This final report describes activities and accomplishments of Project Adobe, the New Mexico Parent Training and Information Center, which provides information, support, education and training to families with school-aged children with disabilities in their local communities. Achievements include: (1) completion and printing of a booklet on the…

The Communication Technology & Policy Division of the proceedings contains the following 7 papers: "Current Status of the Direct Broadcast Satellite Industry: Is DBS a True Alternative to Cable?" (Ju-Yong Ha); "An Analysis of the Characteristics of Early Internet Adopters" (Tien-tsung Lee, Linda Li-Shuan Wang and Paul…

Several teaching methods aid young children in learning foreign languages, all of which include continuous repetition and review of learned information. The two methods used in this study were Total Physical Response (TPR) and songs/chants. The TPR method used a gesture for each vocabulary card, and the songs/chants method incorporated Spanish…

A study examined patterns in production of Spanish voiced and voiceless stop consonants by native English speakers, focusing on the interaction between two acoustic cues of stops: voice closure interval and voice onset time (VOT). The study investigated whether learners acquire the appropriate phonetic categories with regard to these stops and if…

The development of early literacy was studied in Spanish-speaking children aged 5 to 7 years from disadvantaged backgrounds in Santiago, Chile. The findings are compared to applications of similar tests in other contexts to suggest some universal and specific conclusions about the assessment and evaluation of early literacy. The study used the…

This report focuses on "at risk" immigrants in the United States. This third report in a series highlights the plight of low-income immigrant laborers in the United States. This series does not seek to advance specific policies or reforms. It intends merely to relate the stories of newcomers in the confidence that they will speak powerfully for…

This study determined which study habits would distinguish successful from unsuccessful foreign language learners. Participants were 219 college students from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds enrolled in either Spanish, French, German, or Japanese classes. The students completed the Study Habits Inventory and the Background Demographic Form.…

This paper presents results from a contrastive study of qualification devices used in a 400,000-word corpus of English argumentative texts, written by English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) Spanish university students, U.S. university students, and native professional writers (newspaper editorials in English). The study attempted to account for the…

A study sought to acquire new insights into cross-linguistic processing strategies of native English (NE) readers and native Spanish (NS) readers after they read informational texts organized according to preferred writing styles in Spanish. Previous studies suggest that: NS readers will be more efficient processors of embeddedness than NE…

These two guides provide information in English, Bosnian, Russian, Nuer, and Spanish on the proper use and administration of oral medications. Topics covered include the reasons for taking medication, information on the prescription label, following special instructions, asking questions of the pharmacist, safe storage of medicine, child-proof…

This study addressed the effectiveness of a Spanish-English dual language (DL) test booklet in eighth-grade mathematics. The inclusion criteria of the National Assessment of Educational Progress were used to identify students who would qualify for an accommodation like the DL booklet. Incentives (periodicals, software, and study data) were used to…

This book is both a reference tool for locating high-quality Latino children's literature--rhymes, fingerplays, poetry, stories, plays, and books--available in the United States, and a resource guide containing successful ideas for using this literature with children of all cultures. Particular emphasis is placed on books by Latino authors,…

English language learners may bring linguistic knowledge in the area of cognates to their learning of new English words, but they also will have special vocabulary learning needs that English speakers will not. They need to learn basic, survival words that English speakers begin school knowing, words such as house, school, walk, and eat. They also…

The research team identified and tested six criteria that operationalize cultural responsiveness as a factor for evaluating school district Websites: cultural utility, representation of diverse cultures of target populations in graphics, percentage of website topics translated into Spanish, the content of topics translated, the level on which…

Portfolios are one of the assessment tools used in Pacesetter® Spanish. In Phase I of this study, conducted in 1995-96, a first attempt was made to develop a standardized portfolio assessment system. As part of this system, a set of guidelines and an assessment matrix were prepared. In Phase II of our research, in consultation with participating…