This article presents the results of a pilot longitudinal study that attempted to develop a method to take subjective, qualitative observations about the English language speaking skills of Japanese English language learners and transform them into objective, quantitative measures. The following considerations must be addressed in the course of…

This paper is a pedagogically-oriented case study of a "Gaikokugo" Communication course conducted in an intensive format. After a brief introduction and consideration of the intensive course format, the pedagogical approach guiding the course (together with samples of the materials used in the course provided in the appendix) is…

This chapter is part of a book that recounts the year's work at the Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) at Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi. Rather than an "elitist" laboratory school for the children of university faculty, the dual-language ECDC is a collaboration between the Corpus Christi Independent School District and…

This paper illustrates how the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma is exploring a new paradigm of evaluation that is responsive to the claims, concerns, and issues of stakeholders involved. Known as culturally responsive evaluation, this alternative conceived by the Initiative for Culturally Responsive Evaluation (ICRE) is considered more appropriate than…

This paper discusses the establishment of a connection between cognitive concepts and knowledge acquired through English-as-a-Second-Language teaching and learning. Modern thinking focuses on effective application of common global knowledge and language skills appropriate for culturally diverse students. The article suggests that a cognitive…

This study explored the roles that two parents played in their daughter's English education during the initial period after moving to the United States. For English language learners (ELLS) with limited first language schooling in the home country, it usually takes several years to demonstrate cognitive academic language proficiency. For ELL…

This study focuses on electronic office hour consultations and investigates the presence and organization of pragmatic elements associated with negotiating the completion and evaluation of coursework in the e-mail messages of 28 American and international students to an American professor. Findings indicate a lack of negotiation skills in the…

This issue brief considers how to involve English language learners in community-connected learning, a set of strategies to engage young people in learning experiences beyond the classroom. Such strategies include internships at work sites, and project-based learning in classrooms. In successful community-connected learning strategies, students…

These books are designed to help English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students learn the skills they need to communicate the step-by-step aspects of daily activities. Unlike most picture dictionaries, this is a verb-based multi-skills program that uses a student text with a clear and colorful pictorial detail as a starting point and focuses on the…

The 1997 issues of "JALT Journal" include the following articles: "Influence of Learning Context on Learners' Use of Communication Strategies"; "The Eiken Test: An Investigation"; "Assessing EFL Student Progress in Critical Thinking with the Ennis-Weir Critical Thinking Essay Test"; "Contrastive…

A significant number of Hispanic children's books and juvenile short stories and novels produced in the last two decades reveal the social and cultural elements that affect the lives, traditions, and beliefs of young adults from Spanish-speaking countries. These books contain sociocultural realism, yet with a touch of the innocence and freshness…

Elementary two-way immersion (TWI) programs continue to proliferate throughout the United States, but the number of successfully implemented secondary TWI programs remains small. Many districts with TWI cohorts that are reaching the upper elementary grades must now make complex decisions about whether and how to extend their programs into middle…

These issues include the following articles: "Portuguese Philology in Brazil" (Heitor Megale, Cesar Nardelli Cambraia); "Implications of Brazilian Portuguese Data for Current Controversies in Phonetics: Towards Sharpening Articulatory Phonology" (Eleonora Cavalconte Albano); "Morphological Studies in Brazil: Data and…

This report investigates the role of Title I federal funding in helping to educate the estimated 3.5 million limited English proficient (LEP) K-12 students in the United States. Specific questions to be addressed include the following: How many LEP students are being served through targeted and schoolwide Title I programs? How are LEP students…

This paper describes efforts to devise a more effective method of assessing oral proficiency in English using a computer-based testing and computer-based test result management system. This new test would be designed to directly operationalize the second language constructs it measured, and would be developed with reference to the best practices…