University of Hawai'i National Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC).(News From Sponsoring Organizations)

The University of Hawai'i National Foreign Language Resource Center engages in research and materials development projects and conducts Summer Institutes for language professionals among its many activities.

Available Online from the NFLRC

Reading in a Foreign Language: A refereed international online journal of issues in foreign language reading and literacy Reading in a Foreign Language has established itself as an excellent source for the latest developments in the field, both theoretical and pedagogic, including improving standards for foreign language reading. The journal is published twice a year (in April and October) and is jointly sponsored by the National Foreign Language Resource Center and the Department of Second Language Studies at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Visit nflrc.hawaii.edu/rfl/ to see the latest issue and sign up for a free subscription.

Study online--Advanced Web-based Chinese, Japanese, and Korean courses Through the NFLRC, the University of Hawai'i offers distance learning opportunities in advanced Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language via the World Wide Web. The courses are available to students and individuals as well as to institutions and businesses. For more information, visit nflrc.hawaii.edu.

Summer Professional Development Opportunities

Apart from our 2003 NFLRC Summer Institutes, the NFLRC is pleased to co-sponsor the 2003 Society for Pidgin and Creole Linguistics Summer Conference (August 14-17, 2003). Highlights will include invited plenary speakers Derek Bickerton (University of Hawai'i at Manoa), Barbara Lalla (University of the West Indies at St Augustine), and Kenneth Sumbuk (University of Papua New Guinea), sessions on creole literature and Hawai'i Creole English ("pidgin"), cultural and sight-seeing tours, and much more!

NFLRC Publications

NFLRC Hawai'i has recently added two new technical reports to their publications catalog. The first, An Investigation of Second Language Task-Based Performance Assessments (Brown, Hudson, Norris, & Bonk), describes the creation and validation of performance assessment instruments. The second, New Technologies and Language Learning: Cases in the Less Commonly Taught Languages (Spreen, Ed.), is a collection of case studies presenting technology-based options for language programming that will help universities make more informed decisions about teaching less commonly taught languages. Three of our more popular titles--Language Learning Strategies Around the World: Cross-Cultural Perspectives; Second Language Development in Writing: Measures of Fluency, Accuracy, and Complexity; and Motivation and Second Language Acquisition--have gone into second or third printings. All technical reports can be purchased online through University of Hawai'i Press. (http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/)

The third video in a series of language teaching demo tapes from Tim Murphey is now available. NPRM (Near Peer Role Modeling) demonstrates ways in which teachers might use students in their own classes to motivate and inspire other students, to offer them alternative strategies and beliefs, and to allow them to learn more quickly and deeply. Check out other NFLRC publications, including CD-ROMs, videos, free online downloadable publications, and more at nflrc.hawaii.edu.

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