Includes bibliographical references (p. 243-249) and an index.

Preface

1. The view on the way up: a wider perspective

2. Educational goals: the foreign-language teacher's response

3. From skill acquisition to language control

4. If only I could remember it all! Facts and fiction about memory in language learning

5. Linguistic and psychological factors in speech perception and their implications for listening and reading materials

6. Reading fluently: extracting meaning for pleasure and profit

7. Motivating through classroom techniques

8. Teacher-student relations: coercion or cooperation?

9. Understanding the learner in the language laboratory

10. Testing and student learning

11. From the pyramid to the commune: the evolution of the foreign-language department

12. The revolution now: revitalizing the university language departments

13. Conservation and innovation: foreign languages in two-year undergraduate institutions

14. Students, teachers, and the future

Appendix: ACTFL Provisional Proficiency Guidelines

Abbreviations used in notes and bibliography

Notes

Bibliography

Index

"Wilga M. Rivers is a leading authority on the theory and practice of language teaching. In this revised edition of her classic collection of essays, several new papers have been added, others dropped. All the articles have been significantly updated to reflect the author's view on issues of current concern to the language teaching profession. The articles are accompanied by thought-provoking discussion questions that will be valuable for teachers-in-training. Seasoned language teachers will also find these updated essays enormously useful. Professor Rivers deals with questions fundamental to the work of language teachers, including educational goals for foreign-language teachers, linguistic and psychological factors in learning, motivation, teacher-student relations, and the need for basic change in the role of university and college language departments." (Book Cover)