This study examined the speech of 54 young Spanish-speaking (Puerto Rican dialect) children with phonological disorders. It described the mean percentage-of-occurrence and standard deviation of phonological processes and the number and type of nontargeted process errors. Specific patterns characterizing the speech of these children were…

Examines trends in computer assisted language learning (CALL) research and postulates strategies for classroom assessment of CALL. Describes a pilot study designed to evaluate a music-based multimedia program. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the relationship between flow experiences and language learning. Flow theory suggests that flow experiences can lead to optimal learning. Findings suggest flow does exist in the foreign language classroom and that flow theory offers an interesting and useful framework for conceptualizing and evaluating language learning activities.…

Discusses class activities that create artificial environments to facilitate students' learning about the cultural life of the country whose language they are studying, in this case, Spanish. Such activities include taking pictures of fictional wedding parties, using current Mexican newspapers to shop for the bride and groom, and attendance at the…

Presents an annotated list of recently published science trade books in Spanish that can engage students in a variety of science concepts. Books are listed in the categories of biology, ecology, general science, and technology. (JRH)

Presents one of the world's first prototypes of language learning software for smart-phones. Tele-EnREDando.com is an Internet based multimedia application designed for 3G mobile phones with audio, video, and interactive exercises for learning Spanish for business. (Author/VWL)

Examined Venezuelan children's developing abilities to use evaluative language in fictional and personal narratives. Looks at whether the use of evaluative language varies in fictional and personal narratives, there is a relationship between the use of evaluative language in these two narrative genres, and and the role children's age and…

Examines how adult, monolingual foreign language learners' oral performance is affected by the degree to which they associate prestige with classmates and teacher disapproval. Explores relationships among learners' views of their own and their peers' pronunciation skills; values associated with native-like speech; beliefs about social conditions…

Investigates the effect of learning strategies on writing achievement in an intermediate-advanced college-level Spanish writing course and examines the influence of the students' native language and textbook on these strategies. Subjects were a class of 20 students that comprised nine first language and 11 foreign/second language speakers. The…

Discusses the unique problems of the intermediate year of language instruction in which material taught in the first year of college Spanish or in three years of the language in high school is assimilated. The discussion uses the experience of Queensborough Community College of New York City as an example. (three references) (GLR)

Multiple regression analysis of data regarding college students' oral proficiency in using the present subjunctive after residence in a Spanish-speaking country found a significant positive relationship between length of residence and subjunctive proficiency, and a nonstatistically significant positive relationship between formal study and…

A Spanish instructor recounts his attempt to implement Krashen's Input Hypothesis in teaching elementary Spanish. His and his students' reactions to the approach helped the instructor to conclude that the hypothesis could only have a chance of succeeding at the level of absolute beginners with no prior exposure to the language. (CB)

Demonstrates the following four-stage procedure for adapting foreign-language texts to improve college students' Spanish reading proficiency: selecting specific objectives for each section; selecting the linguistic elements needed to realize objectives; stating the type of control that is expected (conceptual, partial, or full); using appropriate…

Factors in the formation of standard Spanish in the American continent are reviewed, including historical and sociological variables, and the evolution of various phonological, sociolinguistic, and written features from Castilian Spanish are discussed. In light of rapid change in Latin American society, future directions for dialect study are…

Suggests activities that use students' cultural stereotypes to enhance their cultural awareness and foreign language skills. The exercises emphasize the recognition of the nature of stereotypes and prepare students to explore the belief systems and living patterns of other cultures. (CB)