The four issues of this journal, written entirely in Spanish, are intended for reading teachers. The first issue focuses on the role of school in the development of readers and writers and contains articles discussing the results of an investigation into the validity of the idea of "level" when measuring students' comprehension of…

The Texas Education Code requires the Commissioner of Education to develop and propose a system for evaluating the progress of students eligible for exemption from the statewide assessment program under current law. This report summarizes the proposed system for limited English proficient (LEP) students. It includes proposed changes to the…

This newsletter issue contains the following article and features: "Developing a Dual-Language Program" (Lynn Davey); Principal's Perspective: "Battling for Bilingualism" (Maurice P. Downey, Jr.); and Web Resources. Davey's article describes how the principal of a Phoenix elementary school managed the transformation of a traditional bilingual…

Describes three groups of potential library patrons - Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and Mexican-Americans. (JB)

Discusses the function of Spanish in the school lives of Mexican American children, documenting the discussion through the experiences of five fifth-grade friends. Spanish serves to unify them, but it also serves to keep others out of the friendship group. Educators must recognize that language minority children have special needs. (SLD)

Examines conversational arguing style of three groups of language learners: students from a Hispanic background (G1); those who lived for a year in a Hispanic country (G2); and those who were in contact with the language only as part of their tertiary-level education (G3). Findings reveal that G1 and G2 students exhibited a similar argumentative…

Asserts that social services remain largely unresponsive to the values and needs of Latino families. Discusses access to linguistically appropriate services, not just as a culturally competent practice, but also as a civil rights issue. Presents implications for all aspects of private and public child welfare, including investigations, foster…

Discusses the use of English and Spanish children's literature in bilingual programs, reviewing 25 books that focus on elders teaching children, relationships between children and older adults, and children as helpers of older people. Using books that are related thematically gives children the opportunity to relate stories to their own lives and…

A classroom model is offered for an approach to introducing students to Spanish linguistics by way of the geography and history of Hispanic society. Areas covered include Spanish vocabulary, Spanish sounds, word and sentence formation, and linguistic lore. (24 references) (LB)

Empirical evidence is presented in favor of a theory that attributes the delay in the acquisition of the passive to young children's ability to accomplish nonlocal assignment of features. Two experiments testing monolingual Spanish-speaking children's knowledge of the passive are discussed and analyzed in light of the theory of Argument-chain…

It is proposed that college second-language students can increase understanding of the nature of fiction and film in a carefully planned upper-level course combining genres. One Spanish teacher's experience illustrates that this improves students' appreciation of Hispanic values, specific literary and cinematographic techniques, and use of…

The bilingual glossary, in both English-to-Spanish and Spanish-to-English, defines words and phrases related to the game of baseball as it is reported by Spanish-language newspapers and magazines in Mexico and the United States. A list of U.S. and Mexican baseball league teams is appended. (MSE)

Thirty infants from monolingual Spanish-speaking homes were tested for discrimination of bilabial stop consonants differing in voice onset time (VOT). Discrimination was determined by the habituation and dishabituation of the orienting reflex as indexed by cardiac deceleration. (Author/GO)

Discusses the etymology as well as the literal and metaphorical meanings of the Spanish adverbs "arriba" and "abajo." (Text is in Spanish.) (DS)

Discusses colloquialism in conversation and gives a number of examples of colloquial speech. (Text is in Spanish.) (DS)