
as both languages are historically tied to the Chinese culture): Without understanding this
complex language situation, our students cannot possibly acquire, the Korean language at
the level of 3, 2+, or even 2. Additionally, this situation extends to spoken language such
as daily exchanges on the street, over the radio and on TV. It literally takes an intense
study to master this complex, authentic system of language.
4. Movie as a rich medium. My last point is how to utilize the rich media of
communication, movies, in our rather rigid classroom environment. Fortunately, a lot
40
How to Enhance Students' Proficiency through Movies
of award winning and internationally acclaimed movies have been exported to the U.S.
from Korea these days. These movies are certainly facilitating our method for teaching
the Korean language, furnishing our students with a superb means of study.
In the following sections, I will share how I made use of movies, specifically
presenting sample task sheets to demonstrate the process of watching the whole movie—
from silent to voiced, from one segment to another, and eventually in its entirety, ending
with the student’s commentary or summary. The homework and research presentation,
which students complete is also described.
One academic year of 47 or 63 weeks is a period during which you can handle at
most three or four movies. The first step is the selection of movies in a gradual sequence
of proficiency levels. If you are to raise the level of the movie text from entry levels of
2/2+ in intermediate/advanced courses to levels 2+/3, you have to deal with the Sino-
Korean language.
In other words, in order for students to acquire the higher level of Korean mixed
with Sino-Korean script (not necessarily the Chinese characters), they must receive
intense training.
1. Shiri is a good movie to start, because it is simple in terms of content and
one of the first Blockbusters in Korea. It is packed with “actions” and based on a love
story between a girl and a boy in the intelligence business from respectively the North
and the South. This theme certainly suits the common interest and sentiment of DLIFLC
students. What is really important, however, is the deluge of over 400 Sino-Korean words
in this movie; yet students are not likely to have any problem in absorbing them, simply
because they soon get immersed in the thrills and suspense of the movie (until all the
actions entwined with intrigues reach the denouement, the meaning of the code name
“Shiri” is never revealed).
2. The Hourglass, in this movie, the drama turns to a social problem dealing with
college students and citizens alike who had no choice but to fight against their repressive
regime. In the meantime, the real tragedy impinges on two old chums who confront
each other as enemies—one is a political thug and the other a serious law student who,
following an infamous event, prevails in a court of law.
The theme of this movie can be seen from the same perspective as that of the
previous, Shiri—a bipolarized psyche of the Korean people as yet politically divided.
Also, the linguistic forms of both movies lie in a similar vein: straight talk, and simple
expressions, though the second movie contains an enormous amount of colloquialism
together with dialects containing regional differences.
Again, the linguistic pool is huge, full of those idiomatic expressions that are
necessary for the students of Korean at the advanced level, namely the four-character
composition of idiomatic phrases in classical Chinese, i.e., Sino-Korean words, proverbs
and maxims, or even riddles. In this fashion, my students certainly were able to easily
acquire the skills of listening, reading, and even speaking in contextual depth.
3. Joint Security Area (JSA). After watching a long series of scenes on the
Hourglass, my students come to have a strong grip with the miserable situation of present
day Korea, which the movie JSA superbly depicts in a high drama of tragic-comedy. It
is here, with the production of this movie, that the director and the writers alike prove
41
Kyung Sook Lee
themselves to have overcome adversity transforming it into the beauty of human comedy.
Students must comprehend this notion if they are to understand the true picture of their
target area; otherwise, they will never become good linguists. The film introduces a Swiss
team of international observers who are politically neutral, yet incapable of resolving the
deadlock caused by soldiers on both sides committing the error of humanely possible
comedy of compassion, which has turned out to be a grand illusion.
I, as teacher, must elevate the competence of my students in area studies
in addition to the language, to the level where they can comprehend, through this movie,
the sarcasm and cynicism prevalent in Korean society today. In the end, my students will
surpass proficiency Level 3 and will freely demonstrate their skill of ‘supporting and
opposing opinions’.
Summary and Results
At the outset, the fun approach was characterized as insufficient in that it stops
short of leading students to the required proficiency Level 3 in all three skills. Although
the selection of comprehensible input after checking the proficiency level of the class is
said to be desirable, the language situation specific to each target language, Korean in
our case, demands special attention to its unique Sino-Korean dual system.
The subtleties contained in the details as revealed in the process of analyzing
scenarios along with student task sheets actually make up the authenticity of the material.
Watching a movie, especially for acquisition of a second language, is virtually a listening
exercise, while reading the scripts or events in the play or even players’ expressions
follows suit; and thereupon students step up to the higher level of proficiency.
And, most importantly, my students, after being exposed to those approaches
that I have designed by way of fitting movies to classroom teaching, have shown me
their positive results:
I was amazed to see that none of my students were showing any sign of boredom,
not a single student dozing, or doing wayward things, and that all were absorbed in
watching the movie, not only out of curiosity, but also with keen interest in their present
work; and at the end of every movie hour, many said “Time went too fast for us.”
They had no problem in memorizing about 400-450 words of Sino-Korean, which
was the natural effect of their intensity and concentration, not a result of their unnatural
and mechanical exercise on rote-memorization.
Each student, when acting out a role in the play, did a perfect job of imitating
the actor’s tone of speeches such as intonation, pronunciation, pitch, as well as facial
expressions and gestures, that were real and lively. Finally, students lost no time in quoting
certain phrases from the play and made quick-witted use of them for daily exchanges with
their teachers; for instance, when they were given a heavy homework assignment:
Student A: [Quoting literally from Shiri, Act. 4, Scene 3] “Teacher,
have you lost your mind?” (선생님, 지금 제정신이야?)
Teacher: [Quoting from the next line in the same scene] “I am just
fine.” (응, 나 아주 멀쩡해.)
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How to Enhance Students' Proficiency through Movies
Students were enthused to watch the vivid scenes of social, political and historical
events through cinematic representations, without the teacher’s dry lectures on such events
as though they were separable from linguistic matters.
APPENDIX
Task 1. �: Discuss the scene you viewed yesterday, talk freely about the characters and
their dialogs, when and where their actions were taking place, etc.
Task 2. �: Today you will view the next scene. After watching the scene once,describe
what happened.
Task 3. �: Check the list of new words on the last page of this task sheet to preview
today’s scene.
Task 4. �: You will view the same scene once more, focusing on listening. Write in the
box below what you hear: the known or unknown words, numbers, proper nouns, loan
words, idiomatic phrases, etc., as many as you can remember. Compare your work with
your neighbor’s.
Words Phrases
43
Kyung Sook Lee
Task 5 �: You will see the same scene once more. This time, try to understand the content
of the entire scene and summarize the entire story.
Summary
Task 7. �: Point out any errors in grammar, spelling, sentence flow, etc., and correct
them.
44
How to Enhance Students' Proficiency through Movies
Task 8. �: Now, listen to the dialog without watching the scene. While listening, fill in
the parentheses below.
45
Kyung Sook Lee
MAJ: [seeing soldiers way out of the tunnel…] Why are these guys
always (messing) with us. “Stop. Go.”…What do they want?
ADJ: Looks like agents; seems like we’re gonna have to (stop).
MAJ: CTX is fine, and it is none of your concern. Just (get out of
my way)! Can’t you hear me?
MAJ: Come on. Captain. I don’t have time for this (idle chit-chat)!
If you need my paper, I (will) fax you (a copy).
MAJ: What? What did you just say to me?! Say it again!
CAPT: I said I’d (arrest) you. That aside, I could (shoot) you too.
MAJ: Oh, this is perfect. I’ll (grant your wish), you bastard!
[kicking on Captain’s leg] You (f***in weirdo)! What’s this? Hair
like this? Ok, little bastard! What unit do you belong to?
46
How to Enhance Students' Proficiency through Movies
Task 9. �: Discuss and exchange your opinion with your neighbor on the questions
below:
Equal
Hostile
4. You will hear many curse/vulgar words, slang, dialect in the scene. Write down
those words you hear.
_____________________/____________________/____________________
Task 10. �: The entire class participates in the scene and acts it out imitating the
actor’s/actress’s tone of voice, accent, facial expression and gesture. Keep in mind that
language is not just language by itself. You must use your body to achieve successful
communication.
Task 11. �: For your homework tonight, transcribe a piece of scenario that you think is
interesting and translate it in English. Make it a meaningful translation, not a word for
word/sentence by sentence translation. Turn it in by tomorrow morning!
47
Kyung Sook Lee
LIST OF NEW WORDS (Shiri, Act 4, Scene 3):
References
Krashen, S.D. (1985). The Input Hypothesis: Issues and implications. Harlow:
Longman.
Romaine, S. (1994). Language in society: An introduction to sociolinguistics. New York:
Oxford University Press.
Tovar, D., & Barbudo, C. (2002). Integrating video and the internet into the classroom.
Dialog on Language Instruction, 15,(1&2), 35-45.
Author
KYUNG SOOK LEE, Associate Professor of Korean, Defense Language Institute, Foreign
Language Center, Presidio of Monterey, CA 93944-5006. Specializations:
Acquisition theory in applied linguistics, immersion practice that completes the
process of acquisition, and the task-based approach to proficiency teaching.
