In this study, the authors evaluated the strengths and limitations of a self-assessment based on ACTFL Can-Do statements ("ACTFL," 2013]) as a tool for measuring linguistic gains over an internship abroad in Russia. They assessed its reliability, determined how its items mapped with the ACTFL scale, and measured the degree to which…

Quality literacy instruction in preschool can be critical to the future academic success for all children, but may be even more so for children with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to examine progress in emergent literacy skills of young children with disabilities, compared with their typical peers, in an inclusive preschool setting.…

The development of students' professional skills is an important issue in higher education in China. This research reports a 3-month study investigating engineering students' communication strategies (CSs) while they were interacting to do a 12-week mobile-assisted learning project, i.e., "Organizing and Attending a Model International…

Research on the international student experience in Australia has highlighted the challenges that international students face when obtaining tertiary qualifications in an Australian university [AEI. (2012). "Student voices: Enhancing the experience of international students in Australia." Canberra, Australia: Australian Education…

Research Findings: This study explored the relations between Spanish-English dual language learner (DLL) children's home language and literacy experiences and their expressive vocabulary and oral comprehension abilities in Spanish and in English. Data from Spanish-English mothers of 93 preschool-age Head Start children who resided in central…

For this study we examined collaborative assessment in counseling 820 German students who were going abroad and who were exposed to the Test to Measure Intercultural Competence (TMIC). A randomized pretest-posttest control group design was used. The control group did not get any test feedback. The remaining groups received written feedback or…

Undergraduate teacher education program students have the opportunity to work with diverse student populations in a local school district in the Four Corners Area in the Northwest part of New Mexico. The family oral history practicum is a way to connect theory and practice while recognizing the issue that language is not a neutral landscape. What…

Despite the high frequency of occurrences of "wh"-interrogatives in daily use, there are repeated negative comments about the poor mastery of the wh-interrogative structure among Hong Kong students. However, so far little attention has been paid to their difficulties in the acquisition of the structure. There is a strong need to…

The aim of the present study was to investigate the correlational and predictive relationships between parents with low literacy skills (n = 96) and their 3-5 year old children's emergent literacy skills (n = 96). In the study parents were assessed on measures of reading comprehension, decoding, fluency, oral vocabulary, and word identification,…

All native speakers of Arabic read in a language variety that is remarkably distant from the one they use in everyday speech. The study tested the impact of this distance on reading accuracy and fluency by comparing reading of Standard Arabic (StA) words, used in StA only, versus Spoken Arabic (SpA) words, used in SpA too, among Arabic native…

This study investigates the role of previously acquired linguistic systems, Mazandarani and Persian, in the acquisition of third language (L3) English at the initial stages. The data have been obtained from 31 students (age 13-14 years), testing the placement of attributive possessives in a grammaticality judgment task, an element rearrangement…

The author examines the theory and research relevant to educating d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing Multilingual Learners (DMLs). There is minimal research on this population, yet a synthesis of related theory, research, and practice on spoken-language bilinguals can be used to add to the body of knowledge on these learners. Specifically, the author…

The Four Skills News Project is an example of communicative language learning, developed for final year German students at the University of Liverpool. It focuses on how students use and practise their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills via the creative use of news reports and digital technology. Each student creates an avatar using…

The mastery of speaking skills in English has become a major requisite in engineering industry. Engineers are expected to possess speaking skills for executing their routine activities and career prospects. The article focuses on the experimental study conducted to improve English spoken proficiency of Indian engineering students using task-based…

This article attempts to shed some light on the possible learning benefits for language acquisition and intercultural development of authentic social interaction with expert peers through computer mediated communication (CMC) tools. The environments used in this study are video communication and the 3D virtual world "Second Life." For…