Irene Thompson Ph.D.

Professor Emerita, The George Washington University
co-editor, Language Learning & Technology
Senior Consultant, National Foreign Language Resource Center, University of Hawai'i

Education
• Ph.D., The George Washington University, Experimental Psychology (1982)
• MS., Georgetown University, Linguistics (1978)
• BS., Georgetown University, Linguistics (1965)

Teaching and administration
• Chair, Department of Slavic Languages, The George Washington University (1989-95)
• Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor of Russian, The George Washington University (1968-95)
• Visiting Professor, Bryn Mawr College, Summer Institutes for Language Teachers (1989-94)
• Visiting Professor, Middlebury College Summer School (1984-86)
• Supervising Linguist, Russian Program, Foreign Service Institute (1981-83)

Courses taught
• Russian Language, all levels, including distance
• Russian and Slavic Linguistics
• Applied Linguistics
• Language Teaching Methodology
• Second Language Acquisition

Professional activities
• Developer, National Virtual Translation Center Languages of the World
• Developer, NFLRC Multimedia Language Learning Software (2003)
• Developer, Russian Video Oral Proficiency Test (VOCI), LARC, California State University San Diego (1995)
• Member, ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview Advisory Committee (1993-95, 1999-2002)
• Member, American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR) Board of Directors (1984-95)
• Chair, Development Committee for Educational Testing Service Comprehensive Russian Proficiency Test (1988-90)
• ACTFL Certified Oral Proficiency Tester in Russian (since 1985)
• ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview tester trainer (1986-2002)
• Chair Development Committee for Educational Testing Service Advanced Russian Reading and Listening Tests (1983-1986)

Workshops
• Over 35 ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) tester training workshops
• Over 40 curriculum workshops in the US
• Workshop on research methods in reading and listening, Seigakuin University, Tokyo, Japan (1997)
• NEH Summer Institutes for Russian Language Teachers, Bryn Mawr College (1989-1994)
• University of Hawaii NLFRC Summer Language Institute on Self-Directed Learning Materials and Strategies (1999)
• Peace Corps OPI Tester Training Workshops in Botswana, Lesotho, and Tanzania (1993)
• Peace Corps OPI Tester Training Workshops in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrghyzstan (1994)

Selected publications
Books
Reading Real Russian (second edition). (1998). Prentice Hall.
How to Be a More Successful Language Learner (with J. Rubin) (1994). Heinle & Heinle.

Articles and chapters
Language and literature – a natural alliance. (1999) In P. Rollberg (ed.) And Meaning for a Life Entire: Festschrift for Charles A. Moser. Slavica.

Can strategy instruction improve listening comprehension? (with J. Rubin). (1996). Foreign Language Annals, 29 (3), 331-42.
Assessing foreign language skills: Data from Russian. (1996). The Modern Language Journal, 80(1), 47-65.
Assessment of second/foreign language listening comprehension. In D.J. Mendelsohn and J. Rubin (Eds.). (1995). A Guide for the Teaching of Second Language Listening, 14-31. Dominie Press.
Inter-rater reliability of the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview in five European Languages: Data from English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish. (1995). Foreign Language Annals, 28(3), 407-422.
An investigation of the effects of texts and tasks on listening comprehension: Some evidence from Russian (1993). Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics.
Foreign accents revisited: The English pronunciation of Russian immigrants. (1991). Language Learning, 41(2), 177-204.
The proficiency movement: Where do we go from here? (1991). Slavic and East European Journal, 35(3), 375-89.
Issues of teaching reading in a foreign language: Theory and practice. (1990). In D. Davidson (ed.) American Contributions to the VII International Congress of MAPRIAL, 51-78. American Council of Teachers of Russian.
Opyt pragmaticheskogo testirovanija ustnoj kommunikativnoj kompetencii: Test-intervju. (1990). Russkij jazyk za rubezhom, 66-71.
Memory in language learning. (1987). In J. Rubin and A. Wenden (eds.) Learner Strategies in Language Learning, 43-56. Prentice Hall.
Issues concerning the less commonly taught languages. (1987). (with R.T. Thompson and D. Hiple). In P. Lowe and C. Stansfield (eds.) Foreign Language Proficiency Assessment, 83-124. Prentice Hall.

Conference presentations
Taxonomy for the evaluation of multimedia software. CALICO Annual Conference, San Diego, CA. 1998.
Reading and the acquisition of vocabulary. UCLA and California AATSEEL, Los Angeles, CA, 1998.
Teaching reading in distance education classrooms. University of Hawaii, NFLRC, Summer Institute on Distance Education, 1997.
Speaking portfolios in small groups. Hawaiian Language Teachers Association, 1996.
Inter-rater reliability of the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview. American Association of Applied Linguistics, Long Beach, CA, 1995.
Can strategy training improve L2 listening comprehension? American Association of Applied Linguistics, Baltimore, MD, 1994.
An investigation of the effects of texts and tasks on listening comprehension. Georgetown University Round Table on Language and Linguistics, Washington D.C., 1993.
An experiment in teaching listening strategies. American Educational Research Association. San Francisco, CA, 1992.
Listening comprehension: What do we know about it? AATSEEL Conference, San Francisco, CA, 1991.
Listening comprehension strategies. ACTFl Annual Convention. Washington, D.C., 1991.
Designing and validating a Russian listening/reading proficiency test. Northeast Conference. New York City, 1991.
Nekotorye voprosy obuchenija inojazychnomu chteniju. 8th International Congress of MAPRIAL, Moscow, 1990.
Obuchenie chteniju: Ot teorii k praktike. AAASS Convention. Washington, D.C., 1990.
Achievement, prochievement, and proficiency tests in the foreign language curriculum AATSEEL Annual Convention, Washington, D.C., 1989.
Developmental study of lexical search strategies in L2. Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics. Washington, D.C., 1988.
Dealing with lexical ‘distress at different levels of speaking proficiency. AATSEEL Annual Convention. San Francisco, CA, 1986.
Changes in the receptive skills guidelines. ACTFL Annual Convention. New York City. 1985.
Memory research and its implications for language learning and language teaching. TESOL Annual Convention, Houston, TX, 1984.
Formal and informal input in the language classroom. AAASS Convention, Kansas City, 1983.

Contact: thompson@roadstarinternet.net