In children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, social communication deficits are identified as core developmental impairments. The ability to carry on a conversation through verbal exchanges poses challenges for individuals on the spectrum. The impact of exposure to a multilingual and multicultural environment on children with ASD is unknown and few…

This report presents third grade English language learner students' 2012-2013 STAAR and TELPAS results and provides a comparison by program type.

This longitudinal case study investigated how linguistic identity was constructed, constrained, and performed by three sisters, aged 1, 12, and 17, within one bilingual, transnational Ecuadorian-U.S. family. Data were collected over 14 months through weekly home visits that included participant observation, informal interviews, and…

This study examined whether type of early language experience provides advantages to heritage speakers over second language (L2) learners with morphology, and investigated knowledge of gender agreement and its interaction with diminutive formation. Diminutives are a hallmark of Child Directed Speech in early language development and a highly…

Very high-level, functional ability in foreign languages is increasingly important in many walks of life. It is also very rare, and likely requires an early start and/or a special aptitude. This study investigated the extent to which aptitude for explicit learning, defined as "analytic ability" and aptitude for implicit learning, defined…

In conversations between immigrants and officials, problems of understanding are often noticeable. About 280 recordings realised at the Argentine Aliens' Department and at several public authorities in Germany show that knowledge divergences regarding linguistic, cultural and institutional knowledge result in (sometimes grave) difficulties of…

In this study, participants learning an endangered language variety shared their experiences, thoughts, and feelings about the often complex and diverse language-learning process. I used phenomenological interviews in order to learn more about these English or Spanish language speakers' journey with the Nahuatl language. From first encounter to…

The purpose of this study is to analyze the progress of 14 Spanish-speaking learners of English during a period abroad from a longitudinal perspective. Oral and written data were collected three times during an academic year at a British university. These samples were analyzed in terms of fluency, syntactic complexity, lexical richness, and…

The developmental progression hypothesis for phonological awareness states that children perform better on lower level tasks and has been addressed mainly in the literature with children beginning at age 5. In addition, there has been a limited amount of research done regarding the performance of dual-language learners younger than age 5 on…

The study compared participant comprehension of foreign language video content using two advance organizer (AO) strategies while exploring the benefits of AOs as proficiency increases. Participants were 50 advanced-beginner Spanish college students in three sections. Collaborative reading condition participants read a target language narrative…

Growing numbers of schools are offering dual-language classes, where teachers split instruction between English and a second language. The numbers of dual-language-immersion programs have been steadily growing in public schools over the past decade or so, rising to more than 2,000 in 2011-12, according to estimates from national experts. That…

Within the field of SLA, the incidence of nativelikeness in second language (L2) speakers has typically been explained as a function of age of acquisition. An alternative interpretation, however, is that L2 learners do not attain nativelike proficiency because of first language (L1) maintenance. This interpretation has nevertheless remained mostly…

The connection between goals and student motivation has been widely investigated in the research literature, but the relationship of goal setting and student achievement at the classroom level has remained largely unexplored. This article reports the findings of a 5-year quasi-experimental study examining goal setting and student achievement in…

Substantial evidence points to the presence of subtle weaknesses in the nonlinguistic cognitive processing skills of children with primary (or specific) language impairment (PLI). It is possible that these weaknesses contribute to the language learning difficulties that characterize PLI, and that treating them can improve language skills. To test…

The first two decades of the twentieth century witnessed a sharp increase in Spanish enrollments at both the secondary and post-secondary level of instruction. This first "Spanish Boom" created opportunities for professional growth; yet, its very suddenness also highlighted numerous structural and institutional obstacles that hindered a coherent…