48
The Role of Aptitude in Foreign Language Learning
Dialog on Language Instruction
2007, Vol. 18, No 1, pp.49-56
Marina Cobb
Faculty and Staff Development
In fiscal year 2006 the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center
began implementing its Proficiency Enhancement Program whose major goal is bringing
the language proficiency of the institution’s Basic Course graduates to the ILR Levels
of “2+” in Reading and Listening and Level “2” in Speaking. The institution is planning
to achieve this goal by lowering the student-teacher ratio in the classroom, improved
instructional techniques and curricula, ongoing academic support for students, and
ongoing faculty development.
Another planned aspect of DLIFLC’s PEP is raising the entering students’
aptitude scores as measured by the DLAB (Defense Language Aptitude Battery) which the
majority of DLIFLC students take before they can be enrolled in a basic language course.
A minimal score is established for each of the four language categories DLIFLC teaches.
Much to the delight of the faculty, these minimum score requirements are expected to
be raised in the near future by 10 points for each category. Like all aptitude tests, DLAB
comes under a great deal of scrutiny and a discussion about the next generation of this
aptitude test is under way. However, even the best designed aptitude test can only be a
more or less reliable predictor of language learning success for groups of students, but
not necessarily for each individual student. Too many other important factors come into
play and influence each individual learner’s success, i.e. motivation, maturity of learning
strategies, etc. (The formula for determining each of DLIFLC’s teaching teams TSI (Team
Success Index) when the team graduates a class of students takes into account the average
class DLAB score as compared to the average class score for each language, in addition
to the graduates’ proficiency results, class attrition rate, etc.)
Classroom teachers often believe that they are capable of recognizing foreign
language aptitude, or lack thereof, in their students. However, they often find it difficult
to articulate what cognitive and other characteristics they associate with the perception of
aptitude. In light of PEP, it appears particularly worthwhile to find out how the literature in
the field of second language acquisition defines language aptitude and its components.
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Marina Cobb
the author further clarifies that he does not believe motivation to be a component of
aptitude and emphasizes a distinction between aptitude (as potential capability to master
a task) and achievement (as evidence of this mastery). In relation to classroom learning,
aptitude can be defined as the ability of a learner to benefit from good teaching and a
well-designed curriculum (Ehrman, 1990).
Review of relevant literature reveals a very important premise: all people are
assumed to be capable of learning a foreign language under the right conditions and in
the absence of serious cognitive deficiencies. Aptitude is only believed to denote the
ease and rate with which successful language acquisition would occur in a particular
individual (Carroll, 1981). Even though all individuals may arguably be able to achieve
success with a foreign language, those with lower aptitude may only be able to do so
with a great degree of difficulty and over a longer period of time.
Aptitude and IQ
Mitchell & Myles (1998) state that learners who score above average on formal
measures of intelligence and in general academic attainment, generally tend to do well in
learning languages. However, research shows only a moderate positive correlation between
general intelligence, as measured by IQ tests, and foreign language aptitude. Skehan (1998)
reports that correlational studies and studies involving factor analysis show a correlation
at the .43 - .44 level between the subjects’ IQ and language aptitude. Known studies of
exceptionally good individual language learners, on the one hand, and individual poor
learners, on the other hand, indicate that these learners do not necessarily show markedly
high or markedly low IQ scores respectively (Ioup et al, 1994; Schumann, 1976).
Skehan (1998) analyzes some basic assumptions generally made about language
aptitude in literature, such as:
50
The Role of Aptitude in Foreign Language Learning
argues that only attitudinal factors, not aptitude factors, can serve as predictors for
language acquisition success.
Even though motivation and other affective factors arguably are important for
successful language acquisition, most researchers appear to oppose Krashen’s view. It is
generally recognized that language learning aptitude plays a part under both natural, or
untutored, and formal (classroom) learning conditions.
The three components of foreign language aptitude that are generally recognized
in the literature are:
1. phonetic coding ability, or the ability to discriminate between and retain sounds
and pitch variations of the language and the ability to associate them with meaning;
2. memory ability, or the ability to make associations between the verbal stimuli
and their referents sometimes referred to as associative memory;
3. linguistic analytic ability, or the ability to infer and generalize about structural
encoding of meaning (Skehan, 1998).
Some authors (Carroll, 1990) split the third component, linguistic analytic
ability, into two subsets: grammatical sensitivity (ability to recognize grammatical and
syntactic functions that words fulfill in a sentence) and inductive language learning ability
(ability to infer structural patterns form the language input, to induce rules and to make
predictions about how the new material may be encoded on the bases of these inferences;
ability to generalize about structural encoding of meaning and to produce language on
the basis of identified patterns).
These components are measured by well-known tests of language aptitude, such
as MLAT (Modern Language Aptitude Test), PLAB (Pimsleur Language Aptitude Battery),
and DLAB (Defense Language Aptitude Battery). It is noteworthy that these recognized
components of aptitude do not have to be represented equally in successful learners. A
high degree of ability in one of the three stated components can compensate for a lesser
degree of ability in other components. Skehan (1998) notes that some learners appear to
have achieved success through a high degree of linguistic analytic ability, and others due
to their memory abilities (as there were few subjects who tested high on both subsets).
51
Marina Cobb
ability, i.e. ability to perceive sounds through the ear (i.e., lack of hearing loss, which
becomes especially relevant in the case of older adults). Stankov and Horn (1980, as cited
in Carroll, 1990) identify other subsets, such as speech perception under distraction as
measured by the following tests:
1. Talk masking (subjects are required to write isolated words spoken by one
speaker, accompanied by increasingly loud, continuous speech produced by another
speaker);
2. Cafeteria noise masking (same as above, but the background distractor noise
is the typical noise of a busy cafeteria).
These authors also propose testing temporal tracking (ability to remember the
order of occurrence of sounds, pitches, syllables, etc.), maintaining and judging rhythm
and discrimination among sound patterns. According to Carroll (1990), these subsets may
already be tested by the MLAT and the PLAB. Nevertheless, he suggests investigating
their predictive value in more detail in the future.
According to Skehan (1998), even though the described views on the components
of aptitude have “endured well on the whole,” the researchers’ conceptions of memory have
changed over time. For example, Carroll (1990) admits that he was never as confident about
the validity of the memory part of MLAT that he had authored entitled Paired Associates,
as he was confident about the validity of the other parts, such as Phonetic Script and Words
in Sentences. Carroll (1990) further reveals that the validity of the Paired Associates test
fluctuates widely over different samples in the studies conducted. Skehan (1998) points
out that a more effective predictive value was observed on memory tests (administered
to British armed forces personnel), which went beyond the associative memory test to
include short-term memory span, memory for text, for visual patterns, and for material
with very unfamiliar structure. Apparently, individual differences in memory capacity
can be further broken down as variations in the ability to (1) code, (2) store, and (3)
quickly retrieve the language material (fast retrieval appears crucial for both successful
comprehension of incoming language and for real-time communication) (Skehan, 1998).
Ability to logically organize language material that needs to be committed to memory
appears to play a role as well. Future research that would separate these memory-related
abilities may be beneficial.
On a different note, it is questionable whether the same components of aptitude
are required to excel in various language skills, e.g., in speaking versus listening or
reading. It is well-known that every skill modality has a set of related subskills. Facility
with these subskills would undoubtedly enhance an individual’s potential to excel in a
particular modality. The question is: even if reliable test measures for these subskills could
be designed, could the learners’ performance in these subskills actually be considered part
of their language aptitude or should it rather be grouped together with other cognitive
and personality characteristics that may have a significant effect on language acquisition
(as discussed in the next section)?
Another issue raised by Child (1998) and Lowe (1998), among other researchers,
is whether one generic aptitude test can reliably predict ability to learn all the world
52
The Role of Aptitude in Foreign Language Learning
languages with their individual characteristic features, e.g., the tones in Chinese, the
memory-taxing quantity of characters in Chinese and Japanese, or the agglutination
in Turkish, etc. The division of languages into four major categories by the US State
Department based on their “distance” from English and, therefore, their expected difficulty
for an English-speaking learner does not necessarily capture all of these intricacies of
structure or the sociolinguistic challenges of mastering underlying thought patterns. It is
conceivable that some learners may be better suited for certain languages than others. The
question is whether we can potentially have a test that will attempt to match individual
learners to languages for which they may be most suited.
Furthermore, it is feasible that certain subsets of aptitude assume a more
prominent role at particular stages of second language acquisition. Skehan (1998)
believes that the role of phonemic ability tends to level off at higher stages, which is to
be expected after the sound system and intonation patterns of the language have already
been mastered. He further notes that the relationship between language analytical ability
and language learning success remains steady at higher proficiency levels and memory
may even assume a heightened importance.
Child (1998) notes that there does not appear to be a great deal written about
language aptitude testing in terms of predicting learner ability to surpass ILR Level
2 (the goal of the Proficiency Enhancement Program) and points out the difficulties
entailed in incorporating elements characteristic of higher levels into the test design.
These elements possibly include so-called cultural sensitivity and other highly complex
factors that would predict ability to master sophisticated syntax and lexicon, as well as
organize one’s discourse for the purposes of hypothesizing, providing argumentation, etc.
According to Child (1998), current aptitude models do not reflect these features, and the
task of incorporating them in the near future appears quite daunting.
