The current study examined cognitive effects of two pathways of second language (L2) acquisition longitudinally in Chinese speakers learning English in an L2-dominant environment. Thirty-nine participants who attended an intensive 10-week English course (L2-instruction group) were compared to 38 participants who attended regular university courses…

Providing a comprehensive survey of cutting-edge work on second language learning, this "Handbook," written by a team of leading experts, surveys the nature of second language learning and its implications for teaching. Prominent theories and methods from linguistics, psycholinguistics, processing-based, and cognitive approaches are…

How do young people experience camp, and how might that experience help us expand our understanding of what is possible in non-formal learning environments? In-depth interviews consisting of forced-choice and open-ended questions were conducted with 59 Concordia Language Villages residential camp participants who partake in a linguistically and…

Using a student's native language, either as a medium of instruction or as a scaffolding technique, has been used effectively in many classrooms throughout the U.S. In the past, many schools provided native language instruction to meet the needs of English Language Learners (ELLs). However, with the advent of antibilingual education proposals such…

The impetus to begin Bilingual Buds came about six years ago when the author, pregnant with twins and commuting into New York City, was reading about the numerous cognitive benefits for children of acquiring a second language early in their lives. She was surprised to learn that even by the age of six months, children begin to lose the ability to…

Recent research by Swain (2000a, 2000b, 1998, 1995), Swain and Lapkin (2001, 1998, 1995) and Kowal and Swain (1997, 1994) has examined the role of collaborative tasks in focusing immersion students' attention on the need for explicit knowledge of grammatical forms and lexical items in the production (especially written) of French texts. This is…

The cognitive aspect of second language learning, specifically by immersion method, is discussed from a biological perspective. The approach taken is that of "connectionism," a recently-developed theoretical and experimental approach to human cognition. It is argued that while general cognitive functioning is unaffected by language immersion,…

The English-as-a-second-language teacher's role is explored, with five specific areas of responsibility elaborated: (1) providing comprehensible input; (2) preparing learners to cope with nonclassroom language; (3) providing references and resource materials; (4) providing focused instruction in particular areas of language; and (5) providing…

This paper discusses some major theories of social and educational change (e.g., evolutionary theory, structural functional theory, systems theory, group conflict theory, and cultural revival and social movement theory), and delineates the identification and interpretation of variables relevant to an understanding of bilingual education within the…

The textbook for training bilingual education teachers addresses psychological and social questions that enable teachers to define more clearly what they want to do in a classroom, and offers theoretical and practical information for a variety of social contexts. The first section addresses individualism and the social nature of bilingualism, and…

This book contains 19 readings covering three decades of the work of academic Jim Cummins. Section 1, "The 1970s," includes: "A Theoretical Perspective on the Relationship between Bilingualism and Thought"; "The Influence of Bilingualism on Cognitive Growth: An Synthesis of Research Findings and Explanatory…