Used an approach to the study of interlanguage that challenges prevailing models of second language acquisition (SLA) that assume that negotiation of meaning is the only causal variable in SLA. Examines two notions of language play as they have been presented in applied linguistics literature: ludic language play and language play as rehearsal in…

Explored how beginning learners of Spanish develop the ability to use preterit and imperfect past tense forms by analyzing the self-correction behavior they exhibited in their oral production. Each of 15 participants produced five narratives during their second semester of instruction, which were analyzed for the features learners focused their…

This commentary on language curricula in universities is followed up commentaries by a language center director, on perspectives from a Spanish department, the case of Japanese, the role of foreign languages in universities, and foreign language enrollment numbers. (VWL)

A pedagogical idea for addressing National Standard 4.1 (Students demonstrate understanding of the nature of language through comparisons of language studied and their own) suggests the deliberate use of the online translator to illustrate to students the syntactical errors that occur when translating idioms from one language to another. (VWL)

Draws on numerous different content areas in the development of a 4-to-6 week long unit with the culminating activity of a simulated Mexican cafe. Students assume the roles of restaurant personnel and greet customers, take and fill orders, cook a variety of Mexican entrees, tally the check, and make change, all in the target language while…

Uses two formulas developed for Spanish language text to analyze 9 stories that were read by 36 Spanish-speaking second graders with limited English proficiency. Finds that the Spanish readability formulas only weakly predicted student performance, indicating the need to pursue broader, qualitative indices of difficulty for Spanish text. (SG)

This article describes the implications of the consultation process when working with an educationally and linguistically heterogeneous Spanish-speaking immigrant Latino community. Suggestions for consultants include recognizing the heterogeneity within bicultural communities and conducting thorough family interviews in an informal setting and…

Explores the role of phonological and syntactic awareness of 9- to 11-year-old Spanish-speaking learners of French in four components of second-language reading. Finds (1) phonological tasks in L2 better explain decoding; (2) word recognition through the visual route is best explained by corresponding ability in L1; (3) sentence comprehension is…

Describes the educational situation facing "retornado" families and children, Mexican transnational immigrants moving between New York City and Puebla, Mexico. Examines factors underlying the current lack of first language and second language instruction for the Spanish-English bilinguals returning to live in Mexico. Offers suggestions…

Reports on ethnographic research that explores the range of ways in which Spanish-English bilingual immigrant youth interpret English language texts for their families. Focuses on interpretations of written text for close family members, done at home, and charts the domains of these multiple literacies. Argues that bilingual youth's experiences as…

Discusses a teaching method for helping students understand the imperfect vs. preterit in Spanish. The method relies on teaching the importance of the aspectual values of the imperfect tense through the use of television programs coupled with special messages. (GLR)

Presents a case study of one student's performance in an English-as-a-Second-Language classroom. The student, who took twice as many turns as the other students combined, scored twice as high as all of his classmates as a user of general topics. (10 references) (GLR)

Discusses the vowel contrast of the vowel systems of English and Spanish, and concentrates on the difficulties posed by the interference of the English Schwa sound. (GLR)

The analysis of interviews with 14 speakers of Honduran Spanish found that group "r,""l" glides, and "s" inhibit spirantization variably, much as they do in Colombian Spanish, presenting a view that attributes spirantization to syllable structure for a more comprehensive explanation of the variable processes. (29…

For a visual generation of students, slides are an effective learning and teaching tool and a constant stimulus for writing, reading, and speaking activities. Ways in which slides have been effectively incorporated into foreign language instruction lessons are described. (CB)