On a related note, it is conceivable that certain lower category languages, such
as Spanish or Indonesian, are only relatively “easy” for English-speaking learners at
lower stages of acquisition, but are markedly more difficult to acquire in the mid and
upper ranges (Lowe, 1998). To illustrate this point, Lowe cites the complexity of Spanish
present and past subjunctive which is required in many tasks at Level 3 and even needed
to form negative imperatives.
Finally, it is hard to overlook the fact that the existing aptitude tests do not
appear to be in line with the current methodology of context-based and task-based
instruction. Ehrman (1998) quotes an opinion that MLAT in particular was designed for
the audio-lingual methodology. It also appears reasonable to see a connection between
the analysis of decontextualized sentences that examinees are required to perform and
the grammar-translation method. The question is whether the current aptitude tests can
predict an individual’s ability to excel in a communicative classroom environment and
whether they work for individuals who lack formal education (Ehrman, 1998).
A large body of research has been conducted with the goal of categorizing
learner styles and strategies used by language learners and finding possible links between
preferred styles and the use of strategies, on the one hand, and the learning outcomes, on
the other hand. Several researchers have attempted to investigate a possible relationship
between cognitive and learning strategies and language aptitude (Oxford, 1990; Ehrman,
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Marina Cobb
1990; Rubin and Thompson, 1994). Among those addressed were compensation strategies
employed by learners to guess unknown meanings and to overcome gaps in knowledge,
and social strategies, which facilitate interaction and thus provide valuable opportunities
for practice when knowledge of the foreign language is limited.
Investigating a possible relationship between cognitive styles and aptitude,
Oxford (1990) examines the significance of such cognitive traits as field independence
vs. dependence, reflexivity vs. impulsivity, tolerance of ambiguity, etc. Oxford records a
noteworthy observation that field independent learners have been shown in some studies
to be superior to field dependent learners in such areas as native speech perception and
“sentence disambiguation.” It is reasonable to assume that field independent learners may
have a higher ability to handle activities requiring high precision of interpretation and
communicating meaning once they have reached Level 3 in receptive skills and Level
2 in Speaking on the ILR level.
It is important not to overlook numerous other factors that, if investigated
further, may conceivably serve as predictors of future success with foreign language
learning. These factors are facility with the use of learning strategies, certain individual
cognitive traits (e.g., tolerance of ambiguity), and such personality traits and attitudinal
factors as empathy, ego permeability, confidence, willingness to take risks, and, of course,
motivation. These variables are typically not thoroughly understood and are usually
measured through self-assessment questionnaires which always present a significant risk
of subjectivity. It is also unclear at this point whether any of these factors can technically
be included into the definition of aptitude or will simply continue to be recognized as
factors contributing to success in foreign language acquisition.
In summary, variables that constitute components of language aptitude and
contribute to learner success are numerous and multifaceted, and it is not easy to devise
instruments to measure them reliably in individuals. It is quite possible that, in Neufield’s
words (1979, as quoted in Skehan, 1990), “hundreds of other seemingly irrelevant
independent variables might conceivably have correlated as highly, or higher, had they
been examined.” Even though it appears that many more learner variables have been
examined since the above statement was published in 1979, it is still not a guarantee that
all possible avenues of exploration have been pursued, or even considered. In Ehrman’s
(1990) words, even though one might say that “bad” learners are those that do not benefit
from the teachers’ efforts and, therefore, lack aptitude, it is quite possible that, in absence
of cognitive deficiencies and with evidence of success in other fields of learning, these
language learners may not be so “bad” after all. They may simply have needs that we do
not yet know how to identify and meet.
Conclusion
54
The Role of Aptitude in Foreign Language Learning
success, emphasizes the need for ongoing, collaborative, supportive style- and strategy-
based academic counseling for language learners. In any case, it is important to provide
learners with a balanced teaching approach which combines an utmost variety of teaching
techniques with enriching out-of-class activities.
References
55
Marina Cobb
Author
MARINA COBB, Faculty and Staff Development, Defense Language Institute Foreign
Language Center, Presidio of Monterey, CA 93944-5006. Specializations/
Interests: Teacher educationh, organizational leadership, computer-assisted
language learning.
56
Pre-Interpretation Strategies
Teresa Gryminska
European and Latin American School
57
Teresa Gryminska
way to develop memory for numbers is combining them with letters and studying them
in the context of authentic materials. According to some researchers, such combinations
of numbers and letters are easier to remember than numbers alone. An effective memory
training activity is studying authentic realia like the combinations of letters and numbers
found on license plates (Gryminska, 1999).
Memory grids are useful memory helpers. They involve note taking in a grid
format. A memory grid is useful in visualizing “holes” in a text and connecting the
available information in a logical way.
Nagle and Sanders (1986) discuss the importance of the echoic type of memory.
They suggest that the acoustic input captures the sound and passes it onto the working
memory. They recognize the role of affective factors, especially motivation, which may
strengthen the input, or weaken it due to lack of attention or interest at this stage.
Buck emphasizes the importance of memory development, “building mental
representations of meaning,” or “the flow-chart approach.” According to Buck, “Mental
representations are structurally similar to the world, rather than to linguistic representations
of it, we do not remember either the language of the text, or the actual propositions. All
we remember is the meaning.” The mental models help to determine how later parts of
the text will be interpreted.
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Pre-Interpretation Strategies
Zhirinovsky’s San Francisco conference, where members of the audience interrupted and
questioned his interpreters, talked at the same time and raised their voices.
The basis for developing pre-interpretation skills is discourse analysis. There are
two major factors to this kind of pre-interpretation practice: the ability to use cohesion
devices to put fragments of interpreted text together; and the ability to apply coherence
rules to organize it semantically (such as sequencing, consistency and relevance of ideas,
word partnership, and word thematic and structural association).
According to G. Buck “the discourse structure – is really a stream of ideas,
connected not so much by grammatical devices, but more by their juxtaposition in the
text and the coherence of the ideas, which may appear ‘very ungrammatical’.”
Strategies
Predicting
Text Organization
Prior to interpretation, it is useful to predict the organization of a spoken text
and compare it with the organization of a native language text. It definitely helps students
to prepare for the organization of interpretation of a given passage, since it appears that
spoken texts of different cultures reflect different patterns of rhetorical organization.
Whereas English texts are predominantly chronological and linear, East European passages
59
Teresa Gryminska
are oftentimes spiraling, with numerous embedded clauses, in contrast to the English
simple, straightforward sentences. This organizational feature shows in the works of
Joseph Conrad (Korzeniowski), the English writer of Polish origin, who preserved the
Polish way of rhetorical thinking even though he wrote his novels in English. Another
example of such differences would be the structure and organization of Russian interviews
which differ from the American ones, since they involve interruptions and overlapping
speech.
In teaching foreign language interpretation, teachers may find that culturally
biased texts, overloaded with information about a particular country, oftentimes delivered
under unfavorable conditions (such as background noise), may increase the student’s
burden, if not broken down into pieces.
Therefore it is important to divide a spoken text into segments and listen to them
repeatedly during the pre-interpretation process.
Theme
Prior to interpretation, it is useful to predict the subject matter possibly on the
basis of the title, subtitle, or first paragraph. The opening sentences of the first paragraph
quite often build a complete image of the major ideas of the entire text. In the next stage
of pre-interpretation, one should try to determine both the explicit and implicit meaning
of the passage as a whole and its main themes.
Prediction often involves the ability to anticipate the meaning of a spoken text
on the basis of its cognates. A person who is completely unfamiliar with a given language
can still successfully speculate on the fundamental meaning of the text.
According to Gascoigne (2001), cognate status must also be taken into
consideration in terms of both language instruction and the positing models of bilingual
memory.
A useful pre-interpretation activity is asking listeners to fill in a chart solely
with cognates they hear. The next step would involve finding out information about
the text and making a guess on the basis of those cognates. For example, students, who
listen to a news report about recent wars, should be able to successfully get a summary
from common cognates. In this case example of cognates could be political, terrorist,
bombing, officers. When one combines these cognates with numbers and dates one gets
a pretty good idea about what the main facts and ideas of the text are, even if one does
not know the language! The only skill that is required here is the ability to actively listen
for cognates in order to extract them from the text.
There is, however, a danger of misinterpretation of false cognates in the two
languages involved in paraphrases or interpretation. The ambiguity and vagueness of some
expressions and false cognates can be overwhelming. For example, the Russian words,
familia, karta, and fakul’tet, do not necessarily have to carry the meaning of family, card,
and faculty in English. In a given contextual frame, they may have a different meaning,
such as last name, map, and department. In such cases, a word-for-word interpretation
of false cognates outside their context does not convey the intended idea.
Pre-interpretation comparison strategies are extremely useful in anticipating the
text content. One can make cultural, linguistic and other kinds of comparisons. For this
purpose, it is advisable to compare different spoken or written texts and skills on the same
subject as well as texts with similar and opposing views. For example, we can anticipate
the content and implied meaning of Russian anecdotes if we know their structure and if
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Pre-Interpretation Strategies
we are aware of the fact that the climax of Russian anecdotes is often included in the last
sentence in contrast to preceding statements.
