MSI Press Blog

  Once learners move beyond ILR 3, the landscape of useful resources changes dramatically. The mainstream language‑learning world—apps, textbooks, university courses—simply doesn’t operate at the level where nuance, inference, and cultural precision become the core curriculum. ILR 4 learners need materials created by people who understand what near‑native proficiency looks like, how it develops, and how to support it. These resources exist, but they’re scattered across government agencies, specialized journals, and niche academic communities. Here’s where the real ILR 4 knowledge lives. The Journal for Distinguished Language Studies This is the closest thing to a dedicated home for ILR 4 and ILR 5 scholarship. The Journal for Distinguished Language Studies publishes theory related to attaining ILR 4, research on the cognitive profiles of distinguished learners, pedagogical strategies for near‑native proficiency, and case studies from government and academic programs. It’s one ...

Excerpt from Working with Advanced Foreign Language Students (Boris Shekhtman) -  Preface  This little booklet is far weightier than many tomes four times its size. The nuggets of wisdom distilled in it come from more than two decades of extraordinarily successful experience in working with students at the highest levels of foreign-language proficiency. The quality of Boris Shekhtman’s instruction and his insight into advanced students’ learning needs is a subject with which I have had first-hand knowledge year after year.  Many years ago, in 1984, Boris, and a colleague, Natalia Lord, approached me, as their supervisor at the Foreign Service Institute (FSI), with a request to develop a course for advanced students. Any student who had already reached Superior-level proficiency at that time and was returning to FSI for a refresher or enhancement course, was treated as a tutorial. However, Boris and Natalia saw the possibilities in grouping these students into...