A study examined young Mexican Americans' perspectives concerning their own ethnicity. Observations and focus groups with 30 Mexican American youths from a Southwest barrio indicate that respondents used racial terms to understand acculturation differences. Intense negative feelings were expressed about less- acculturated, Spanish-speaking…

A study examined parental support for bilingual education in the face of political debate. Surveys of 1,043 parents of children attending 10 dual-language programs in Colorado found that parents understood the purpose of these programs, freely chose the programs, and believed they were effective. Spanish-speaking parents responded more positively…

Reviews the demographic characteristics of Latinos in higher education, arguing that educational institutions must commit to achieving multiculturalism in curricula and pluralism in administrative structures. Describes the approach of Hostos Community College (New York), providing bilingual instruction and professional development. Highlights…

Discusses the issue of literacy as a gate keeper and how the interviewee's own experiences as a bilingual Latina and writing teacher aroused her interest in sociocultural understandings of literacy and language learning. She emphasizes the importance of discourse-based analysis and discusses the issue of high urban mobility as well as her other…

Argues that successful dual enrollment foreign language programs can be established with cooperation and ongoing communications among administrators and instructors at all levels. Emphasizes that most cooperate to overcome differences in educational philosophy, curricula and program goals. (six references) (Author/CK)

Discusses the validity of a rating scale created by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages for the purpose of measuring the oral language proficiency of bilingual professionals who are speakers of English and Spanish. Notes that this scale measures various levels of competence and features of an individual's speech. (14…

Discusses an English-as-a-Second-Language high school program that serves as a catalyst for a schoolwide commitment to helping all students, especially Latinos, achieve their full potential. Emphasizes the importance of staff development and a schoolwide team effort to serve language minority students effectively. (20 references) (Author/CK)

Studies of Mexican American parents in East Austin (Texas) and rural southern Arizona found that parents' ethnolinguistic vitality was an important determinant of family transmission of Spanish to children, but parental experience of ethnic and language prejudice was an equally potent negative determinant. Implications for language maintenance,…

Advanced-level college students of Spanish experienced U.S. Hispanic cultures through participation in a community-based experiential course with a service earning option. Results of a quantitative study indicate that subjects enrolled in the course formed positive and accepting attitudes toward Spanish speakers and their cultures and found a…

Briefly discusses children's second-language learning and ways to teach Spanish to young children. Provides suggestions and practical activities for teachers. (BB)

Analyzed some factors affecting acquisition of subjunctive by upper level students of Spanish. Variables included were 1) length of foreign residence; 2) total amount of formal study; and 3) pretest and posttest scores. A week-long lesson on the uses of subjunctive intervened between the tests. Tests are appended. (LMO)

Pragmatic competence in second language (L2) speech acts, specifically in requests, is examined through data obtained from native speakers of English who are learning Spanish. Attention is focused on whether L2 learners transfer first language rules of politeness to L2 speech production. (41 references) (Author/OD)

Discusses the author's experience as director of the Program in English as a Second Language (ESL) at Lehman College of the City University in the Bronx, New York. ESL, bilingual, and mainstream (ie., curricula that assume English proficiency) programs should be better coordinated to meet their common goal. (BJV)

Reports on a project evaluating home-study foreign-language courses for beginners. The languages evaluated were French, Spanish, and German. Findings indicate that any one course in a series reflects all the courses in that series, seven of the eight courses were inspired by one method, and tapes were a vital component of all the series except…

Evaluated the effectiveness of using a hypertext/hypermedia environment for the teaching of second language Spanish vocabulary in a semantic mapping format among 48 high school students who had never studied Spanish. Results found no significant difference between semantic mapping and traditional word listing approaches to vocabulary development.…