Discusses professional development schools (PDSs), focusing on their use in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learning. Examines the context of the PDS movement and describes a successful ESL PDS at Trent Academy, an elementary school in a low income, high crime area of Los Angeles that formed a partnership with a state university. (SM)

Discusses the nature of special education in Central America and the Caribbean, including policies, programs, definitions, and attitudes regarding disabilities. Also highlights factors in mainstream education that may be related to U.S. educators' perceptions of disabilities and offers recommendations for U.S. educators, especially…

Reports a study carried out on a sample of final exam essays written by native-speaking Arabic students of English attending the freshman English course in the English-as-a-foreign-language program at the Lebanese American University. Examines what analytic and holistic scoring using one evaluation instrument can tell teachers about their…

Demonstrates how conditions for active learning can be enhanced by using newer and more sophisticated educational technology. Describes a case study involving a large lecture class on world mythology. Also addresses the question of how information technology can be employed to improve student learning. (Author/VWL)

Examined attitudes toward taking different formats of oral proficiency assessments across three languages: Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese. Students were administered both the tape-mediated Simulated Oral Proficiency Interview (SOPI) and a new Computerized Oral Proficiency Instrument (COPI). Questionnaire responses showed examinees, particularly…

Presents a sample dialogue between a science teacher and an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher to demonstrate the value of teacher collaborations in improving instructional strategies for ESL students. Considers ways to determine the student's level of learning despite language barriers and to maintain high content levels while helping…

Reviews research findings on second-language (L2) interaction from the perspective of syntactic development. The article argues that better understanding of the role of negotiated interaction in L2 syntactic development requires examining the specific grammatical structures in interaction guided by the criteria of relevance, availability,…

Reviews assumptions encountered in connection with the teaching of writing in English as a Second or Foreign Language at university level. The article argues that the central issue is a problem of cross-cultural communication rather than a strictly pedagogical one and that teachers' expectations, not students' behavior, must change. (26…

Investigates the acquisition of tense and aspect by learners of English as a Second Language and learners of French as a Foreign Language. Examination of written narratives collected from both groups using a film retell task reveals similar patterns of distribution of tense/aspect morphology across target languages. (29 references) (Author/CK)

Presents a "Learning Process on Lay-offs" program designed to focus English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teachers' energies on developing and managing a learning process that allows them to respond, on an on-going basis, to their learners' needs appropriately and creatively, especially with regard to the changing work world. (one…

Compared pronunciation of targeted vocabulary items in spontaneous speech by 23 adult Chinese learners of English as a Second Language grouped according to mode of instruction: (1) traditional drilling activities; (2) self-study with tape recordings; (3) interactive activities; and (4) nonintervention control condition. Ratings of pronunciation by…

Discussion of college curricula in commercial French looks at its special requirements, available textbooks, and important features of video instructional materials. The curriculum of DePaul University (Illinois) is described, focusing on the emphasis placed on speech and listening skills within a curriculum integrating all language skills and…

Depicts the state of two-way immersion programs in the United States. Data indicate that these programs educate nonnative- English-speaking students, expand the nation's language resources by conserving the native-language skills of minority students and developing second-language skills in English-speaking students, and enhance crosscultural…

Suggests that the communicative approach plays a role in English language teaching in China, but that aspects of this approach must be applied selectively partly because of the educational environment there. The article argues that the approach embodies significant Western culture-specific assumptions regarding learning processes. (15 references)…

A six-month case study of 10 African-American middle school students in an inner-city school setting provided the data for this article. Contrary to previous studies on first-language second-language transfer, the study showed that the students L1 (African-American English) facilitated the learning of Arabic. (Author/JL)