Problems and issues in the field of native language proficiency assessment for Asian American students are examined. Language skills assessment in both English and the native language is a crucial step in the provision of equal educational opportunity to language minority students. Language assessment for Asian Americans, the fastest growing group…

This is a report on a study on the status and opportunities of Hispanic Americans in the labor market. Chapter 1 describes the characteristics of the Hispanic American population as compared to the rest of the U.S. population, and examines how Hispanic experiences in the labor market differ from the experiences of other groups. Chapter 2 shows how…

This training package consists of materials for use in helping vocational rehabilitation clients develop conversational skills. The first item in the package is a trainer's manual that includes 11 lessons dealing with the following topics: when to start a conversation, the components of a conversation, greetings and opening remarks, techniques for…

Differences in definitions (and underlying concepts) of "language-minority children at risk" and how these differences affect the results of research on the numbers needing special services are examined in this document. Citing the 1974 Amendments to the Bilingual Education Act as the beginning of a Federal effort to estimate the numbers and…

A March 1980 statewide survey of the membership of the Ohio Modern Language Teachers Association asked their opinion of the importance and achievability of specific language competencies being considered for statewide application in high school college preparatory programs. The findings from 241 secondary and college-level teacher responses showed…

This collection of dissertation abstracts on the subjects of bilingual and bicultural education originally published by "Dissertation Abstracts International" contains items in the following areas: bilingual education program management, assessment, language, curriculum, and the affective domain. The section on program management covers scope,…

The paper provides a brief discussion of research conducted in child language acquisition at the University of California at Davis in the winter and spring of 1977. The research was directed at children's comprehension of WHY questions. It was an attempt to define when and how children come to understand abstract concepts, such as WHY questions.…

A profile method was used to analyze the patterns of four English proficiency tests (Comprehensive English Language Test for Speakers of English as a Second Language: Structure, CELT: Listening, Reading for Understanding Test, and The New Cloze Test) regarding two examinee characteristics: their language proficiency levels and native language. One…

An experiment was conducted with twenty native French speakers using a set of four reading passages, each followed by five multiple choice comprehension questions. Each subject was tested twice when reading aloud and twice when reading silently. Other test materials included a pre-test designed to check whether certain lexical items from the…

Based on a five month participant-observation study of two schools, this paper describes the organization and curriculum of English primary schools, with an emphasis upon strategies and materials used in developing linguistic competence in school children. The report describes the organization, curriculum, and development of communication…

A concurrent validation analysis was conducted for the recently developed Test of Spoken English (TSE), using as an external criterion the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) direct proficiency interviewing procedure. Use-related validation data for the TSE were obtained as a predictor of the communicative effectiveness in English of non-native…

This analysis of the crisis facing the United States because of a general lack of interest in foreign language study deals with several facets of the problem. Its 12 chapters address the following questions or issues: (1) the traditional conflict between Americanization and cultural and linguistic pluralism; (2) the shift in the world economic…

The determination of who shall receive bilingual education services is distributed among the federal, state, and local policy levels. This study explores how each level exercises that discretion. It examines targeting, identification, and assessment criteria set forth in federal and state legislation, and how a limited number of local districts…

One of ten studies commissioned to investigate research needs and to stimulate planning activities, this paper identifies and summarizes key issues within the area of second language teaching. The discussion is developed in three main sections: (1) a summary of research efforts from 1960-1980; (2) identification of research gaps; and (3) statement…

A research project on study habits was conducted at the University of Khartoum, Sudan. This report includes: (1) an overview of the university and the background to the study; (2) previous research on study habits undertaken at the University of Khartoum and elsewhere; (3) the project goals and procedures; (4) findings concerning language…