Intent
According to Buck, it is important to understand the intended purpose of a
given text. Comprehension is an inferential process; therefore it is absolutely necessary
to make predictions and inferences before even starting the interpretation process. An
interpreter needs to read between the lines, capture implied intent, which certainly adds
to the complexity of interpretation process.
Examples of text with implied intent would be Russian political speeches that
tend to contain such ambiguous elements as proverbs, sayings and anecdotes. An example
could be the Russian President Putin’s Annual Message to the National Assembly, which
contains these elements. In order to understand his hint Comrade Wolf knows who to eat,
for example, we have to analyze the Russian folk anecdotes that often deal with animals
and have deeper meaning.
It is also important to predict the intended audience as well as possibly unintended
recipients, their opinions and beliefs.
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Teresa Gryminska
Identifying Register
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Pre-Interpretation Strategies
When students try to re-express messages, they are often tempted to paraphrase
them without thoroughly researching paraphrasing/interpretation problems they might
present. At this stage of the pre-interpretation process, one should also develop an
awareness of the distinction between the usage of language and professional/social/cultural
concepts in the original and target language countries, as well as an awareness of specific
problems that these distinctions may present.
Reverse paraphrasing is good preparation for the interpretation process, especially
for two-way interpretation. Another useful pre-interpretation process is summarizing.
I remember receiving excellent practice in both identification of cultural
differences and paraphrasing during a course in the Teaching of English conducted by
Henry Widdowson at the College of Education in Glasgow. Widdowson asked some
members of our group with opposing viewpoints on a given subject to stand up and argue.
The rest of us had to identify the cultural behaviors of the speakers and their ways of
opening and closing their arguments, interrupting each other, and taking the floor. This
exercise was followed by paraphrasing, circumlocution and summarization. It was very
useful practice and fun, too!
Applications
I developed the following online lesson within the Curriculum Division WTE
program with the purpose of teaching interpretation skills. It is created for students
who want to comprehend spoken Russian and also use their productive skills in foreign
language interpretation. The lesson title is “Comrade Wolf Knows Who to Eat” and is
based on the address by President Putin to the Federal Assembly in which he uses this
phrase while emphasizing Russia’s need to augment its military budget. The lesson’s
objectives are given in the introduction and are followed by a chain of pre-interpretation
and interpretation tasks:
1. Prepare for your interpretation tasks by reviewing some set phrases related
to politics.
2. Capture implied content and explain the point of a joke.
3. Identify essential direct and implied elements of information while working
with the Russian President’s speech.
4. Practice two-way interpretation in an interview between an American journalist
and the Russian Duma representatives.
5. Test your understanding of the concepts presented in the lesson.
Before students get to the most important interpretation task of this online
lesson (the interpretation of the segments of the President’s speech and the interview
with the Duma representatives on its subject – objectives 3 and 4), they are provided
with a matching activity, where they have to associate Russian idiomatic phrases with
their English equivalents. For example:
63
Teresa Gryminska
In the next activity (task 2), an anecdote with the Comrade Wolf reference is
provided to prepare students for the task of listening to an excerpt of Putin’s speech and
understanding its possible hints. It is followed by multiple-choice questions and feedback
regarding the basic meaning of the anecdote, which should help students get its point.
Анекдот A Joke *
Russian anecdotes are often symbolic and consist of two parts: the one compared
with or weighed against the other. In oppositional anecdotes, their parts often stand in
contrast to emphasize differences. Anecdotes also often deal with stereotypical animal
symbols, like a bad wolf, shy, scared sheep or goat. The point of an anecdote is often a
surprise final statement. Therefore, analyzing its conclusion is very important. In addition
to developing the student’s ability to get the point of anecdotes, this activity also provides
practice in reading between the lines.
The lesson proceeds to a more complicated task (task 3) – the interpretation of
an official, political speech that includes cultural and political allusions. Again, students
get help in understanding by means of a series of pop-up windows with instructions,
feedback and various hints. This task provides pre-interpretation practice in summarizing
in the target language.
The student’s objective is to identify essential direct and implied elements of
information while working with the Russian President’s speech. The goal is to listen to
excerpts from the speech and give a gist of the most important information in simple
Russian. Students are advised to listen to the entire message, try to grasp its main idea
first and then determine the essential ideas of its parts. They need to pay attention to the
general structure of the excerpts from the president’s yearly message. They have to note
that Russian political speeches are usually very logical, brief, and to the point.
The President’s speech draws on the anecdote and proverbs given in the first part
of the lesson. He ironically mentions the fairytale motif of “comrade wolf who knows
64
Pre-Interpretation Strategies
who to eat and does not listen to anybody” and its high-handed behavior. Although
the President refrains from mentioning the United States by name, according to some
Russian journalists, the wolf in question refers to the U.S. The Russian press also claims
that this may be a veiled response to Vice President Dick Cheney’s accusations that
Russia is rolling back on democracy and strong-arming its ex-Soviet neighbors. In the
same speech, President Putin also uses a proverb about building a fortress-like house to
illustrate Russia’s need to strengthen its defenses. Although he uses positive words like
“And rightly so. Rightly so!” that are commonly used to express praise and admiration, the
intonation, pauses, and the tone of his voice seem to indicate that in reality he denounces
U.S. military spending.
In the next interpretation activity (task 4), the student is asked to imagine that he
is an interpreter for an American journalist who comes to the Russian Duma to interview
Parliament representatives about the President’s annual speech. The student’s role is to
orally render questions from English into Russian and answers from Russian into English.
The student is given advice regarding strategies and key phrases and may listen to the
interview segments and actual oral interpretation segments as many times as necessary.
An example of the interview is given below:
Помните, когда он сказал, что волк, Remember that he said that the wolf,
э, кушает, когда хочет кушать. Вот, uh, eats when it wants to eat. So,
никто нас, сильных, не ждёт ни на nobody’s waiting for us, the strong, not
мировых in the world economic markets, or not
экономических рынках, ни с хорошими with decent ships. We ourselves, as a
кораблями. Мы сами как великая нация great nation, have to understand that we
должны понимать, что мы должны have to be strong, and only then we can
быть сильными, и только тогда мы conduct effective social policy. Uh, a
сможем проводить person can only be protected in a strong,
эффективную социальную политику. economically developed state capable of
Э, человек может быть защищён defending itself.
только в сильном, экономически
развитом, обороноспособном
государстве.
• The above Russian authentic materials were superbly translated by Mr. Richard
Mayer of the DLIFLC Curriculum Division.
65
Teresa Gryminska
The lesson ends with a short true/false quiz. An example of a question may be:
“Double standards are two sets of standards” – true or false?
The above online lesson is an example of the Weekly Training Events program
(a continuation of the GLOSS program with emphasis on production skills), which is
very effective in developing a student’s understanding of a foreign language and culture
and interpreting it properly by its stress on production.
Conclusion
References
Allison, E. (2006). Weekly Training Events, CDD Newsletter, 1(2). Monterey, CA:
DLIFLC.
Baddeley, A. D. (1989). The uses of working memory. In P. R. Solomon, G. R. Goethais,
C. M. Kelley, B.R. Stephens (Eds.), Memory: Interdisciplinary approaches.
New York: Springer-Verlag.
Buck, G. (2001). Assessing listening. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Callahan, T. (1994). Take my tape-recorder – please! (Taking notes during an interview).
Writer’s Digest, 74, 3.
Conway, M. A. (1997). Cognitive models of memory. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Gascoigne, C. (2001). Lexical and conceptual representations in more–and less–skilled
bilinguals: The role of cognates. Foreign Language Annals.
Gryminska, T. (1999). Teaching interpretation strategies in the FLO classroom. Bridges:
A publication dedicated to teaching the Final Learning Objectives. Monterey,
CA: DLIFLC.
Johnson-Laird, P.N. (1983). Mental models. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
66
Pre-Interpretation Strategies
Nagle, S.J., and Sanders, S.L. (1986). Comprehension theory and second language peda-
gogy. TESOL Quarterly, 20(1).
Rost, M. (1998). Active listening: Expanding learners’ skills and strategies. Workshop.
DLIFLC, Monterey.
Shaw, P. (1997). With one stone: Models of instruction and their curricular implications
in an advanced content-based foreign language program. In Stryker, S., Leaver,
B, (Eds.), Content-based instruction in foreign language education: Models and
methods. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Straight, H. S. (1997). Language-based content instruction. In Stryker, S., Leaver, B,
(Eds.), Content-based instruction in foreign language education: Models and
methods. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Tarone, E., Yule, G. (1989). Focus on the language learner. Approaches to identifying
and meeting the needs of second language learners. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
Viaggio, S. (1991).The first thing to teach (which is often never taught). Paper presented
at the Annual Meeting of the First Language International Conference, Elsinore,
Denmark.
Widdowson, H. (1978). Teaching language as communication. Oxford: Oxford Univer-
sity Press.
