The goals of an intensive summer pilot project at Stanford University included (1) enabling beginning learners of Spanish to achieve one-year equivalent Spanish proficiency; (2) allowing teacher trainees to observe, critique, and practice foreign language lessons before embarking on their practicum; and (3) helping language-minority students to…

Reports the results of a quasi-experimental evaluation of the effects of the California English-only law on public librarians' acquisition policies and attitudes toward books in Spanish for children and young adults. The results, which showed no effects, are interpreted in terms of the symbolic functions of legislation and public policy. (seven…

From a Hispanic perspective, the current educational reform movement is closely related to three other contemporaneous policy agendas that imply an increasingly ethnocentric policy environment: (1) the Immigration Reform and Control Act; (2) the English-only movement; and (3) efforts of the Department of Education to sabotage the Bilingual…

Factors that intervene in successful and frustrating cultural learning experiences are examined to help improve the management of cross-cultural internships and similar experiences abroad. Emphasis is on students' perceptions of their language ability, social interactions, and job performance and their living arrangements. (Contains 15…

Voters in five states approved referenda making English their official language. The vote is used to assess racial, ethnic, economic, political, and cultural hypotheses. The racial and cultural hypotheses are not validated; the ethnic and class ones are partially supported; and the political hypothesis offers the most compelling explanation. (26…

Describes several noteworthy books about Latinos that contrast cultures, explain a unique Mexican and Mexican American celebration, explore the debate over illegal immigration, and convey the quandaries of adolescence. Several publications are considered inferior because they disregard the Spanish language and present negative historical…

A study examined the conversations of eight groups of high school students in a level three Spanish class during a jigsaw speaking task, and compared their language use patterns with those of intermediate-level learners of English as a Second Language. Results suggest both similarities and differences. Choice of language is also considered. (17…

Drawing on surveys of Peruvians, a discussion of Peruvian university education looks at how realistic students' expectations of the economic benefits of university attendance are. Differences in perceptions among ethnic groups (Spanish-speaking and Quechua-speaking) were examined, and implications for social integration in such a society are…

Discusses issues of fairness in the evaluation of bilingual writers. Warns of problems posed for them by the process approach to writing instruction. Describes a case study which suggests that even assessment procedures claimed to be holistic are biased against bilingual students. Compares one student's Spanish and English writing samples, noting…

Differences in prevalence of depressive symptoms were studied for 1,108 male and 1,092 female adolescents from diverse ethnocultural groups through a national survey of symptom levels. Females reported more depression than did males in any ethnic group. Mexican-American males reported more depressive symptoms than did other males. (SLD)

Measures of linguistic competence for limited-English-proficient students are discussed. The results for 134 students in grades 3 through 6 from a study of the reliability and validity of the Sentence Verification Technique tests as measures of listening and reading comprehension performance in native languages and English are reported. (TJH)

This replication study and follow-up study found that, when a multisensory structured language approach to teaching Spanish was used with a group of at-risk high school students, the group's pretest and posttest scores on native language phonological processing, verbal memory and vocabulary, and foreign language aptitude measures showed…

Provides an annotated bibliography of culturally relevant materials for students of Hispanic heritage; discusses the designation Hispanic versus Latino, Chicano, Puerto Rican, and Cuban American; and describes common characteristics of Spanish-speaking people, including language, family ties, ethnic identity, and discrimination. Addresses of…

Describes the systematic planning and subsequent implementation and evaluation of a systemwide Spanish program at the elementary level in a small school district in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Discusses active participation by all senior administrators, the ways in which the language program has been incorporated into the overall curriculum…

The locus of control, whether internal or external, is an influential concept in second-language learning. One observes it, for example, in Puerto Rican students returning to Puerto Rico to take university-level courses. Explanations address a teaching method relying on use of problems with examples in such a way as to empower students. This also…