Even though we have learned a foreign language after many years of studying, it"s rare to see people speak the language fluently that they have learned. There must be some reason why this happens repeatedly to many people. In this paper we analyse the process of speaking or understanding a certain language from the point of linguistic theory, in order to compare the learning of foreign languages with the acquisition of mother tongues. From the results of this comparison, we suggest that the learning of foreign languages must be performed not by the aid of the mother tongue but directly by way of the languages in question. If the learning of foreign languages is done with the aid of the mother tongue, the students can"t reach the conceptual level where comprehension is operated, and it doesn"t help students develop communicative competence. In case that we attach importance to communicative competence, we must find occasions which let students use the expressions that they have learned. It also means that we must have suitable circumstances for the development of communicative competence.
In the dearth of pre-service and in-service teacher education in gifted education, particularly in foreign language education, teachers have difficulty in learning theory and principle. This study describes the secondary teachers" perception of gifted education in foreign language after they participated in a teacher training program. The research questions are: 1) How did the teachers perceive gifted education?; and 2) Did the teacher training program influence the teachers" perception of gifted education? If so, in what ways did it influence the teachers? The data include surveys of the 21 teachers, their class assignments and observations. This qualitative case study indicates despite the teachers" initial negative perception of gifted education, the program helped them see it in a renewed perspective. Briefly, through the program, the teachers familiarized themselves with the basic theory and principle in gifted education. More importantly, they gained hands-on experience by discussing various issues in gifted education and creating class materials. The study concludes with pedagogical implications.
Seven foreign languages can be offered in the middle schools since 2001, based on the 7th National Curriculum of Korea. However, in reality, only five languages have been taken as elective subjects in these institutions. The purpose of this study is to present some basic directions for choosing elective subjects and its implication, by using statistic analysis about different motives in choosing Spanish. The first chapter begins mentioning some evaluations about Korean foreign language education policy on choosing foreign languages in the middle schools, the previous studies, and the purpose of this study. In the second chapter, statistic research method and data collection information are presented. In the third chapter, statistically meaningful results are described with SPSS cross tab tables. As a conclusion, the fourth chapter summarizes this study and recommends that elective courses should be chosen by students themselves, neither by school nor by others.
The purpose of this paper is to review the policy of foreign language education in France and to analyze its effects in primary and secondary schools, including the changes that have recent1y taken place. Under the assumption that languages ref1ect their culture, the administrative of France has tried to co、rer a variety of languages in Europe and to improve the quality of foreign language education. These efforts, however, appear to be unsuccessful due to the financial problems and the heavy emphasis on particular languages based on the social and economical reasons. Nevertheless, these efforts are valued highly, and provide some insights to the cωurre Korea.