Author
67
Foreign Language Teaching Methodology at DLI
Dialog on Language Instruction
2007, Vol. 18, Nos. 1 & 2, pp. 69-75
Review Article
Christine Campbell
Evaluation and Standardization
Deanna Tovar
European and Latin American School
69
Christine Campbell and Deanna Tovar
Personalizing activities
Use of pair work
Use of group work
Teacher/student negotiation about curriculum
Maximizing student-student interaction
Maximizing student participation
Use of task-based instruction
Tailoring to learner styles or preferences
Use of a variety of communication activities
Use of Information Gap activities
Use of appropriate forms of feedback
Maximizing use of TL
In the list of CLT principles examined earlier, there are references to “negotiating
by teacher and students about aspects of the curriculum,” “maximizing student-student
interaction,” and “use of pair [and] group work.” These references specifically apply to
70
Foreign Language Teaching Methodology at DLI
a sub-trend within CLT-- learner-centered instruction. Although the concepts “learner-
centered” instruction and curriculum were discussed in general terms in the literature
focusing on learner differences in the late 1980s and 1990s (e.g., Oxford, 1990; O’Malley
and Chamot,1990; Scarcella and Oxford, 1992; Ehrman, 1996; Cohen, 1998; Chamot
et al., 1999), they were especially examined by Nunan (1988) in The Learner-Centered
Curriculum (1988) and in his other publications (2004, 1998, 1997, 1992, 1991, 1990,
1989). Learner-centered instruction promotes active learning where there is a considerable
amount of student-student interaction through pair and group work. Perhaps Nunan’s
(2006) most succinct definition of learner-centered instruction follows: “[It has] two
dimensions: (1) Learner involvement in making choices about what to learn, how to learn,
and how to be assessed. (2) Learners are actively involved in learning through doing.”
Content-Based Instruction
Task-Based Instruction
71
Christine Campbell and Deanna Tovar
These characteristics are:
Beyond Methodology
In the 1990s and into the new millennium, a number of language professionals
(Brown, 1994; Kumaravadivelu, 1992, 1994; Larsen-Freeman, 1991; Long, 1991; Bell,
2003) have suggested the term “methodology” has outlived its significance given the
reality of today’s language classroom where teachers typically apply an eclectic approach,
continually selecting from among an array of methodologies and/or techniques according
to learner needs. Most educators, however, do recognize the merits of having common
organizing principles and related terminology to guide the profession. The notion that
the profession is in a post-methodology era is still being discussed in the literature.
Conclusion
72
Foreign Language Teaching Methodology at DLI
L2 methodologies as they adapt to learner needs. By taking advantage of DLIFLC’s
professional development opportunities, e.g., courses through the Faculty Development
Division, conference attendance, action research projects, and more, they learn about
the latest developments in the field such as learner-centered instruction, content-based
instruction, and task-based instruction. In the technological arena, they integrate teaching
tools such as the Smart Board, which DLIFLC experimented with and integrated into the
curriculum before any other language learning entity in the world, into the classroom.
DLIFLC is constantly working to maintain its current status as the premier language
institute in the Department of Defense, if not the world, and will strive to remain at the
forefront of foreign language teaching and learning.
References
Bell, D. M. (2003). Method and postmethod: are they really so incompatible? TESOL
Quarterly, 37, 325-336.
Benson, P., & Voller, P. (Eds.). (1996). Autonomy and independence in language learning.
London, UK: Longman.
Brown, H. D. (1994). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language
pedagogy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Regents.
Canale, M. (1983). From communicative competence to communicative language. In
J. Richards & R. Schmidt (eds.), Language and communication (pp. 2-27).
Harlow, UK: Longman.
Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to
second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1, 1-47.
Celce-Murcia, M. (1991). Language and communication: A time for equilibrium and
integration. In J. E. Alatis (Ed.), Georgetown University Round Table on
Language and Linguistics 1991 (pp. 223-237). Washington, DC: Georgetown
University Press.
Celce-Murcia, M., Dörnyei, Z., & Thurrell, S. (1997). Direct approaches in L2 instruction:
A turning point in communicative language teaching? TESOL Quarterly, 31,
141-152.
Celce-Murcia, M., Dörnyei, Z., & Thurrell, S. (1995). Communicative competence: A
pedagogically motivated model with content specifications. Issues in Applied
Linguistics, 6, 5-35.
Chamot, A., et al. (1999). The learning strategies handbook. White Plains, NY:
Longman.
Cohen, A. (1998). Strategies in learning and using a second language. White Plains,
NY: Longman.
Cotterall, S. (1995). Readiness for autonomy: Investigating learner beliefs. System,
23(2), 195-203.
Dickinson, L. (1995). Autonomy and motivation: A literature review. System, 23(2),
165-174.
Ehrman, M. (1996). Understanding second language learning difficulties. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Final Learning Objectives for Basic Language Programs in the Defense Foreign Language
Program. (2004). Presidio of Monterey, CA: The Defense Language Institute
Foreign Language Center.
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Christine Campbell and Deanna Tovar
Higgs,T., & Clifford, R. (1982). The push toward communication. In T. Higgs (Ed.),
Curriculum, competence and the foreign language teacher (pp. 57-79).
Lincolnwood, IL: National Textbook.
Higgs, T. (Ed.). (1984). Teaching for proficiency, the organizing principle. Lincolnwood,
IL: National Textbook.
Hymes, D. (1972). On communicative competence. In J. Pride & J. Holmes (Eds.),
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Kumaravadivelu, B. (1994). The postmethod condition: Emerging strategies for second/
foreign language teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 28, 27-48.
-----. (1993). Maximizing learning potential in the communicative classroom. ELT
Journal, 47, 12-21.
-----. (1992). Macrostrategies for the second/foreign language teacher. Modern Language
Journal, 76, 41-49.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (1991). Research on language teaching methodologies: A review
of the past and an agenda for the future. In K. de Bot, R. B. Ginsberg, & C.
Kramsch (Eds.), Foreign language research in cross-cultural perspective (pp.
119-132). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (1990). On the need for a theory of language teaching. In J. E.
Alatis (Ed.), Georgetown University Round Table on Language and Linguistics
1991. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Legutke, M., & Thomas, H. (1991). Process and experience in the language classroom.
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Long, M. (1991). Focus on form: A design feature in language teaching methodology.
In K. de Bot, R. B. Ginsberg, & C. Kramsch (Eds.), Foreign language research
in cross-cultural perspective (pp. 39-52). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Long, M., & Crookes, G. (1992). Three approaches to task-based syllabus design. TESOL
Quarterly, 26, 27-56.
Munby, J. (1978). Communicative syllabus design. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
University Press.
Nunan, D. (2006). Go for it! Energizing your classes: A learner-centered approach.
Presentation on website.
-----. (2004). Task-based language teaching. Cambridge Language Teaching Library.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
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P.Benson & P. Voller (Eds.), Autonomy and independence in language learning
(pp.192-203). London, UK: Longman.
-----. (1992). Research methods in language learning. Cambridge Language Teaching
Library. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
-----. (1991). Language teaching methodology: A textbook for teachers. London, UK:
Prentice Hall International.
-----. (1990). Action research in the language classroom. In J. C. Richards & D. (Eds.),
Second language teacher education (pp. 62-81). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge
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Foreign Language Teaching Methodology at DLI
Teaching Library. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
-----. (1988). The learner-centered curriculum. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Applied
Linguistics. Cambridge University Press.
O’Malley, J., & Chamot, A. (1990). Learning strategies in second language acquisition.
Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Oxford, R. (1990). Language learning strategies: What every teacher should know.
Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.
Palfreyman, D. & R. Smith (Eds.). (2005). Learner autonomy across cultures. New York,
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Pemberton, R. et al. (Eds.). (1996). Taking control: Autonomy in language learning.
Hong Kong, China: Hong Kong University Press.
Savignon, S. (1997). Communicative competence: Theory and practice. 2nd Ed. New
York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
-----. (1990). Communicative language teaching: Definitions and directions. In J. E.
Alatis (Ed.), Georgetown University Round Table on Language and Linguistics
1990 (pp. 205-217). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
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Philadelphia, PA: Center for Curriculum Development.
Scarcella, R. & Oxford, R. (1992). Tapestry of language learning: The individual in the
communicative classroom. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle.
Schmidt, R. (1991). Input, interaction, attention, and awareness: The case for
consciousness raising in second language teaching (Anais do X Encontro
Nacional de Professores Universitários de Língua Inglesa I). Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil: Pontífica Universidade Católica.
van Lier, L. (1996). Interaction in the language curriculum: Awareness, autonomy, and
authenticity. New York: Longman.
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Author
75
Notes from an OPI Tester to DLI Instructors
Dialog on Language Instruction
2007, Vol. 18, Nos. 1 & 2, pp. 77-80
Faculty Exchange
Patricia Fay-Magiera
Proficiency Standards Division
77
Patricia Fay-Magiera
with regard to self-awareness and awareness of the physical world and people can be
seen in the shock some students often experience when practicing certain FLO skills
in EN. Linguistic abilities, which the new students had taken for granted, suddenly
revealed themselves to be totally inadequate when faced, for example, with the FLO
task of correctly transcribing numbers in their native language. They often had to face
the fact that they usually had been listening, as the Germans would say, “with only half
an ear”. They were simply unable to concentrate long enough in order to transcribe a 6
to 8 digit number correctly in English! Another example can be seen in their inability to
summarize the main points of an argument, or even to clearly express their own opinion.
They knew what they wanted to say, but they did not have the narrative and procedural
language and terminology to speak or write about it.
