Vowels with extreme articulatory-acoustic properties act as natural referents. Infant perceptual asymmetries point to an underlying bias favoring these referent vowels. However, as language experience is gathered, distributional frequency of speech sounds could modify this initial bias. The perception of the /i/-/e/ contrast was explored in 144…

This paper investigates Spanish dyslexic spelling abilities: specifically, the influence of syllabic linguistic structure (simple vs consonant cluster) on children's spelling performance. Consonant clusters are phonologically complex structures, so it was anticipated that there would be lower spelling performance for these syllabic structures than…

Previous research in the USA studying Spanish-English bilingual children's language development has largely focused on children's developing abilities in Spanish. However, relatively little research has been conducted on children's English grammatical development. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the English grammatical…

Speech-language pathology (SLP) training programs are the initial gateway for nonnative speakers of English to join the SLP profession. An anonymous web-based survey in New York State examined policies and practices implemented when SLP students have foreign accents in English or in other languages. Responses were elicited from 530 students and 28…

Maria's experiences as an immigrant learning English in the southwestern United States parallel those of others who desire to improve their English but lack the time or resources to enroll in ESL classes. Maria was originally observed during English conversation and interviewed in Spanish to assess her awareness and use of effective…

Despite acknowledging the complex nature of vocabulary knowledge, researchers have rarely investigated the dimensionality of this construct empirically. This study was designed to test a multi-dimensional model of English vocabulary knowledge for sixth-grade students from linguistically diverse backgrounds (n = 584). Participants included language…

Many listening and spoken language specialists find themselves serving increasing numbers of children with hearing loss who come from families whose primary language is not English. This manuscript describes a variety of methods that can meet the needs of this ever-growing population by highlighting the dual-language support program at the Center…

Having orally proficient Spanish speaking heritage learners in a class alongside monolingual English speakers who are learning Spanish as a second language is quite the challenge: the heritage learners' ability to converse can be intimidating to the non heritage learner, but at the same time, the non heritage learner's ability to grasp the grammar…

AISD's Spanish English language learner students' (ELLs) 6th-grade TAKS reading passing rates declined from 2008 to 2011, possibly due to the increased number of Spanish ELLs who exited language programs prior to 6th grade and increasing state academic achievement standards in Spring 2010.

The present study utilized a short-term longitudinal research design to model the relationship between shyness-anxiousness and receptive language skills. Hypotheses regarding the direction of the causal relationship, mediation, and moderation were evaluated. Subjects included 340 Head Start attendees from primarily English- and Spanish-speaking…

This study tests native Brazilian Portuguese (BP) speakers of second language (L2) Spanish in the domain of phonologically null object pronouns. This is a worthwhile first language (L1)-L2 pairing given that these languages are historically and typologically related and both seemingly allow for object drop. Nevertheless, the underlying syntax of…

Theories of situated knowledge support that knowledge involves experience of practices rather than just accumulated information. While an important segment of foreign language teacher education programs focuses on the theoretical component of second/foreign language acquisition theories and relevant methodological concerns, it is mainly through…

In modern education, inequalities are assumed to be reduced by a redistribution of knowledge between the affluent and able on one side, and the poor and unable on the other. This article investigates ways in which the distribution of futures becomes naturalized in everyday school practices where equality is perceived as a goal rather than a…

This study investigates whether raters' knowledge of test takers' first language (L1) affects how the raters orient themselves to the task of rating oral speech. The authors qualitatively investigated the effects of accent familiarity on raters' score assignment processes. Twenty-six trained raters with a second language of Mandarin Chinese,…

Catalan companies have, until very recently, had the Spanish-speaking world as their main market. Following long periods of legal and official repression of the public and commercial use of Catalan, globalisation now places them in a new, multilingual context that makes feasible the use of Catalan alongside that of other languages. This paper…