After years of foreign language study, shouldn't you be able to speak the language?

Why is it that some people learn to communicate in a 2nd language and some people do not? What makes the difference?

Often, learners blame themselves when they don't learn to speak the language--but is it really their fault?

What works? What doesn't?

NECTFL CONFERENCE

April 1 - 4, 2011 at theBaltimore Marriott Waterfront Hotel, Baltimore MD! GReat new venue, same great conference...SEE: Http://www2.dickinson.edu/prorg/nectfl/ for early bird registration

New York University Selects OWL Testing Software for Online Language Assessments

NYU-SCPS chooses OWL for Language Proficiency Assessments for Two Programs within its Division of Liberal Studies and Allied Arts

PITTSBURGH, PA (September 20, 2010) Visit the OWL pressroom to read the whole story.http://www.owlts.com/news/NYU_selects_OWL_Testing_Software.html

Google adds Latin to machine translation service

Latin becomes 58th supported by Google Translate and the first dead language in its repertoire

LONDON — Google has added Latin to its automatic translation service, the 58th language supported by Google Translate and the first dead language in its repertoire, it said on Thursday...

See following link for complete article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39441923/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets

Tough Work Begins for Race to Top Assessment Winners

Most States Part of Groups Winning Federal Grants

By Catherine Gewertz and Erik W. Robelen
Published online September 14, 2010, Education Week
Published in print, September 15, 2010, as U.S. Tests Awaiting Big Shifts

In a move that could reshape academic assessment in nearly every corner of the country, the U.S. Department of Education has awarded $330 million in grants to collaboratives of states to design better ways of measuring student learning....

See complete article at:
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/09/15/03assess-update.h30.html?tkn=VPSF%2F3FkJfPKtTI3uCcr39T9K4%2B4evM0BDIe&cmp=clp-edweek

Raising the Bar

September 10, 2010

...A component of the National Security Education Program, housed at the U.S. Department of Defense -- a not-insignificant detail that has been the cause of some controversy – the Language Flagship has an immodest objective: “to change the way Americans learn languages.”

Indeed, the Language Flagship programs represent a significant shift in the model for foreign language education at American universities. Each curriculum is organized around a very clear and ambitious learning outcome: that students graduate at the Superior level on the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages scale or with a score of 3 on the Interagency Language Roundtable scale (which spans from 0 to 5)....

For the complete article see http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/09/10/flagship

To raise the bar, it is necessary to assess students' proficiency at benchmark levels. OWL software makes it easy!

UTK Installs OWL Testing Software

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville Installs
OWL Testing Software for English Speaking Proficiency Testing

PITTSBURGH, PA (July 20, 2010) – The University of Tennessee at Knoxville and OWL Testing Software, a premier provider of affordable web-based testing and assessment systems, announced today that the University’s graduate school has installed OWL’s language testing software as the solution for their English speaking proficiency tests.

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville is using OWL Testing Software to schedule, administer and assess a well-known English speaking proficiency test. The University is using the test to evaluate the English-speaking skills of graduate school applicants for whom English is not their native language. OWL Testing Software has enabled the University to improve dramatically the efficiency of administering the test. The OWL software also allows the University’s raters to evaluate those oral language assessments online.
To read the complete article: http://www.spesend.net/CampResource/2R0QDTS1E1NWCCO3/1/text.pdf