This workbook is part of a Mexican series of instructional materials designed for Spanish speaking adults who are in the process of becoming literate or have recently become literate in their native language. This workbook provides an introduction to grammar. It is designed to help students learn to write words, complete sentences, and paragraphs.…

Students in two university classes (n=12, n=22) of Spanish as a second language were surveyed concerning the effectiveness of the communicative approach to second language learning, particularly in relation to class size. Written reports were elicited on this topic, and written reactions to nine in-class communicative activities were also…

A study of 401 Chicago State University (Illinois) undergraduate students in elementary Spanish courses investigated the relationship between students' completion of homework assignments, both brief and lengthy, and student achievement on five to six teacher-developed exams administered during the semester. The study spanned six semesters. Results…

A quasi-experimental study compared achievement effects of various configurations of the Success for All (SFA), schoolwide reform model for elementary schools serving many at-risk students, from full implementation (certified tutoring, full-time school-level facilitator, and the family support team) to implementations lacking some elements felt to…

A study investigated the nature and effectiveness of communication strategies (CSs) used in a negotiation task involving native speakers (NSs) and non-native speakers (NNSs) of Spanish. Subjects were eight university students divided into NS/NNS dyads; the NSs were studying English and the NNSs were studying third- and fourth-semester Spanish. The…

A writing exercise used in one college-level introductory Spanish literature course has been found helpful in converting student frustration into a challenge and changing perceptions of the teacher from adversary to ally. When the first reading assignment is due, the teacher tells the students how frustrating the class can be and lets them begin…

A study of fourth- and fifth-grade students who were taught science in Spanish as a second language is reported. The primary issues studied were: (1) the role of first-language skills in learning science in a second language, and (2) whether hands-on instruction, seen as effective by many for science teaching, is appropriate for…

Drawing on data collected for a larger study of second language learner characteristics at the Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), a profile of freshmen taking introductory Spanish in 1990-91 is reported. Subjects were 21 students, 20 female and 1 male. Most were of traditional college age, and a few were in their 30s. Almost half had previous…

Ways to develop "creative automaticity" for writing in a foreign language are examined. The paper focuses on transactional writing (i.e., writing with the purpose of transferring precise information by such means as telex messages, business letters, memoranda, and short reports), and its main features of clarity and conventionality. It is noted…

Prior research on early lexical acquisition in bilingual infants has been used by Clark (1987) to support the Principle of Contrast, which states that every two forms contrast in meaning. In this study of an English-Spanish bilingual child, it is argued that the Principle of Contrast is not applicable to bilingual acquisition in general. Daily…

Written in Spanish and English (on facing pages), this manual is a practical guide for those interested in forming a worker-owned cooperative. It includes examples based on the personal experience of teaching about cooperativism and worker-owned cooperatives to a group of construction workers with diverse levels of education; vocabulary and…

This document consists of the four issues of the serial "De Par en Par" published during 1993. This serial provides lessons in Spanish for elementary school children. It is written by bilingual education teachers for use in the bilingual classroom. The magazine bases itself on the K-6 curriculum and offers a variety of activities for…

An individualized, interdisciplinary approach to French second language instruction is discussed in the context of Argentina's secondary education system. An introductory section briefly reviews general problems associated with the compartmentalization of subjects in education and proposes a re-integration of the objectives of French second…

Memory-assisting devices used in high school Spanish instruction are described, including strategies in many forms: visuals, sounds, rhythms, rhymes, and actions. Mnemonics for subjunctives include: a suffix-"switching" procedure; a word ("dishes") to remind them of the six verbs not using the first person to form the present subjunctive; a…

Examples are given of how schema and classification skills, presented bilingually, can be used by classroom teachers to teach Spanish-speaking high school students how to infer the main idea of paragraphs in English. The instructional model is one in which the student learns to identify the main idea of a selection in a series of exercises that…