A list of computerized exercises, grade books, test generators and other software from eight publishers is presented. Information is given on generic software, other types of computer programs provided by the publisher, and text-specific computer exercises. Advantages or disadvantages are not discussed. (LB)

This article reports on the process of developing a proficiency-oriented writing contest, as well as a system of assessment of that writing based on a set of rubrics for each level of writing. (Contains six references.) (VWL)

Discusses communal translation of poetry from Spanish to English for publication in a college literary magazine. It is concluded that this activity motivates students to focus enthusiastically on the aesthetics of translation. Fourth-semester Spanish students possess the skills to successfully translate poetry. (Author/CK)

Describes a series of new Spanish courses in a Service Track. This five-year plan of curriculum revision includes a preparatory Developmental Spanish course as well as Spanish for Allied Health Professionals, Criminal Justice Professionals, Social Workers, and Business. The plan reflects the needs of both the Hispanic and non-Hispanic citizens of…

Investigates whether spelling models proposed to account for performance in languages with a deep orthography are applicable to a shallow orthography such as Spanish. Finds significant effects for the variables of grapheme frequency and lexical priming, coinciding with results found in the English language. (RS)

Discusses the use of the El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish section of the Miami Herald, in providing advanced intermediate level Spanish students with material that is vocabulary building, topical, interesting, and culturally informative. (GLR)

Contrasts the kinship terminology of Argentine Sign Language (LSA) with standard Spanish kinship terminology employed by nondeaf members in Argentine society. The combination of male and female terms and the frequency of reciprocal terms in LSA demonstrates that Argentine deaf society is culturally distinct in important ways from mainstream…

Analysis of compositions written by students of Spanish indicated that the use of accent marks might not always be relevant for speakers because most were able to correctly pronounce Spanish words without the correct use of accent marks. (23 references) (CB)

The mechanisms involved in the assignment of an antecedent to an anaphoric element are examined. Taken together, four experiments suggest that conceptual, although grammatically illegal, anaphors do not cause comprehensive difficulties. (Author/LB)

A controversial April 1991 proclamation made Spanish the sole official language of Puerto Rico, replacing a 1902 law declaring English and Spanish as the languages of government. This paper discusses the emotional debate and suggests that the law resulted from a powerful group opposed to U.S. statehood. (27 references) (Author/LB)

Provides the rationale for California's Foreign Language Framework assertion that a model curriculum for foreign languages includes "instruction in native languages for those students who already speak a language other than English." Special focus is on Spanish instruction for Spanish-speaking college students in California. (55…

The study found differential learning rates in a group of bilingual children (ages four to six) with limited English proficiency (LEP) when they all were taught an invented morpheme. The language-impaired children in the group learned the morpheme at a slower rate than the nonimpaired children. Results have implications for identifying language…

Investigates whether the underspecification of Number, which has been proposed to account for the structural properties of child grammars, can provide an explanation for changes in developing first- and second-language Spanish grammars. (Author/VWL)

Reviews research on the question of how to best teach letter-sound correspondences in beginning reading instruction. Describes a new, child-friendly, research-based way of teaching letter-sound correspondences to English- and Spanish-speaking children, which is not only explicit, systematic, and extensive, but also context embedded and meaningful.…

This study with nine Spanish-speaking bilingual children (ages 5-7) with limited English proficiency examined perception of nonverbal emotional speech cues in both Spanish and English. Results yielded higher accurate responses in Spanish, but these results may have been related to the low emotion conveyed by one of the four speakers. (Author/DB)