Another aspect of the interaction between the degree of maturity and the real
world and people relates to virtual reality. As an ongoing process, virtual reality competes
with the learner’s concepts of “real-time” spatial and personal relationships. In some cases,
the need to focus on a range of moving objects contained within a limited background,
and to possibly react in a specific manner within a short period of time, reduces the
ability to focus on the details of a larger picture, and to retain and recall the individual
objects and their positions. The result can be that the ability to observe and concentrate
on a static scene may become diminished. This could affect the ability to give a detailed
description of stationary person, object or place, particularly when, as in the OPI, the
description is given from memory.
Finally, the disconnect between the degree of maturity of the learner in relation
to the physical world and people who populate it can also be explained by the sheer
overload of cognitive and affective tasking the DLI student is required to master. They are
already multi-tasking to a considerable degree, observing themselves, their own abilities,
or lack thereof, observing the outside world and its population, their physical position and
personal position in relation to these varied objects and entities, and, finally, contending
with the lessons in self-awareness which accompany this process. It is no wonder that
they are at a loss for words in English, or in a Target Language (TL), as so much of what
is happening is entirely new to them. Nevertheless, the DLI classroom offers the first
step to bridging the gap between emerging maturity and observing, and describing, the
physical world and people.
For the first step, the TL instructor needs to recognize the implications of the
over-arching learning process in which the basic course student finds himself/herself. The
next step would be to continue to present – in context - the high-frequency vocabulary
necessary for basic Level 2 descriptions. This includes the procedural language of
description commonly used the TL. Some general examples of words and terms used in
EN are the following: when describing and object or a place - on the left; on the right;
in the foreground; in the background; diagonally across from; the number of “storeys” a
building has, when seen from the outside; the number of “floors” a building has, when
seen from the inside; the shape of the roof, windows, etc. When describing a person, some
general physical features which are typically described are the following: the general
build of the body (heavy-set, medium build , slight or thin build); the shape of the face
(oval, round, long, square); the shape of the nose (long, thin, short, straight, crooked); the
shape (almond, round, big, small) and color (blue, green, brown, hazel) of the eyes; the
color (blond, black, brown, gray, white, etc.), length (long, short, crew cut, thin, bald),
and type (straight, curly, wavy) of the hair.
78
Notes from an OPI Tester to DLI Instructors
Each of these steps is surely already being undertaken by the DLI instructors.
However, it may also be necessary to mention that the instructors actually need to take
the time to teach the students to “see” in a systematic way. This the TL instructor can
do by “slowing down the action” and asking the student to take a physical position in
front of the person, object or place to be described. In this way, the learner, first of all,
notes his/her own physical position in relation to the person, place or thing. This might
be practiced in “real life” in the classroom, for example, with the class divided and
standing, facing in four different directions. Each student imagines that he/she is holding
a camcorder and pretends to photograph and describe what he/she actually sees within
specified perimeters, as he/she slowly swings the “camcorder” in a 180 degree arc, from
left to right. The students can not jot down notes about what they have seen but must report
back from memory. The other students in the group can observe, first hand, how detailed
or superficial the description is and award a “prize” to the best student in the group.
Another version of the exercise could be to have four groups compete to see
which group can write down the most complete description of the same picture of a person,
place or thing – from memory - within a specific allotted time. Needless to say, there will
be a lot of invaluable self-knowledge and copy-cat learning going on during these feedback
sessions. These activities could be expanded to become assignments to be prepared outside
of classroom, describing on-site and off-site locations, objects and individuals. Finally,
this activity could be very effectively included in immersion exercises, if this is not yet
the case. As H. Douglas Brown emphasizes in his classic text Principles of Language
Learning and Teaching, activities which appeal to the genuine interests of your students
and are relevant to their lives are the best source of intrinsic motivation (Brown, 1994).
Whereas DLI students know that describing may be a part of their military duties in the
future, knowing that it will be a definite part of immersion exercises, with immediate
feedback and/or consequences, will make the ability to describe a person, place or thing
an integral part of their immediate lives as students and soldiers.
Teaching description also presents many enjoyable and amusing opportunities to
introduce cultural aspects of language. The shape of roofs, windows, doors, courtyards,
gateways, walls, and even hedges are often culturally specific and offer a way to teach
necessary, specific vocabulary,. These features can even be used to teach history, climate
and topography. Just as words such as shanghaied, garage, adobe, veranda, patio
and khaki, sirocco, monsoon and tsunami have become part of American English, TL
instructors can be on the lookout to include everyday words used in ways specific to the
TL culture. The learner may experience a pleasing “aha” effect in learning the true origin
of words in American English. On the other hand, he/she may enter into a unique and
intriguing lesson on culture with the teacher.
The description of the physical features or appearance of a person is another
area which reflects cultural values. For example, in China, a person with an oval-shaped
face is considered classically beautiful, or good–looking. This is expressed by saying
that the person has an egg-shaped face. Literally, one says in Chinese that the person has
a “goose-egg shaped face”. A “tall nose” refers to the pleasing shape and height of the
bridge of the nose. When describing the eyes, the Chinese are not sensitive to color but
to the shape, size and brightness of the eyes. Blond hair is always described as “golden
hair” in Chinese. In Korean, blond hair is described as being “yellow”, while in Serbian-
Croatian, it is described as being “blue”. To the Chinese, a “small, cherry-red mouth”
is preferred to a “big, full mouth”, which is considered unattractive. A person is “tall
79
Patricia Fay-Magiera
or short”, or “not tall” or “not short”. An athletic-looking person is said to have “well-
developed muscles”. In Serbian-Croatian, a big, strong, athletic-looking man is described
as being “a black, small man”. The “blackness” or “darkness” of the man conveys the
idea of his great strength. This strength is so large and great that it overpowers all else
making everything else look small.
Conclusion
References
Author
80
News and Views
Christine Campbell
Evaluation and Standardization
Ms. Regina Todd, a retired DLILFC faculty member who was a member of the
Russian faculty for 33 years, recently published the book My Struggle for Survival (2006,
Park Place Publications, www.parkplacepublications.com) that outlines her life from
childhood through her choice of Monterey as a place to settle in the United States.
An autobiography, the book begins with her birth and childhood in Leningrad,
under the Stalinist terror. It goes on to relate her horrific experiences as a victim of the
900-day siege of Leningrad by Nazi Germany during which time more than one million
city residents died of bombings and starvation. Next, it traces her life in Central Asia,
her studies in Law at and graduation from Leningrad University in 1951, her work as a
corporation lawyer for five years in the former Soviet Union, and her flight to Europe
and the United States.
Ms. Todd arrived in the United States in 1960. Living in Los Angeles, California,
she worked and participated in the Art Linkletter Show as a member of an international
panel that discussed life in the Soviet Union. Her topic was “Family Life in the Soviet
Union.” She then went to New York, where she became a Research Assistant at Columbia
University School of Law from 1964 to 1967. Afterwards, she was on the faculty of
Monterey Institute of International Studies (then, Monterey Institute of Foreign Studies)
and Middlebury College. She received her M.A. in Russian Language and Civilization
from the Institute in 1965.
Later, she met the renowned New York Times journalist Harrison Salisbury.
Salisbury is the author of 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad.
81
DLI Index
General Information
Index
Authors and Articles
83
Dialog on Language Instruction
84
DLI Index
Bahat, Ester. (1991). Ha-’Ilton Ke-emtsa’I Lehora’at Safah Shniyah. 12(1 & 2), p. 57.
Reviewed by Masliyah, Sadok. (1997).
85
Dialog on Language Instruction
Hoffmeister, Gerhart and Tubach, Frederic. (1986). Germany: 2000 Years, Volume 3,
From the Nazi Era to the Present. 4(1), p. 82. Reviewed by Maier, Wofgang.
(1987).
Lauden, Edna & Weinbach, Liora. (1993). Multi-Dictionary, Hebrew From Scratch,
Arabic for Living. 11(1 & 2), p. 65. Reviewed by Masliyah, Sadok. (1995).
Lee, William W. & Owens, Diana L. (2000) Multimedia-Based Instructional Design.
16(1 & 2). p. 71. Reviewed by Farahmand, Shoreh. (2004).
Mahnke, M. Kathleen. (1999). Grammar Links: A Theme-Based Course for Reference
and Practice. 16(1 & 2). p. 72. Reviewed by Roemer, Ann E.
Mueller, Kurt. (1986). Language Competence: Implications for National Security. 4(2),
p. 62. Reviewed by Goodrick, John. (1987).
Nicola, Michel. (1985). A Thousand and One Nights. 4(2), p. 64. Reviewed by Nasr,
Michel. (1987).
Nydell, Margaret. (1991). From Modern Standard Arabic to the Iraqi Dialect, Levantine
Dialects, Maghrebi Dialects–Conversation Courses. 10(1), p. 75. Reviewed by
Rowland, Howard. (1994).
Pellisier, Sidney and Smith William. (1985). Bulletins–Premier Niveau: Sight Readings
in French. 4(1), p. 83. Reviewed by Moreno, Rejane. (1987).
Rixon, Shelagh. (1989). Developing Listening Skills. 8(1 & 2), p. 81. Reviewed by
Moravec, Eva. (1992).
