This book examines approaches to teaching students who aim to make the leap from "advanced" or "superior" proficiency in a foreign language to "near-native" ability. While there are an abundance of publications on classroom techniques and methods for lower levels of instruction, almost nothing exists about the transition, which is vital for those who intend to use foreign languages in high-level arenas. Compiled by leading practitioners in this area of foreign language teaching, the book fills the gap for those developing programs at the "advanced to distinguished" level.

Contributors: Richard Brecht, Betty Lou Leaver, Boris Shekhtman, Claudia Angelelli, Christian Degueldre, Cornelius Kubler, Ekaterina Kuznetsova, Elena Ovtcharenko, Natalia Lord, Tim Caudery, Olga Kagan, Zita Dabars, Madeline Ehrman, Catherine W. Ingold, Heidi Byrnes, Elsaid Badawi, Sabine Atwell