This pilot study shows that the use of Internet resources is a meaningful way to integrate language and culture and to provide opportunities for students to learn about the target culture while using e-mail to discuss cultural aspects with native speakers. Results of the study showed that e-mail increased students' interest and motivation.…

Presents the results of a survey on the use of video materials at high school and college levels that was carried out to contribute a better communication between the two levels in Japanese-language education in the United States. Questions asked were, What kinds of videos are used at college and high school levels? and, What are the purposes of…

Describes a Chinese Canadian immigrant family that is encountering difficulties with schooling, demonstrating the complex interrelationship between home literacy, culture, and politics of schooling. Findings suggest that cultural mismatch theory alone cannot explain minority school failure. Rather, multilevel interactions, including cultural…

Reports on a small scale pilot project designed to elicit acceptability judgments regarding dative alternation in English studied as a second language. Preliminary results suggest that a thematic strategy may be one of a battery of learning strategies available to second-language learners. (40 references) (CK)

Addresses matters of ethics, standards, and professionalism in language testing. Terminology is defined, and current standards and codes relevant to language testing are reviewed. Personal experiences illustrating the ethical choices faced by professional language testers are provided. (11 references) (Author/CK)

Forty 3.5- to 4.5-year-olds discussed past events with their mothers and completed tasks indexing their ability to reason about conflicting mental representations and understanding of knowledge. Found that theory-of-mind scores were related to memory conversation participation, independent of age and linguistic skill, and to the frequency of…

Investigates whether systematic links exist between young school-aged children's awareness of others' communicative intentions and early descriptive-expository and narrative writing proficiency. Young children were shown a directive speech act in a puppet-played scenario, and an interview determined the types of communicative intention attributed…

Assessing academic abilities in the Indian educational context is closely linked with proficiency in writing. This article discusses ways to help learners produce self-contained compositions in English. This involves teaching them to link and develop information, ideas, or arguments in logical sequences. (Author/VWL)

Examines the effects of English language proficiency and levels of reasoning skills of Hispanic English language learners and native English language speaking students on their acquisition of science content knowledge as measured by a state-wide standardized science test. Suggests that the levels of English language proficiency appear to influence…

Reports on a large-scale longitudinal study into the development of language proficiency of Dutch primary school children aged 7-10. Data on language proficiency and a range of background variables were analyzed. Results suggest that while immigrant children develop their language skill in Dutch considerably over 2 years, they are nonetheless…

Used Rasch analytic procedures to study item bias or differential item functioning in both dichotomous and scalar items on a test of English for academic purposes. Results for 139 college students on a pilot English language test model the approach and illustrate the measurement challenges posed by a diagnostic instrument to measure English…

Examined the magnitude of the contributions that motivation and attitudes make to achievement in the second language in he research conducted by Gardner and associates. Meta-analysis indicates the relationship of second language achievement to the five attitude/motivation variables from Gardner's socioeductional model. (Author/VWL)

Examined how one second language learner answered questions in a mainstream second grade classroom, analyzing two conflicting "language games." Results found that the second language learner was often adept at "passing" as knowing, but that he achieved this identity-preserving expertise at the expense of an understanding of…

Describes the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and the Advanced Placement in International English Language (APIEL) and evaluates both tests on three basic types of validity criteria: content, construct, and criterion-related. Concludes that the TOEFL has serious limitations, and that the APIEL may be more useful. (EV)

Uses structural equation modeling to investigate the development of and interrelations between the language proficiencies and reading abilities of children learning to read a first or second language. Compares the reading-comprehension, word-decoding, and oral-language skills of Dutch and minority third and fourth grade students. Shows oral…