Analysis of the speech habits of Spanish language instructors at the University of Southern California revealed that native Spanish speakers, as well as near-native Spanish speakers, sometimes produce labiodental [v] as an allophonic variant of Spanish /b/. Quantitative analysis by the VARBRUL statistical program indicated that linguistic, social,…

Discusses ways that teachers, parents, siblings, and program staff can help young Latino students succeed in U.S. schools as they live according to their parents' values. Latino children in elementary and middle school must juggle two cultures as they navigate toward success. (SLD)

Revealed that the lexical aspect hypothesis may not offer a complete account of the development of past tense marking in second language English during the beginning stages of development among adult classroom learners. (Author/VWL)

Arizona State University promotes linguistic and cultural awareness throughout the campus and the community. By involving nearby Hispanic culture, it integrates its programs into the community's social and cultural concerns. Faculty members of all languages may gain a wider audience by teaching courses in film, women's studies, or the culture of…

Examined effects of using Spanish captions, English captions, or no captions with a Spanish-language soundtrack on intermediate university-level Spanish as a foreign language students' comprehension of DVD passage material. Results revealed that the English captions group performed at a substantially higher level than the Spanish captions group,…

Investigated Dominican-American high school students' accounts of their ethnic/racial identities and explanations of race. Interview and observation data reveal significant divergences between their ethnic/racial categorization system and dominant, traditionally accepted U.S. systems. Unlike non-Hispanic, African descent, second-generation…

Describes a translation and interpretation program at the University of California, Long Beach. The program affords students in both English and Spanish an opportunity to develop and perfect their linguistic skills and cultural knowledge to pursue a career in the field of translation and interpretation. The program covers technical vocabulary,…

Discusses an approach to the study of interlanguage that challenges prevailing models of second language acquisition that assume negotiation of meaning is the only causal variable. Examines two notions of language play: ludic language play and rehearsal in private speech. Analysis of classroom interactions among children in a Spanish immersion…

This study explored help seeking among primary Spanish speaking women of Hispanic origin who had behavioral health needs. We evaluated relational and cultural aspects of care and service utilization by using qualitative and quantitative measures of perceived behavioral health needs, therapeutic relationships, ethnic identity and degree of…

96 Spanish and Latin American children from 3 grades in Madrid reported their knowledge of positive and negative stereotypes regarding Spaniards, Gypsies, Latin American and Chinese people. Their personal beliefs about these four ethnic groups were also assessed. Stereotypes about Spaniards were perceived as overwhelmingly positive and least…

This study examined the code-switching patterns in the speech of immigrant Spanish-speaking children. Seven- and 10-year-old boys and girls from bilingual classrooms were each paired with a mutually selected friend, and their speech was collected in two contexts: while the children waited for an expected science experiment and when they worked…

This study focuses on the use of the native language (L1) by second language (L2) learners when carrying out a collaborative jigsaw task in a computer chat environment. It investigates the extent and function of L1 use by means of a sociocultural theoretical framework. The research project was carried out in three languages: Chinese, German, and…

Peer-mediated approaches have been used for years to improve the academic behaviors of students, especially those with disabilities. The most systematized and well researched of the peer-mediated approaches relates to peer tutoring systems, which include specific elements of training, implementation, and evaluation. The purpose of this article is…

Teachers who have Spanish-speaking students in their science class, will likely be interested in learning about the recent releases of Spanish trade books for children. From appealing paperback series about colors, opposites, shapes, and numbers to smooth Spanish renditions of Isaac Asimov's engaging overview of the universe, these books are just…

This study investigates the effectiveness of three methods of learning vocabulary among 778 beginning second language (L2) learners. Rote memorization consists of memorizing the first language (L1) translation of a new L2 word by rehearsal. Semantic mapping displays L1 words conceptually related to the L2 word in a diagram. The keyword method…