Investigating students' needs in three foreign language departments in a liberal arts college setting, the study discussed in this article aims to find similarities and differences in language needs among students enrolled in French, German, and Spanish and the extent to which students' perceived needs match the mission the departments have…

Describes a cross-cultural e-mail exchange that provided students in the United States and Chile with an ongoing source of authentic cultural input from the target country. The exchange was organized between a class of U.S. college students of advanced Spanish conversation and composition and a class of Chilean university students of advanced…

Shows how the instructional design process can assist in developing a Web-based distance teacher education course, based on the development of a Web-based course for teachers of language minority learners. Topics include audience needs analysis, establishing instructional goals, and formative evaluation and revision. (Author/LRW)

Explores frequency and use of adjectives in five advanced scientific texts on biochemistry and analyzes the semantic implications of the observed occurrence. The aim is to provide a better understanding of the role of adjectives in research articles and to suggest how to guide Spanish-speaking students to effectively comprehend, read, write, and…

Examines essential components of quality two-way bilingual immersion programs. Discusses language acquisition research underlying context-embedded content-area instruction in a second language; research on the benefits of bilingualism in terms of academic, cognitive, and metalinguistic development; and the link between bilingualism and positive…

Draws on a case study of six student teachers in secondary school and their codeswitching between first language and second language over the course of 14 foreign language lessons, where French was the second language and English was the first language. Describes how student teachers were exposed to theoretical positions and empirical studies on…

In Paraguay, a majority of the population speaks Guarani, an indigenous language. Guarani is a co-official language along with Spanish and bilingual education has been implemented. Despite these positive measures, literacy education in Guarani is limited to urban areas. The challenge is how to find the political will and economic resources to…

Discusses a recent pedagogical experience of using the U.S.-based English for academic purposes textbook "Academic Writing for Graduate Students" in the Ukrainian classroom. Focus is on the intellectual and emotional reactions of the students toward a quite new kind of textbook and corresponding course. (Author/VWL)

Investigated extended effects of an English for academic purposes genre-based reading course on eight adult non-native speakers. Using student interviews collected one year after instruction, examined whether the class genres were connected to students' subsequent reading requirements and interests, what students remembered about genres taught in…

Based on the construct of "language-related episodes" (Swain & Lapkin, 1998) and Vygotsky's (1934/1986) notions of scaffolding and private speech, this investigation explores student interaction during a formalized assessment task. The purpose of this qualitative study was twofold: first, to analyze the small-group quiz interaction that took place…

This article examines a study on how preservice teachers enhance their understanding of theory and research in second language learning through an action research project that took place in a TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) education course. The study focuses on how interaction with English language learners (ELLs)…

Central to educating young children well is assessing them well--diagnosing, each child's unique talents, skills, and knowledge. Early childhood educators do this in an effort to individualize children's programs, creating tailor-made lesson plans and experiences that fit each child's needs. To do a good job of assessing young children whose home…

While a great deal of information exists to help physical education teachers respond to the increasing cultural diversity in United States schools, these teachers have received little help regarding how to cope with linguistic diversity. It is the responsibility of all teachers not only to ensure that students who are English-language learners…

If it is time to put the "world" into a world-class education, the author argues, then it is time to make foreign languages a greater priority in the U.S. education system. About 6% of the world's population speaks English as its primary language. English is widely spoken as a second language in countries where it has official status along with…

In this article, we draw from research on cognitive development, sociocultural learning, and organizational development to examine the key factors in teachers' professional learning. Our review of this literature suggests that looking at teachers' prior knowledge, the nature of their interactions, the representations they produce and use, and the…