Howdy
I'm a former university professor and the author of a new book: Monolingual Americans: Why we can't learn foreign languages. I may post excerpts from my book here, and I welcome your comments.
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This book is a critical examination of the failure of the current foreign-language teaching model in the United States, based primarily on the author’s first-hand experience as a language learner and teacher, and secondarily on interdisciplinary research. The target audience includes virtually anyone interested in the teaching or learning of foreign languages.
The need for this book has never been greater. Every day we can see on TV, in magazines, on the Internet, or even in academia, ads for quick and easy foreign language proficiency. This false advertising serves only to mask our linguistic incompetence and interferes with much needed progress in the struggle for increasing foreign language acquisition.
About the author
William Jiraffales is the author’s pen name. He earned a Master of Arts degree in ESL and a Ph.D. in Spanish, both from U.S. research universities. He has taught English and Spanish for twenty years in a variety of educational settings in the U.S. and abroad, including seven years at a U.S. university, where, despite having been promoted to Associate Professor and having been awarded tenure, he resigned his position in protest of the administration's pressure to maintain low academic standards. At press time he is happy to be teaching in an excellent high school.
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For a free preview of a new and unique book, go to iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-47388-1
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