A series of monitoring studies is reported, in replication of the cross-language research of Cutler, Mehler, Norris, and Segui, which found evidence of language-specific perceptual routines. It is suggested that factors outside the perceptual system may affect responses and that the case for language specificity in perceptual routines has not been…

Discusses a demonstration-based question-answer sequence developed for conjugating the Spanish verb "caminar" (to walk) that may readily be applied to a wide variety of verb concepts that students can grasp quickly through classroom performance, in any language. (two references) (VWL)

Three vignettes about Hispanic boys referred for speech and language assessment were presented to 284 speech-language specialists. Decisions about the existence of a communication disorder, probable cause, and appropriate treatment were related to clinician specialty; experience; and knowledge of Spanish language, Hispanic culture, and…

Presents results of a detailed analysis of courtroom transcripts involving Spanish-English interpreting by four interpreters in Sydney, Australia, where consistent changes in the interpreted versions were found. Discusses omission of substantial diminution of reference to the courtroom reality in interpreted discourse and changes in tenor that may…

A historical correlation of the five C's (communication, culture, connections, comparisons, communities) of the national foreign-language standards is explored. The rich tradition in "Hispania" details how the standards of today were preliminarily addressed in the past and woven onto the fabric of our educators. (Author/VWL)

Describes the dual-focus approach to creating bilingual measures. This approach includes indigenous researchers from the culture studied as members of a team to develop a concept-driven, rather than translation-driven, research plan and protocol. Illustrates the approach with examples of creating new measures in Spanish and English. (SLD)

Proposes a translation framework to be used in the Spanish foreign-language classroom as a supplementary teaching technique. The use of translation techniques in the classroom can bridge the gap between language and culture by helping students develop metalinguistic skills that bring them to a higher level of awareness about the target language…

Explores common alternative conceptions of a natural science topic familiar to students that was part of the regular curriculum. Finds that similar misconceptions are evident in upper and lower elementary school students. (Author/CCM)

Presents a syncretic model to provide a stepping stone between current codeswitching literature and future research by analyzing the form that bilingual codeswitched utterances take, as well as the internal and external factors that trigger these codeswitches. Includes an analysis of three dimensions of bilingual codeswitching: linguistic,…

Variationist account of how direct quotations are framed in spoken Spanish requires definition of variable and envelope of variation followed by investigation of linguistic, stylistic, and social constraints. Variable is defined as set of three strategies for directly quoting speech, gestures, and sound effects of people, animals, or things in…

Spanish voiced stops /b,d,g/ exhibit [+continuant] allophonic variants in phonetic environments that vary across modern speech varieties. It is argued here that variation in voiced stops and spirants continues to be associated very directly with physical factors in speech production as circumscribed by five phonetic correlates of spoken language…

Twenty-nine subjects enrolled in a fourth-semester Spanish course were assigned to one of two treatments, processing instruction and meaning-based output instruction. Results show that processing instruction has an overall greater effect than meaning-based output instruction on how learners interpret and produce the Spanish subjunctive of doubt.…

Examined an aspect of modality in the Spanish spoken in the Houston, Texas community. Demonstrates that semantic-pragmatic variation and change are taking place and affecting the forms of "deber (de) and "tener que" in their deontic and epistemic modes. Interviewed Mexicans and Mexican-Americans in Spanish. Analyses show an…

In a Long Island school district, foreign-language study is part of every elementary school student's curriculum in grades 2 through 5. More than 90 percent of sixth-graders choose to study a language and have the chance to participate in 7-year and advanced-placement programs in these languages. (MLH)

Reports on a test of the prototype account of the Spanish of U.S. Mexican-origin children undergoing language shift. Analysis of narratives from children aged 4 to 12 suggests that the prototype account also predicts the loss of morphological distinctions in language shift. The pattern of tense marking in the Spanish of children undergoing…