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This paper discusses how the introduction of Anglophone popular culture in the English-as-a-foreign-language class can serve to foster critical aesthetic experiences. It is argued that the popular culture of the hegemonic Anglophone countries is already part of students' lives and for that reason should be included in any critical Anglophone studies curriculum. Contemporary theories of popular culture, literary criticism, and foreign language pedagogy are reviewed and a dialogue is established between these perspectives and Deweyan philosophy. The study of popular culture offer students opportunities for critical reflection, while allowing them to exercise their imaginative, emotional, and creative faculties. These aesthetic encounters also have the power to improve cross-cultural understanding. (Contains 64 references.) (BD)

This paper discusses a framework for teaching English as a foreign language that incorporates significant cultural content and fosters critical encounters with Anglophone culture. It reviews relevant contemporary perspectives for understanding cross-cultural processes within the foreign language teaching environment with emphasis on the issue of identity formation. A dialogue is created between Anglophone culture and students' native culture, leading to development of intercultural intelligence. One element of such an approach might be the creation of Anglophone studies, which would draw on sociology, anthropology, history, and other disciplines in addition to linguistics. The study of postcolonial literature is recommended. (Contains 64 references.) (DB)

This Spanish-language report offers a framework for the analysis and evaluation of intervention on children's behalf against which to analyze actions upon their environment. The first section looks at the complex issue of defining suitable child development outcomes for intervention programs, noting that because the concept of childhood varies across cultures and classes, definitions of developmental outcomes need to take into account cultural and class variables. The second section examines two examples of environmental conditions that threaten children's development, poverty and prejudice, and explains how both situations involve complex systems of adverse circumstances that tend to be chronic and that interact in a multiplicative fashion with respect to negative effects on children's development. The third section summarizes briefly the characteristics of a general model for planning and analyzing the results of interventions on children's behalf, recommending that interventions: (1) be child-centered; (2) be culturally sensitive; (3) be multi-faceted to combat multiple affiliations; (4) support families, improve health care and school, and enhance neighborhood conditions; and (5) demolish societal barriers to child development. An afterword examines the implications of the findings for future program development. Contains 90 references. (AP)

This paper reflects on the need to include the arts in the teaching of English as a Foreign Language, thus strengthening the students' imagination. The article begins by defining the concepts of "the arts, "imagination," and "emotion." It goes on to examine the perspectives and claims of studies from different disciplines on these concepts and their ensuing interrelationships. Based on these observations, the paper discusses how the arts and the use of imagination can contribute to intercultural understanding. Finally, the article ends by reflecting on the possible impact of including the arts in English language programs and by posing the question, "Exactly how can the arts widen your horizon?" (SM)

This paper, written in Spanish, focuses on the instruction of English as a Second Language in the context of cultural understanding, rather than from a purely linguistic point of view. It argues that foreign language instruction should include lessons in the field of sociology, anthropology, history, geography, politics, the arts, and popular culture to foster not only academic learning, but also a level of "social empathy." Through the study of postcolonial literature, new perspectives are provided vis-a-vis the formerly dominating nation and the students' own culture to allow the student to develop his own "voice" and accept his own diversified identity. (AS)

This paper speculates about whether a literary canon exists in contemporary Latin American literature, particularly in the prose genre. The paper points to Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Mario Vargas Llosa as the three authors who might form this traditional and liberal canon with their works "La Muerte de Artemio Cruz" (Fuentes), "Cien Anos de Soledad" (Garcia Marquez), and "La Cuiudad y los Perros" (Vargas Llosa). It discusses how the idea of a literary canon came about originally and how the canon of Latin American literature seems to be based mostly on the votes of publishing houses, reviews, anthologies, and preferences of academics. The paper states that, in a 1995 study Joan Brown and Crista Johnson found: "The present study indicates that there is currently no canon of 20th century prose fiction for Spanish or Spanish American literature, if "canonical" is defined as a work's presence on every reading list. Not one novel was selected unanimously by the Spanish faculty studied." Despite this finding, the paper contends that the three novels cited, because of their structure, aesthetics, linguistic expression, and thematic richness, form a Latin American literary canon. (NKA)

This paper discusses Wilga Rivers' seven language teaching objectives. Particular focus is on the following three language teaching objectives: (1) giving students the experience of expressing themselves linguistically and culturally in a context different from that in which they grew up; (2) fostering students' understanding of other peoples' viewpoints; and (3) endowing students with the abilities that enable them to communicate orally and in writing in both personal and professional contexts with speakers of other languages. (CNP)

This paper argues that current "postmodern" conditions demand a rethinking of higher education, especially in countries like Mexico. This would involve the rapprochement of science, technology, and the humanities, based on the belief that the chasm separating them, apart from being artificial, is no longer socially viable. Through a critical perspective that reviews the work of various authors and examines several theories, the paper proposes guidelines for a dialogue to reconcile these currently separated disciplinary domains, with the hope that it will be of aid in the timely formation of open, multidimensional, and critical university graduates. (Contains 36 references.) (Author)

This paper offers a rationale and a design for a graduate program in Educational Leadership to be implemented in Venezuelan universities. The rationale for the program points out that schools are the main source of leadership development, and teachers and administrators need to be aware of their leadership roles and their roles as agents of societal change. The new program aspires to break the old paradigm of educational management and educational administration which is not responding to the new imperatives of societal change. The paper examines the development of leadership theories and models, discusses the socioeducational implications of the current state of the art in education, analyzes the feasibility of designing and implementing a postgraduate career in Educational Leadership, and proposes some indicators that may delineate the curriculum design of a graduate program in Educational Leadership. (Author/JDD)

This article, written in Spanish, proposes to incorporate the subject "Anglophonism" into the curriculum of English as a Foreign Language (EILE) with a view to providing universities with an intercultural division. It provides a brief summary of John Dewey's philosophy with regard to anthropology, politics, and education. It explains the term "anglophonism," the study of the English language in a cultural context, and its relevance for EILE in setting up anglophone studies. Finally, emphasizes the importance of postcolonial English-speaking literature for providing students with thoughts on intercultural issues. (AS)

Drawing on writings by recent post-modernist thinkers and semioticians, this paper focuses on a combination of hermeneutic and semiotic viewpoints and applies them to defining the nature of interpretation in an educational setting (e.g., text interpretation), the interpreter, and the essence of the act of comprehension and interpretation. The main examples discussed come from English as a foreign language and blend aspects of Dewey's educational thinking with the hermeneutic approach. (Contains 15 references.) (CNP)