MSI Press Blog

Excerpt from Practices That Work by Thomas Jesus Garza.  Be Sensitive to Learning Styles   Betty Lou Leaver (Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center) Madeline Ehrman (Foreign Service Institute) Teachers working with language learners at all levels have for some decades now recognized that learners have specific sensory and cognitive preferences when it comes to learning and specific ways of interacting with classmates. These individual differences can be very important both in positive and negative ways in the language process, the significance of which may change as one progresses up the ladder of proficiency. One phenomenon that has been observed by language teachers and their learners over time is the “tortoise and hare” syndrome. Learners who are painfully accurate—and therefore slow— in the beginning of language study often outdistance their faster peers who can plateau at the Advanced/Superior threshold because they have become comfortable with being

Betty Lou Leaver (Ph.D., Pushkin Institute, Moscow) is Director of The Literary Center of San Juan Bautista and previously served as provost, associate provost, and dean at the Defense Language Institute. She established an international language program at NASA for cosmonauts and astronauts assigned to the International Space Station; served as a language training supervisor at the Foreign Service Institute, curriculum developer for the Federal Foreign Language Training Lab, dean and chief academic officer at the New York Institute of Technology in Jordan, president of the American Global Studies Institute, co-director of the Center for the Advancement of Distinguished Language Proficiency at San Diego State University, and founding director of the Center for the Languages of the Central Asian Region at Indiana University; and provided consultation to educational programs in 24 countries. She has published 21 books, more than 100 articles, and is currently co-editing a book,  Tran

  Dr, Betty Lou Leaver, MSI Press author , was interviewed on TeachRussian podcas t a while ago (better late than never to share the podcast) -  From  http://www.teachrussian.org/Podcasts#/ Teach Russian has started publishing a monthly Foreign Language Teaching Podcast which will bring you interviews with experienced teachers, SLA and bilingualism experts, textbook authors, and scholars who will share their thoughts on teaching foreign languages. The podcast host is Natasha McCauley, a visiting assistant professor of Russian studies at the University of Richmond.  In their first episode you can listen to an interview with Betty Lou Leaver (PhD, Pushkin Institute), former provost of the Defense Language Institute who is currently editing a book with Dr. Dan Davidson on Transformative Approaches to language learning and teaching. She defines transformation in language learning using terms such as “bilingualism,” “biculturalism,” and “reaching outside the classroom.”  To listen to the po

  Betty Lou Leaver's book, Transformative Language Learning and Teaching (see affiliate books), published by Cambridge University Press, recently received the American Association of Teachers of Slavic and East European Languages book prize for Best Book in Pedagogy 2022. Leaver, Davidson, and Campbell’s  Transformative Language Learning and Teaching  is a groundbreaking volume on the theory and practice of transformative teaching in the language learning context. The world language education field has experienced many methodological upheavals corresponding to theoretical or practical paradigms over the past century. The editors of this volume distill these changes into three large patterns whose practices are based on educational philosophies the primary paradigm of which encompasses three elements: transmission, in which information flows unidirectionally from teacher to learner, resulting in rote memory, reproduction, and accuracy; (2) transaction, in which information flows bi

  Betty Lou Leaver's book, Think Yourself into a Language Learning Superstar , is featured in January Magazine . For more posts about Betty Lou Leaver and her books, click HERE .

  Dr. Betty Lou Leaver, MSI Press author and managing editor of MSI Press, recently co-edited a book, Open Architecture Curricular Design in World Language Education , with Andrew Corin and Christine Campbell, to be published by Georgetown University Press in July 2025. The book is currently on pre-order. Reviews "This groundbreaking volume productively combines theory and practice. Through engaging examples, author-practitioners demonstrate that open architecture curricular design is both effective and feasible. They show how OACD principles—learner agency, instructor mentorship, flexibility, and focus on authentic materials—can be implemented at all levels of language instruction and program design."—Karen Evans-Romaine, professor, University of Wisconsin–Madison "Corin, Leaver, and Campbell's volume provides readers with an extraordinary introduction to open architecture curricular design (OACD). The volume is extremely helpful for language instructors, program di

 Murjan, born in Jordan, traveled to the USA when he was just a couple of years old. He is the only domestic cat among the six cats, but he quickly established himself as the alpha cat. He sometimes thinks he is human and likes soft and warm sleeping spots. Other times, he is certain he is a dog, likes to be walked on a leash, and rolls over to have his belly rubbed.  Murjan loves to communicate, especially having night time discussions with his human.  He will even listen to and obey little ones.   For many months,  Happy Cat hung out in the bushes, waiting for the other feral cats to finish eating the food that had kindly been set outside. Then, one day he became very ill, climbed the 17 steps to the Leaver front door, where he fell, exhausted. Betty Lou discovered him there, scooped him up, and took him to the vet. Happy Cat had a serious lung infection. Once healed, it was not safe to let him outside. That did not matter because he was delighted to have found a home and will not ve

  Betty Lou Leaver, managing editor of the MSI Press LLC, has joined with two colleagues, to edit a groundbreaking book on transformative education. The back of the book says it all: Transformative learning has been widely used in the field of adult education for over 20 years, yet until recently has received little attention in the field of world languages. Drawing on test practices and research of distinguished international world language experts, this volume provides theoretical and classroom -tested models of transformative education in world languages in major university, state, and government programs. Chapters outline theoretical frameworks and detail successful models from cutting-edge programs in a wide range of languages, with plenty of examples included to make the theory accessible to readers not yet familiar with the concepts. Classroom teachers, program administrators, and faculty developers will find support for their courses. With its innovative approach to the teachin

One of the fun things that a publisher (or at least, an acquisitions editor) gets to experience is meeting more than one member of a family -- as authors whose work we publish. In this series of presenting family authors, we take note of the Leaver writers, who have written books in various combinations and solo. Above pictured is Betty Lou Leaver and Shenan (CB) Leaver, who collaborated on Mommy Our House Guest , a fun book that has gained a number of afficionados and been serialized in a magazine.  Betty Lou, who has written dozens of books, including, for MSI Press, Think Yourself into Becoming a Language Learning Super Star and The Invisible Foreign Language Classroom (with Laura Dabbs) and Carl, who typeset and designed the covers of many MSI Press publications and edited Overcoming the Odds , collaborated on the book,  Intrepid.  who unfortunately passed away in 2021 from Cancer of Unknown Primary, Carl, unfortunately, passed away suddenly in 2021 from Cancer of Unknown Primar