MSI Press Blog

      excerpt from  Individualized Study Plans for Very Advanced Students of Foreign Languages  by Betty Lou Leaver Chapter Two The Need for an ISP at High Levels of Foreign Language Proficiency Achieving near-native competence generally does not come by serendipity, coincidence, accident, or “a fluke,” although occasionally (rarely) such things do happen. I know of several people who have said that high level proficiency just happened to them—but even so, it was only after many, many years of study and use of the foreign language in professional situations. Most high-level language users have reported spending much time in direct instruction, study abroad, and self-study (Leaver, 2003a). The average length of time taken by native-like speakers of nearly any foreign language, based on recent research, is 17 years (Leaver and Atwell, 2002). Some learners have been able to achieve this level, however, in much shorter periods of time. Most of these learners had a ...

Every few days this year (2025), we plan to sift through our author pages and find the hidden video and audio gems because, let's face it, though they often contain fascinating videos and audio gems, often those reading the pages don't have time to listen at the moment and may not find their way back easily. There is often something special about hearing an author's voice. We plan to bring that "special" throughout this coming year. Today's gem was recorded by Teach Russian.org and an interview with Dr. Betty Lou Leaver, MSI Press managing editor, on differentiated instruction. Listen to it HERE . Read more posts by and about  Betty Lou Leaver  and her works. VISIT OUR  WEBSITE  TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL OUR AUTHORS AND TITLES. GET 25% OFF ALL OUR BOOKS WITH COUPON CODE FF25 AT OUR  WEBSTORE .   Sign up for the MSI Press LLC monthly newsletter (recent releases, sales/discounts, awards, reviews, Amazon top 100 list, author advice, and more -- stay up to date) ...

Today's story behind the book gives a look behind the scenes at  Think Yourself into Becoming a Language Learning Superstar  by Dr. Betty Lou Leaver. From the Author This book was an amalgamation and an outgrowth of the Tuesday language learning tips I would sent out to students on every Tuesday morning when I was the Provost of the Defense Language Institute-Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC). When I retired and become more involved with the civilian and academic worlds, the need for this book -- ways to improve (and speed up) language learning success was clear. In assembling books for MSI Press to exhibit at a CATESOL conference, it made sense to refine and organize these tips into a book for all language learners to have as a feature at the conference. And so this book came into being.  For more posts about Betty Lou and her books, click  HERE .  VISIT OUR  WEBSITE  TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL OUR AUTHORS AND TITLES. Purchase this book at 25% discou...

Every few days this year (2025), we plan to sift through our author pages and find the hidden video and audio gems because, let's face it, though they often contain fascinating videos and audio gems, often those reading the pages don't have time to listen at the moment and may not find their way back easily. There is often something special about hearing an author's voice. We plan to bring that "special" to you every few days this coming year. The first gem was recorded by the International Transformative Learning Association after a conference at Columbia University and features MSI Press author, Emilie Cleret ( Journal for Distinguished Language Studies ) and MSI Press managing editor, Betty Lou Leaver (author of Achieving Nativelike Second Language Competence  and Think Yourself into Becoming a Language Learning Super Star and co-author of The Invisible Classroom ). Emilie also wrote a book chapter for the book, Transformative Language Learning and Teaching (...