Phonological acquisition traditionally has been measured using constructs that focus on segments rather than the whole words. Findings from recent research have suggested whole-word productions be evaluated using measures such as phonological mean length of utterance (pMLU) and the proportion of whole-word proximity (PWP). These measures have been…

The Early Communication Indicator (ECI) is a measure relevant to intervention decision making and progress monitoring for infants and toddlers. With increasing recognition of the importance of quality early childhood education and intervention for all children, measurement plays an important role in documenting children's progress and outcomes of…

Reading Success is an individualized teacher-guided literacy program proven for 663 students who experienced difficulty with reading. The students had learning disabilities, mild mental retardation, and behavior challenges; were at risk for school failure; or were transitioning from speaking Spanish to English and experiencing literacy problems.…

This working paper explores contemporary research related to methods for teaching reading in Spanish and English in bilingual, foreign language, and English as a second language (ESL) classrooms. Changes stemming from innovations in research and learning are identified and a table is provided to compare methods of teaching reading in Spanish and…

Immigrant families in countries such as the United States are expected to integrate within the majority culture socially, academically, politically, and economically (Hernandez-Sheets, 2005). For many immigrant families in the United States it is particularly challenging to continue practicing their values and beliefs since they are often not…

Thematic units are more than isolated lists of vocabulary, grammar points, or language functions. It is important to design thematic units from the national standards with clearly defined objectives. They should offer opportunities for connections with other content areas. Units should also have a strong cultural foundation, perhaps centered on a…

This article builds on Norton and Toohey's (2001) critique of good language learner (GLL) research to illustrate how college students in an advanced Spanish conversation course drew on particular ideologies of language and foreign language learning to construct and negotiate their classroom identities. I argue that these ideologies were implicated…

Van Sluys and five eighth-grade ethnographers with a range of linguistic experiences in Spanish and English write about their processes and findings in their shared study of parent literacy practices. Here, they describe a disconnect between their own understandings of literacy and their roles in a literacy learning community. For example, their…

In an August 14, 2008 story, the New York Times reported that ethnic and racial minorities will likely be a majority of the U.S. population by 2042. Many of the blacks, Asians, Hispanics, and others constituting this emerging majority will be immigrants or the children of immigrants; the number of foreigners hitting these shores is projected to…

Despite the frequency with which verbal reports are used in SLA to gather data on learners' cognitive processes (e.g., Bowles, 2003, 2004; Mackey, Gass, & McDonough, 2000; Rosa & Leow, 2004a, 2004b), only two studies (Bowles & Leow, 2005; Leow & Morgan-Short, 2004) have investigated verbal reports' reactivity (i.e., whether they alter cognitive…

This paper examines the turn-by-turn organization of social actions during educational activities at a multilingual preschool in Sweden. Specifically, it focuses on instructional exchanges within two commonplace activities: "sharing time" and "Spanish group". The study builds on earlier research arguing that interactional…

In recent years, the number of Spanish-speaking Latinos in Britain and London has grown considerably. Estimates from different sources put the population in London as high as 300,000. Unfortunately, this growing ethnolinguistic group is an underresearched minority, and information of any kind is hard to come by. In this article, my aim is to…

This Spanish-Embassy-produced document consists of the three issues of a Spanish language and culture newsletter for use in Spanish-language classrooms. Each issue contains reprinted articles on current events, both in Spain and around the world; articles on Spanish culture, geography, and famous people; and games to play for learning the Spanish…

Four hundred and six books, articles, and instructional realia published between 1945 and 1968 are listed in this bibliography for teachers and students of Spanish-speaking and bilingual students. While emphasis is placed on English as a second language textual materials for all levels of education from primary to adult, lists of materials such as…

The subject of this teaching and resource unit for Spanish students or social studies classes is Puerto Rico and the Puerto Ricans. The unit has sections dealing with the present conditions of the Puerto Ricans, their culture, and historical perspectives. The appendixes contain: (1) Demands of the Puerto Ricans, (2) Notable Puerto Ricans, (3)…