Purpose: In this clinical focus article, the authors argue for robust vocabulary instruction with emergent bilingual learners both in inclusive classroom settings and in clinical settings for emergent bilinguals with language and literacy disorders. Robust vocabulary instruction focuses on high-utility academic words that carry abstract meanings…

For linguistically diverse communities, researchers have long questioned assessment approaches that disregard learners' multilingualism. Our study offers potential approaches that center contextualized, multilingual knowledges and skills within classroom-based language assessments with one teacher and his English foreign language courses for…

An Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) may be evaluated either during the interview procedure (direct-method) or from a tape-made oral interaction (semi-direct method). Such variety in methods of assessment can influence test takers' scores extensively. However, it is not conclusive whether such differences are due to test format or something else.…

Commissioner's Rules Concerning the State Plan for Educating English Language Learners (ELLs) states that all school districts that are required to provide bilingual education and/or English as a second language (ESL) programs establish and operate a Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC). The LPACs are charged with reviewing all…

Many ELT examinations have gone online in the last few years and a large number of educational institutions have also started considering the possibility of implementing their own tests. This paper deals with the training of a group of 24 ELT teachers in the Region of Valencia (Spain). In 2007, the Ministry of Education provided funds to determine…

Reviews principles for hardware selection, and forecasts the state of technology in terms of fidelity, feedback, and open architecture in language training. (six references) (GLR)

Suggests that, to understand the relationship between grammatical competence and actual communicative language use, a model is needed of classroom language processing that considers learners' own connections between meaning and form as a major factor in language use and language acquisition. (nine references) (GLR)

Literature is important in teaching English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL), because it motivates students, provides language models, offers ways to think creatively, provides opportunities for interaction, and enhances reading development. Criteria for selecting literature include student interest, linguistic accessibility, quality language, cultural…

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) National Professional Development Program helped language teachers familiarize themselves with the Languages Profile and collect and annotate work samples using the Profile. Their experiences become the basis for disseminating information among ACT language teachers. The paper presents recurrent issues raised…

Presents information on early language learning in Germany, describing reasons why German students need to start learning other languages early in their education, noting appropriate conditions for early language programs, and presenting goals for early foreign-language learning generated by Germany's Children Learn European Languages Association.…

Discusses the teaching of foreign languages to students below high school level, explores the problem of conducting adequate language programs during a budget crisis, and suggests what will be faced by the elementary school foreign language (FLES) programs of the year 2000. (nine references) (GLR)

The major articles in this publication devoted to applied linguistics and second language instruction include the following: (1) "The Centrality of Language: An Editorial," by James W. Marchand; (2) "Report on the Chicago Hearing of the President's Commission," by Paul A. Gaeng; (3) "Sense and Common Sense in the Study of…

Examines two proficiency testing models, the ACTFL/ETS Oral Proficiency Interview and another model developed at the University of Wisconsin, to determine which is more appropriate for use in academic settings and whether it is possible to combine the best of both models. (GLR)

Bloom's taxonomy suggests that the learning process moves hierarchically, from simple to complex, in both the cognitive and affective domains. Spanish curriculum typically emphasizes the cognitive over the affective domain. However, the two domains appear to be interrelated. Spanish FLES programs could be enhanced by emphasizing the learning…

Discusses ethnographic research in education issues that pertain to studies of second-language writing, examining six principles of ethnographic research, proposing and describing a prototype definition, reviewing three recent ethnographic studies of second-language writing, discussing generalizability, and introducing a series of issues critical…