High-quality oral language interventions support children's readiness for formal literacy instruction, and yet guidance for multilingual classrooms is not available. To address this gap, we drew on the empirical literature on linguistically diverse learners, classroom linguistic environments, and usage-based theories to identify principles for…

Language sample analysis (LSA) has been called the "gold standard" for clinical language assessment with children learning more than one language. The research literature discussing this clinical tool with bilingual children has grown substantially in recent years. This article reviews and synthesizes the literature on LSA in order to…

Prior research shows that preliteracy development of children with a hearing loss from homes where English is not the primary language parallels literacy development in children with hearing loss from monolingual homes. Although there are some parallels, there are also some elements that are unique to children from linguistically diverse,…

Children adopted from abroad at older ages have unique speech and language-learning issues. At adoption, the impact of longer stays in orphanages with their associated lack of enrichment, nutrition, and healthcare is more pronounced. After adoption, the children begin school in a new language soon after arriving home. These children quickly lose…

A review of pragmatic structures that are a part of second language learning is intended to provide insights for speech-language pathologists working with bilingual students in the schools. Among topics covered are conversational postulates, presuppositions, and performatives. Suggestions for helping the bilingual language learner are offered. (CL)

Rebuts the monolithic view of language in which languages are discrete entities which clash in bilingual communities by suggesting that immigrant communities tend to develop mixed vernaculars in which children may well achieve fluency in the language of the larger society. Circumstances under which such fluency does not develop are identified.…

The author examines adjustment problems of Southeast Asian refugees in the U.S., noting conflict with their traditional orientation to learning and linguistic difficulties in acquiring English. Seven guidelines are offered for teaching, including an emphasis on survival skills and vocabulary and grammar rather than on pronunciation. (CL)

This article examines age-related variables (e.g., neurological, cognitive, affective) in the acquisition of a second-language phonology and discusses six evaluation and intervention issues, including mispronunciations as an indicator of either disordered speech or normal second-language learning, culture and language influences, and effective…

After describing the principles of culturally compatible education, the characteristics of Native American and mainstream narrative discourse are compared, and teaching the structure, content, and style of mainstream narratives is advocated. A program designed to facilitate Native American elementary school children's abilities to comprehend and…