Will 1

Describe your past experiences as a learner of Russian.

H: so what are your past experiences ( )

S: well I was initially trained as a military linguist (.) A Russian linguist at the defense language institute in Monterey California which uh you probably know is a very intensive program it’s uh six hours of classroom a day with another hour of homework every night for um forty seven weeks or at least that was the length of um the course when I was there in 1996(.) 1995 1996 um basically other than that I’ve also done some um (.) scholarly work uh translating um ( ) texts into English for liturgical use for the Russian orthodox church and um other than that um I also spent sometime at the George C. Marshall center uh which is the foreign language training center in Europe and uh the only time I’ve ever been to Russia was one week during that course of study um so paid by the government very nice went to Petersburgh, it was beautiful

Reflections – Compare the experiences of both Will and Rebecca in an intensive language program. How do their attitudes and motivational factors differ? Would you anticipate a difference in their language proficiency as a result? Why or why not? What signals some similarities, if any, between the two?

Have you noticed a difference in students’ motivation based on whether or not the course is required or elected? If so, what challenges does this raise for your instructional practices? How have you typically addressed these challenges?

Will 2

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