This study investigated the effectiveness of two English second language (ESL) teaching methodologies commonly used in bilingual classrooms: concurrent translation, often criticized but widely practiced, and dual language preview-review, which combines introductory and follow-up exercises in the first language and lesson teaching in the second…

A study was done to develop and evaluate a program designed to improve the academic and personal achievement of Hispanic American high school students. The study posited that the causes of Hispanic American students' belief that they could not achieve were: (1) dysfunctional learned behaviors; and (2) acculturation difficulties. Using findings on…

A survey of students in the school of economics in an Italian university investigated the following: (1) students' attitudes toward and interest in learning English as a second language; (2) their perceived need for using the language personally, academically, and professionally; (3) their assessment of their own second language proficiency; and…

Materials concerning the 1978 national college entrance examination in the People's Republic of China are presented. This was the first nationally standardized test taken in China since the Cultural Revolution began in 1966. The examination contained tests in eight subjects: mathematics, physics, chemistry, politics, history, geography, Chinese…

Purpose: A pilot study of the "Language, Literacy, & Vocabulary!" program was conducted by Learning Gauger, Inc., for National Geographic School Publishing, in spring 2006. The program evaluation examined the classroom adoption approaches used by participating teachers and the subsequent impact of the "Language, Literacy, &…

A study demonstrated that integratively motivated secondary students in French courses volunteered more answers, gave more correct responses, and were more satisfied with participation. The teacher's behavior seemed affected by these factors. References, a list of test battery subscales used, and the Language Research Group National Test Battery…

A study investigated the relationship between language contacts made outside of the classroom by Japanese foreign students and how those contacts affect their participation within the classroom and their overall academic performance. Subjects were 32 university students from Japan enrolled in an intensive language program. All of the students had…

This report describes the design and development of the MASTER program, an autoinstructional model to supplement introductory foreign language courses, and examines its application in two French language courses offered at Brevard Community College. The first sections contain introductory material, a review of the literature on second-language…

Four writing samples were obtained from 638 foreign college applicants who represented three major foreign language groups (Arabic, Chinese, and Spanish), and from 60 native English speakers. All four were scored holistically, two were also scored for sentence-level and discourse-level skills, and some were scored by the Writer's Workbench…

The content characteristics of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) are examined from a communicative viewpoint, based on current theory in applied linguistics and language proficiency assessment. The study employed a four-part operational framework. The first component analyzed the communicative characteristics of a language…

The effectiveness of teaching academic courses such as mathematics and science in a foreign language has been investigated by several international studies in the literature. Even though the studies conducted have brought up contradictory results, most of them reveal that learning academic courses through a foreign language medium may pose…

English language learners (ELLs) with disabilities, especially Hmong, Latinos, and Somalis, exhibit the lowest academic performance and participation rates on statewide tests of academic achievement required by No Child Left Behind (NCLB). These challenges are even more acute for learners with disabilities among these groups and likely reflect the…

This study examined the talk of 20 university level learners of Mandarin as a Second Language in three instructional modes: teacher-led (TL), unstructured group work (UGW), and structured group work using a cooperative learning technique (SGW), in this case, Jigsaw. Statistical analyses showed that more learner talk (in terms of turns and c-units)…

English for Mass Communication is a course offered by the Faculty of Communication and Media Studies to the students studying at the Departments of Journalism, Radio, Television and Film, and Public Relations and Advertising in their sophomore year. Students taking this course are required to make a presentation at the end of the semester. In…

Experience and observation as learners and teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) convince us that memorization seems to be one of the learning methods that helps EFL students learn and use the English language, provided that memorization is used appropriately to help learners to internalise what they have learned to apply in actual…