The new Arabic Proficiency Test for College Level is designed to serve the field of Arabic instruction in a number of ways. First, it will provide data on students' proficiency in Arabic. Second, it will aid in evaluating Arabic programs in American and Canadian higher institutions. Third, the results obtained from the users of the test will form…

Cultural factors should be taken into consideration in a bilingual education program. The cultural background of the students learning English as a second language should not be regarded as inferior. A realistic analysis of a student's language capability must be made so that his language-learning problems can be recognized and solved as much as…

This paperback looks at the problem of linguistic deprivation, a problem which is compounded by the restricted opportunities for language development in the schools, even those using modern and innovative methods. Chapter one looks at the contexts at home and school where the child acquires the linguistic tools he needs, and thereby sheds light on…

This paper describes an experimental testing program in England which parallels a broader, 1967 study concerning second language acquisition in the United States. The earlier study, conducted by John Carroll, concentrated on determining proficiency of language majors in five foreign languages. This experiment limits the field of study to German…

This study both examines the relationship between oral dialect proficiency--Standard English and Black Nonstandard English--and auditory comprehension of stories presented in Standard or Black Nonstandard English and attempts to obtain information concerning the reactions of black dialect speakers to oral stories in Black Nonstandard English and…

To help assess the writing ability of college freshmen studying English as a second language (ESL), this study was undertaken to identify particular structures of subordination associated with writing maturity and to develop a diagnostic instrument to test student control of those structures. Following sentence-generating principles of…

The medium of instruction in schools in most African countries is a second language (L2); less attention is focused on the first language (L1) at each successive level of formal schooling. Little attention, however, has been given in curriculum development and in research to the building up of the bilingual reading skills of children whose…

Conversation classes have three goals: (1) to introduce and practice elements of spoken language; (2) to bring passive knowledge of the language into active use; and (3) to create a situation in which the two other goals may be realized. The place, the material, and the topic are important in achieving these goals. (CFM)

Conversation cards are a basis for guided role play and are used for reviewing a foreign language unit. After two or more units, conversation cards are combined into extended conversations (conversations libres). Two detailed examples are given of conversations libres and some sample conversation cards are appended. (LMO)

Nineteen Indonesian students enrolled in a University of Virginia special education training program were assessed on the importance of English-language proficiency. Academic performance was significantly related to English-language training scores but not to preadmission "Test of English as a Foreign Language' scores, student attitudes, or…

Two studies of elementary, intermediate, and advanced second language learners indicated that involuntary rehearsal of second languages ("Din in the Head") is more frequently experienced by elementary and intermediate students and much less prevalent among advanced students, suggesting that the phenomenon is related to language…

Guidelines for a workshop to make teachers aware of the need to set standards for oral proficiency in the classroom are presented. Oral communication skills must be considered separately from other forms of class participation to facilitate a more objective evaluation. (Author/LMO)

First language studies show boys superior to girls in listening vocabulary, though girls are otherwise superior in language ability. A second language study used two sets of Chinese college students (n=285 and 205). Ten tests for proficiency in English and two listening vocabulary tests (described in text) yielded similar results. (Author/LMO)

Discusses problems posed by language differences in psychiatric diagnosis and management. Describes barriers encountered by linguo-cultural minorities such as Hispanics who use mental health care systems. Urges awareness of effect of language preference, language competence, bilingualism, and native tongue in planning and delivering mental health…

The research effort reported in this document addresses the important national need for determining the validity of large-scale content assessments in English with students who are in the process of acquiring English as a second language. Often these students have been excluded from such assessments, but there have been recent, growing efforts to…