The report summarizes a survey of 600 Hispanic parents, each with one or more children in grades 1-12, designed to document parents' experiences with school programs for limited-English-proficient (LEP) students and to ascertain their attitudes about the programs' goals and practices. Parents drawn from five metropolitan areas with large Hispanic…

A study investigated beliefs about second language learning held by 27 adult students and 10 teachers of Arabic at the Yemen Language Center. The survey instrument consisted of 5 demographic statements and 47 statements concerning language learning in a Likert-type scaled response format. Results indicate students and teachers generally agreed…

Use of games in the second language classroom to assess class participation and development of oral skills is discussed. Difficulties in assessing oral second language skills are outlined, and a central issue is identified: the discrepancy between a syllabus in which class participation is required and students unwilling to participate due to lack…

Research indicates that nearly all language-minority children and adolescents are language brokers for their parents and other family members. Children from diverse language backgrounds and as young as eight or nine years old perform difficult and demanding linguistic and communication tasks normally done by adults, both related and unrelated to…

A study described, analyzed, and evaluated a project to rear three French-English bilingual children in a predominantly English-speaking environment. Using weekly tape recordings of spontaneous dinnertime conversation, a ratio of French-to-English utterances was calculated, and correlated with linguistically significant events documented in field…

This guide lists electronic discussion lists, bulletin boards, and conferences related to second language teaching and learning that may be of use in the second language classroom. It also offers suggestions for the use of these resources in teaching. The guide has three main sections. The first, devoted to electronic communication in a single…

The teaching of English present perfect tense to Japanese learners of English as a second language at the high school level is discussed, focusing on how this is currently done and how it could be done better. It is suggested that the greatest problem encountered by Japanese learners of English is aspect, and that students must dissect their own…

This book recounts the personal experiences of a woman who learned three languages (French, Italian, and English) in addition to her native Russian. She learned French as an emotional and intellectual escape from difficult conditions as a Jew in the Soviet Union, then learned Italian in Italy while she and her family waited to gain entrance into…

Part of a larger research project, this descriptive study identified the range and characteristics of learning strategies used in studying foreign languages. Related studies include a course development study, in which foreign language instructors teach their students to apply learning strategies, and a longitudinal study that analyzed differences…

This digest describes three programs for middle and high school language minority students at risk of dropping out of school. Two of the programs are geared toward limited-English-proficient Hispanic youth, and the third, a vocational program, involves African-American students as well. The first program described is the Coca-Cola Valued Youth…

The process of learning a language is a long and arduous one. The spoken word is only a part of communication, and socio-pragmatics is increasingly recognized as a key element in language learning. More and more Americans are becoming aware of the gap between grammatical proficiency and cultural fluency as they strive to do business in our global…

Finnish university language centers are responsible for testing the foreign language proficiency of nearly all university students. It is important that students are assigned equitably to courses, including Language for Specific Purposes (LSP) courses. It is also important in LSP teaching for students' needs and opinions to be taken into account,…

A curriculum packet is presented that is designed to give English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teachers the information and tools they need to help students address the issue of job discrimination, especially discrimination based on citizenship status or national origin that may result from the employer verification requirement of the Immigration…

This paper explains the development of an integrated foreign language curriculum for elementary school classrooms and provides sample lesson plans using the story "Color, Where Are You?" In order to increase the consistency as well as the scope of the curriculum, the classroom teacher and the foreign language specialist should integrate the…

This essay discusses the state of foreign language (FL) instruction in the European Community, the strengths and weakness of the communicative approach to FL instruction, and recent trends in FL teaching methods. The communicative approach, in widespread use since the 1970s, emphasizes the use of the target language in the classroom, deemphasizes…