Notes the difficulty of sorting out the root cause of poor test performance by Spanish-speaking students, and the scarcity of demonstrably effective solutions. Illustrates these difficulties by discussing low English academic engagement by limited-English-proficient students and the challenges of making the transition from native language to…

Studied the grammatical knowledge that undergraduates specializing in bilingual education have of their mother tongue. Data collected from an entrance exam, dialog journals and a simulated oral proficiency exam indicate that these students do not have a formal knowledge of grammatical rules but do have a high level of functional grammar. (24…

Examines the use of persuasive responses by Hispanic second-language writers and categorizes these responses by level of language proficiency and gender. Findings indicate that students exit English-as-a-Second-Language classes without having achieved a higher level of expertise in the use of persuasive discourse and that females elaborate more…

Examines the difficulty foreign language learners of Spanish experience in distinguishing between indicative and subjunctive moods after four semesters of study. An analysis of two oral production tasks suggests that, at this intermediate level, they are unlikely to possess enough linguistic foundation to fully benefit from instruction in mood…

Indirect object doubling is the use of the pronoun "le" with a corresponding noun phrase within the same sentence ("Le regalo el anillo a Karen"). Redefining pronominalization as verb agreement leads to hypotheses that explain the construction's use within discourse. Data from an Argentine novel shows correlations between…

Investigates the acquisition of English synthetic compounding by 15 native Spanish and 11 native Chinese speakers, finding that although the production of regular plurals in English compounds was rampantly pervasive, the overall rate of correct omission of /-s/ inside compounds was roughly chance. The results are compared with previous studies.…

Addresses the question of how constraints are established by which Hispanicity is determined vis-a-vis language. It argues that, if Spanish-English bilingualism comes to prevail among American Hispanics, they will lose the Spanish language as a mother tongue and their distinct culture, becoming an Anglophone subculture similar to Irish or Italian…

This study tests the widely cited claim that young simultaneous bilingual children reject cross-language synonyms in their earliest lexicons. First, the accuracy of the claim is examined, and then its adequacy as support for the argument that bilingual children do not have independent lexical systems in each language is considered. (JL)

Examines the process of consonant cluster reduction in the English of residents of a San Antonio, Texas, "barrio." The author compares Tejano patterns of "/-t,d/" deletion with the pan-English pattern. Results suggest a pattern of convergence and divergence. The study shows that Mexican American English exhibits regional and…

This article describes the application of critical pedagogical principles in a primary-level bilingual special day class for Latino children with limited English proficiency. Examples from a Spanish literature-based program illustrate principles. Recommendations for translating critical pedagogy to classroom practice are given. (Author/DB)

Discusses the development of a foreign language (Spanish) test battery that was designed for two purposes: to place students in study-abroad programs appropriate to their language ability and to provide information on designing useful instruction for prospective study-abroad students. Results are presented into task and rater variability in the…

Reviews a book that provides an understanding of the lives of individuals living in two cultural worlds, while at the same time defusing misinformation and skepticism concerning bilingual approaches to education. The book offers many theoretical and practical classroom suggestions as it advocates strengthening first-language literacy in order to…

Based on a literacy interdependence theory, uses findings from the Ramirez et al. study on programs for Spanish-speaking, limited-English-proficient students to refute theories opposing bilingual education. Expresses concern that all three program types in the Ramirez study reflect transmission models of pedagogy in which students have little…

An investigation of native language influence on second-language (English) reading processed indicated that, when essential phonological information was inaccessible, Arabic and Spanish phonographic readers were seriously impaired, although Japanese morphographic readers were not affected. (83 references) (Author/CB)

Reports the results of research conducted to evaluate the combined effect of cooperative learning and computer-assisted language learning/interactive videodisc (CALL/IVD) (i.e., individuals alone, monads, versus pairs of learners, dyads, studying at CALL/IVD workstations) and its relative impact on achievement in beginning Spanish. (28 references)…