This working paper will explore the usefulness of Cummins' framework relating language proficiency to academic performance (1983) as a reflection and planning tool for continuous improvement of second language learning (SLL) instruction. SLL activities designed for a Language Experience intervention class for seventh and eighth grade English…

The K-12 population has increased dramatically over the past 20 years with regard to cultural and linguistic diversity, thereby creating a critical need to prepare teachers for this diversity. This study conducted an analysis of teacher characteristics vis-a-vis their attitudinal beliefs about language-minority students. Using multivariate…

This study aims to increase understanding of factors that account for academic English language proficiency in a sample of 274 adolescent first-generation immigrant students from China, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Central America, and Mexico. Previous research has shown the importance of English language proficiency in predicting academic…

This study examined the efficacy beliefs of nonnative English speaking (NNES) Iranian EFL teachers. EFL teachers' perceptions of their teaching efficacy in terms of personal capabilities to teach English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and their perceived English language proficiency level were examined. A modified version of the Teacher Sense of…

In a report on meeting the language needs of refugees in Ireland, Little (2000) identifies two sets of language rights for refugees--stemming from the right to preserve their own language or languages as a central element of identity, and the right to enjoy free access to Irish society which entails the right to develop language proficiency in…

In reading research, studies on good and poor reader characteristics abound. However, these findings remain largely scattered in applied linguistics and cognitive and educational psychology. This paper attempts to synthesize current theory and research on the topic in the past 20 years along 3 dimensions: language knowledge and processing ability,…

Scholars have found that poor English proficiency is negatively associated with wages using self-reported measures. However, these estimates may suffer from misclassification bias. Interviewer ratings are likely to more accurately proxy employer assessment of worker language ability. Using self-reported and interviewer ratings from the Multi-City…

This article reports that language barriers and faculty turnover are the major challenges to an American college's struggles to deliver value to students in China. The Liaoning Normal University-Missouri State University (LNU-MSU) College of International Business, a collaboration between MSU and a local university in China, is designed to mirror…

This paper presents some findings from an ethnographic study of international postgraduate students at a university in the South of England, which involved interviews and participant observation over a 12-month academic year. One of the major themes that emerged from this research was students' anxiety over their level of English language.…

In this article, we explore one aspect of language awareness that has rarely been explored--awareness (i.e. perception) of the language proficiency of the "other learner" in pair work settings. We examine how Mai, a Japanese ESL learner, perceives her peer's L2 proficiency during pair problem solving, and how her perception of learner proficiency…

If good proficiency in L2 entails the acquisition not only of many single words but of many lexical chunks as well, it must then be asked how all this additional lexis is to be committed to long-term memory in the limited time available on non-intensive classroom-based language courses. If it is the case that a significant fraction of…

This article examines the extent to which ESL learners studying in Canada acquire Canadianisms. Two instruments were used to assess the effect of posited variables on this acquisition: a lexical survey administered to 103 ESL learners in Kingston, Ontario; and a questionnaire about resources, teaching methods, and attitudes administered to their…

This study investigates the impact of a five-week intermediate Spanish course on the listening comprehension ability of 48 participants in short-term study abroad programs, and compares these groups with 92 peers enrolled in a similar course on the home campus. While both on-campus and study abroad groups experienced similar gains in listening…

Preparing undergraduates and training faculty to succeed in a global society requires colleges to infuse international and intercultural dimensions into the curriculum. A Title VI grant funded the development and pilot of six Integrated Intensive Courses Abroad (IICA). These courses incorporate discipline-specific content studies with foreign…

There is considerable evidence from psycholinguistics that first language listeners handle function words differently from content words. This makes intuitive sense because content words require the listener to access a lexical meaning representation whereas function words do not. A separate channel of processing for functors would enable them to…