Rost, Michael. (1991). Listening in Action. 8(1 & 2), p. 85. Reviewed by Smith, Robert.
(1992).
Rauch, Holger von & Trad, M. Sadek. (1998). Travel wise: Arabic. 14(1 & 2), p. 74.
reviewed by Rowland, Howard D. (2000).
Polish Individualized Instruction. 5(1), p. 75. Reviewed by Woytak, Lidia. (1989).
Watcyn-Jones, Peter. (1997). Pair Work 1. 13(1 & 2), p. 155. Reviewed by Allard,
Yoshimi. (1999).
Williams, F.C. & Wu,Yenna. (1999). Chinese: The Easy Way. 14(1 & 2), p. 73. Reviewed
by Zhao, Jim Jielu. (2000).
Williams, F.C. & Wu,Yenna. (1999). Chinese: The Easy Way. 14(1 & 2), p. 73. Reviewed
by Sun, Dawn Hsu Chao. (2004).
Zilkha, Avraham. (2000). Modern English-Hebrew Dictionary. 16(1 & 2), p. 70.
Reviewed by Masliyah, Sadok. (2004).
Authors of Reports
Allard,Yoshimi and Lee Robert. (1999). ACTFL Conference Attendance Highest Ever.
13(1 & 2), p. 153.
Armstrong, Marianne. (1987). Social Conventions in the Foreign Language Classroom
(ACTFL Conference Presentation). 4(1), p. 55.
Atwell, Ssbine. (1995). Teacher Education and Curriculum at TESOL. 11(1 & 2), p.
75.
Campbell, Christine. (1991). DLI at ACTFL. 7(1), p. 69.
Cicekdag, Mehmet Ali. (1994). ACTFL ’93–A Personal View. 10(1), p. 77.
El-Barouki, Foazi. (1987). Social Conventions in the Foreign Language Classroom
(ACTFL Conference Presentation). 4(1), p. 55.
Hammoud, Salah-Dine. (1993). ACTFL ’92 Impressions. 9(1), p. 59.
Hurtt, Meei-Jin. (1997). Chinese Teachers’ Workshop. 12(1 & 2), p. 37.
Koppany, Steven. (1991). DLI at ACTFL. 7(1), p. 69.
Koppany, Steven. (1987). Real-Life in the Classroom (ACTFL Workshop Report). 4(1),
p. 71.
Lee, Alice. (1987). Social Conventions in the Foreign Language Classroom (ACTFL
Conference Presentation). 4(1), p. 55.
Ludgate, Brigitta. (1991). DLI at ACTFL. 7(1), p. 69.
Mohamed, A. Monim S. (2005). Reflective Teaching: Input and Output Experience.
17(1 & 2), p.51.
86
DLI Index
Ortiz, Jose. (1991). DLI at ACTFL. 7(1), p. 69.
Patterson, Elena. (2005). Engaging Students in Activities. 17(1 & 2), p.48.
Tabuse, Motoko. (1987). Social Conventions in the Foreign Language Classroom
(ACTFL Conference Presentation). 4(1), p. 55.
Tovar, Deanna. (1991). Teacher Education at TESOL ’90. 7(1), p. 57.
Tovar, Deanna. (1987). Coming of Age (TESOL Conference Report). 4(2), p. 53.
van Daalen, Margaret. (1990). Second Language Research Forum Conference Report:
Multidisciplinary Perspectives. 6(1 & 2), p. 109.
Woytak, Lidia. (1991). Report from ACTFL. 7(1), p. 66.
Woytak, Lidia. (2000). Language Enhancement: The 1999 Worldwide Language
Olympics and the 1999 Command Language Program Seminar. 14(1 & 2), p.
49.
Woytak, Lidia. (2005). Developing and Testin New Materials. 17(1 & 2), p.45.
Editorials
Interviewees
Correspondence
Molan, Peter. (1994). A Reply to Michel Nicola’s “An Integrated Arabic Basic Course.”
10(1), p. 43.
Nicola, Michel. (1994). Response to Peter D. Molan’s Reply. 10(1), p. 55.
Announcements
Broz, James. (1989). Foreign Language Foundation Moves from Concept to Reality.
5(1), p. 79.
Woytak, Lidia. (1990). Obituary: James W. Dodge. 6(1 & 2), p. 73.
87
Calendar of Events
General Information
Calendar of Events*
2007
89
Dialog on Language Instruction
Southwest Conference on Language Teaching (SWCOLT), 12–15 April, Las Vegas,
NV. Contact: Jody Klopp, Executive Director, SWCOLT, 713 Rock Hollow
Road, Edmond, OK 73034; (405) 330-1318, Fax (405) 340-0923; Email:
jklopp@swcolt.org Web: www.swcolt.org
American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL), 21–24 April, Costa Mesa, CA.
Contact: AAAL, 3416 Primm Lane, Birmingham, AL 35216; (205) 824-7700,
Fax (205) 823-2760; Email: aaal@primemanagement.net Web: www.aaal.org
National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages (NCOLCTL), 26–29 April,
Madison, WI. Contact: NCOLCTL, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 4231
Humanities Building, 455 N. Park Street, Madison, WI 53706; (608) 265-7903,
Fax (608) 265-7904; Email: ncolctl@mailplus.wisc.edu Web: www.councilnet.
org/conf/conf2007/prpsl.htm
International Reading Association (IRA), 13–17 May, Toronto, Canada. Contact:
International Reading Association, Headquarters Office, 800 Barksdale Rd.,
PO Box 8139, Newark, DE 19714-8139; (302) 731-1600, Fax: (302) 731-1057;
Web: www.reading.org
First Congress of Chinese Applied Linguistics, 16–21, May, Bejing, China. Contact:
Email: celea@fltrp.com Web: www.celea.org.cn/english/5celea.asp
Second CELC Symposium for English Language Teachers, 30 May – 1 June, Singapore.
Contact: Symposium Secretariat, Centre for English Language Communication,
National University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent, Singapore 119260;
(65) 6516-3866, Fax (65) 6777-9152; Email: symposiumsec@nus.edu.sg Web:
www.nus.edu.sg/celc/symposium/
Fifth International Conference on Language Teacher Education, 31 May – 2 June,
Minneapolis, MN. Contact: CARLA, University of Minnesota, 619 Heller Hall,
271 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55455; (612) 626-8600, Fax (612)
624-7514; Email: lteconf@umn.edu Web: www.carla.umn.edu
LSA Summer Institute, 1–27 July, Stanford, CA. Contact: Department of Linguistics
Attn: 2007 LSA Summer Institute, Stanford University, Building 460, 450 Serra
Mall, Stanford, CA 94305-2150; Email: linginst07@stanford.edu Web: www.
lsadc.org/info/inst-2007.cfm
American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), 12–15 July, Baton Rouge, LA.
Contact: Jayne Abrate, AATF, Mailcode 4510, Southern Illinois University,
Carbondale, IL 62901-4510; (618) 453-5731, Fax (618) 453-5733; Email:
abrate@siu.edu Web: www.frenchteachers.org
EUROCALL, 5–8 September, University of Ulster, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, UK.
Contact: Web: www.eurocall-languages.org/confs/index.html
British Association for Applied Linguistics, 6–8 September, Edinburgh, UK. Contact:
Web: www.baal.org.uk
Second International Conference on Task-based Language Teaching, 20–22
September, University of Hawai’i-Manoa, Honololu, HI. Contact: Email:
organizers@tblt2007.org Web: www.hawaii.edu/tblt2007/index.html
African Studies Association (ASA), 18–21 October, New York, NY. Contact: Kimme
Carlos, Annual Meeting Coordinator, Rutgers University, Douglass Campus,
132 George Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1400; (732) 932-8173, Fax (732)
932-3394; Email: asaamc@rci.rutgers.edu Web: www.africanstudies.org
90
Calendar of Events
American Translators Association (ATA), 31 October – 3 November, Miami, FL.
Contact: ATA, 225 Reinekers Lane, Suite 590, Alexandria, VA 22314; (703)
683-6100, Fax (703) 683-6122; Email: conference@atanet.org Web: www.
atanet.org
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), 16–18 November,
San Antonio, TX. Contact: ACTFL, 700 S. Washington St., Suite 210, Alexandria,
VA 22314; (703) 894-2900, Fax (703) 894-2905; Email: headquarters@actfl.
org Web: www.actfl.org
American Association of Teachers of German (AATG), 16–18 November, San Antonio,
TX. Contact: AATG, 112 Haddontowne Court #104, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034;
(856) 795-5553, Fax (856) 795-9398; Email: headquarters@aatg.org Web:
www.aatg.org
American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI), 17–19 November, Nashville, TN:
Contact: Paolo Giordano, President AATI, Foreign Languages and Literatures,
University of Central Florida, PO Box 161348, Orlando, FL 32816; (773)
508-2855, Fax (407) 823-6261; Email: pgiordan@mail.ucf.edu Web: www.
aati-online.org
Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA), 16–18 November, San Antonio,
TX. Contact: CLTA Headquarters, Cynthia Ning, Center for Chinese Studies,
Moore Hall #416, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822; (808) 956-2692,
Fax (808) 956-2682; Email: cyndy@hawaii.edu Web: clta.osu.edu
National Network for Early Language Learning (NNELL), 16–18 November, San
Antonio, TX. Contact: Mary Lynn Redmond, NNELL, PO Box 7266, B 201
Tribble Hall, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109; Email:
nnell@wfu.edu Web: www.nnell.org
2008 Events
Linguistic Society of America (LSA), 3–6 January, Chicago, IL. Contact: LSA, 1325
18th St. NW, # 211, Washington, DC 20036-6501; (202) 835-1714, Fax (202)
835-1717; Web: www.lsadc.org
Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 6–8 March,
Dearborn, MI. Contact: Patrick T. Raven, Executive Director, CSCTFL, PO
Box 251, Milwaukee, WI 53201-0251; (414) 405-4645, Fax (414) 276-4650;
Email: CSCTFL@aol.com Web: www.centralstates.cc
American Educational Research Association (AERA), 23–28 March, New York, NY.
Contact: AERA, 1230 17th St., NW, Washington, DC 20036-3078; (202) 223-
9485, Fax (202) 775-1824; Web: www.aera.net
Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (NECTFL), 27–29
March, New York, NY. Contact: Northeast Conference, Dickinson College,
PO Box 1773, Carlisle, PA 17013-2896; (717) 245-1977, Fax (717) 245-1976;
Email: nectfl@dickinson.edu Web: www.nectfl.org
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), 2–5 April, New York
City, NY. Contact: TESOL, 700 S. Washington Street, Suite 200, Alexandria,
VA 22314; (703) 836-0774, Fax (703) 836-7864; Email: conventions@tesol.
org Web: www.tesol.org
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Dialog on Language Instruction
Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT), 3–5 April, South Carolina.
Contact: Lynne McClendon, Executive Director, SCOLT, 165 Lazy Laurel
Chase, Roswell, GA 30076; (770) 992-1256, Fax (770) 992-3464; Email:
lynnemcc@mindspring.com Web: www.valdosta.edu/scolt
International Reading Association (IRA), 4–8 May, Atlanta, GA. Contact: International
Reading Association, Headquarters Office, 800 Barksdale Rd., PO Box 8139,
Newark, DE 19714-8139; Web: www.reading.org
AILA 2008, 24–29 August, Essen, Germany. Contact: AILA 2008 Conference Office, Julian
Sudhoff, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Campus Essen, FB Geisteswissenschaften,
Anglistik, Universitätsstrasse 12, 45117 Essen, Germany; +(49) 201-183-2727;
Email: orga-aila-2008@uni-due.de Web: www.aila2008.org
British Association for Applied Linguistics, 11–13 September, Glasgow, UK. Contact:
Web: www.baal.org.uk.
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), 21–23 November,
Orlando, FL. Contact: ACTFL, 700 S. Washington St., Suite 210, Alexandria,
VA 22314; (703) 894-2900, Fax (703) 894-2905; Email: headquarters@actfl.
org Web: www.actfl.org
American Association of Teachers of German (AATG), 21–23 November, Orlando,
FL. Contact: AATG, 112 Haddontowne Court #104, Cherry Hill, NJ 08034;
(856) 795-5553, Fax (856) 795-9398; Email: headquarters@aatg.org Web:
www.aatg.org
Chinese Language Teachers Association (CLTA), 21–23 November, Orlando, FL.
Contact: CLTA Headquarters, Cynthia Ning, Center for Chinese Studies, Moore
Hall #416, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822; (808) 956-2692, Fax
(808) 956-2682; Email: cyndy@hawaii.edu Web: clta.osu.edu
National Network for Early Language Learning (NNELL), 21–23 November, Orlando,
FL. Contact: Mary Lynn Redmond, NNELL, PO Box 7266, B 201 Tribble Hall,
Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109; Email: nnell@wfu.edu
Web: www.nnell.org
92
Information for Contributors
Purpose
The purpose of this internal publication is to increase and share professional knowledge
among DLIFLC faculty and staff, as well as to promote professional communication
within the Defense Foreign Language Program.
Submission of Manuscripts
Articles
Manuscripts should not exceed 20 double-spaced pages. Divide your manuscript into
the following sections:
• Abstract
• Introduction
• Organizing Construct
Point 1
Point 2
Point 3
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• Appendices
• Notes
• References
• Acknowledgments
• Author
93
Abstract
Provide a brief overview of your manuscript in 75 to 100 words. First, identify the topic of your
manuscript in one sentence. Next state the purpose and the scope of your manuscript in a couple
of sentences. Next name the sources used, for example personal observation, published books
and articles. Finally, state your conclusion in the last sentence of the abstract.
Introduction
Describe the purpose of the manuscript. Relate it to the content of the recently, within the last two
to three years, published literature. Describe work that had a direct impact on your study. Avoid
general references. Cite only pertinent research findings and relevant methodological issues.
Provide the logical continuity between previous and present work. Identify the main issues of
your study. Point out the implications of your study.
Organizing Construct
Divide this part into subsections. Focus each subsection on a specific issue identified
in the introduction. In each subsection, identify the issue, describe it, and present your
finding.
Discussion
Respond to the following questions guide: (1) What I have contributed here? (2)
How has my study helped to resolve the original problem? (3) What conclusions and
theoretical implications can I draw from my study?
Conclusion
References
The list of references should be submitted on a separate page of the manuscript with
the centered heading: References. The entries should be arranged alphabetically by sur-
names of authors. The sample list of references below illustrates format for bibliographic
entries:
Dulay, H., & Burt, M. (1974). Errors and strategies in child second language
acquisition. TESOL Quarterly, 16(1), 93-95.
Harris, D. P. (1969). Testing English as a second language. New York:
McGraw-Hill.
94
Reference citations in the text of the manuscript should include the name of the author
of the work cited, the date of the work, and when quoting, the page numbers on which
the material that is being quoted originally appeared, e.g., (Jones, 2001, pp. 235-238).
All works cited in the manuscript must appear in the list of references, and conversely,
all works included in the list of references must be cited in the manuscript.
Notes
They should be used for substantive information only, and they should be numbered
serially throughout the manuscript. Subsequently, they all should be listed on a separate
page titled Notes.
Faculty Exchange
This section provides an opportunity for faculty to share ideas through brief articles
up to two double-spaced pages on innovative classroom practices, such as suggestions
on communicative activities, team teaching, use of media and realia, and adaptation of
authentic materials. Each sample of a model classroom activity should state the purpose,
provide instructions and, if applicable, give supporting texts or illustrations.
Reviews
Manuscripts should not exceed two double-spaced pages. Reviews of textbooks, schol-
arly works related to foreign language education, dictionaries, tests, computer software,
video tapes, and other non-print materials will be considered for publication. Both
positive and negative aspects of the work(s) being considered should be pointed out.
The review should give a clear but brief statement of the works contents and a critical
assessment of contribution to the profession. Quotations should be kept short. Do not
use footnotes. Reviews that are merely descriptive will not be accepted for publication.
Manuscripts should not exceed one double-spaced page. Items related to language
instruction such as reports on conferences, official trips, official visitors, special events,
new instructional techniques, training aids or materials, research findings, news items,
etc., will be considered for publication.
95
Specifications for Manuscripts
Manuscripts should be typed on 8.5 x 11 in. paper, double-spaced, with margins of about
1.25 in. on all four sides. All pages should be numbered consecutively. Each manuscript
should be submitted in three copies. The first page should include only the title and
the text. It is recommended that passages orquotations in foreign languages be glossed
or summarized. Authors are advised to prepare a note pertaining to their professional
status. An author’s name, position, department, school, address (if outside of DLIFLC),
and interests would be identified in the note. An example of such a note is presented
below:
Author
JANE C. DOE, Assistant Professor, Foreign Language Education, University of
America, 226 N. Madison St., Madison, WI 55306. Specializations: foreign
language acquisition, curriculum studies.
Preferably use Windows-based software, or name the software used. Attach manuscripts to e-mail.
aj@monterey.army.mil
Review Process
Each manuscript will be evaluated anonymously by at least two foreign language edu-
cators. To assure anonymity, authors should not put their names on submitted manu-
scripts, but should include a 3 x 5 in. card listing the title of the manuscript, author’s
name, department/division, and telephone number.
Each author will be informed of the evaluation results. In general, a manuscript will
be accepted for publication if two anonymous readers recommend acceptance, and, by
the same token, manuscripts not recommended by the readers for publication will be
rejected. In cases in which one reader recommends acceptance, and the second one,
rejection—a third reader will be asked to review the manuscript.
Accepted Manuscripts
A manuscript accepted for publication may be accepted “as is” or may require certain
revisions which may target the need to consider other sources, or to elaborate on a
certain point; or, finally, may address such minor details as a typo or a lack of citation. In
the latter case, the author is asked to revise it and subsequently the editor checks whether
the author complied thoroughly with the guidance
96
Rejected Manuscripts
The editor duly informs the author that the manuscript is unacceptable for publication.
Normally this finding ends the revision process.
In some cases, an author whose manuscript was already rejected decides to revise the
manuscript thoroughly and to resubmit it for publication. Since the quality of the version
is unpredictable, no promises can be issued to the author regarding publication.
Correspondence
97
Dialog on Language Instruction 2007 Volume 18 Numbers 1