Focuses on whether university students studying a foreign language at an American university use the same processes and writing strategies in foreign language and first language writing in two different genres (letter and article). Using a computerized tracking device, individual writing sessions were analyzed through statistical techniques and…

Discusses English-as-a-Second-Language education in Brazil, focusing on English language education in high schools and at the university level, English for specific purposes, varieties of English, publishers' influence on the profession, and professional development of English teachers. (Author/VWL)

An English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) professor and a history professor look at the design and evolution of an interdisciplinary curriculum linking classes in ESL and the humanities over the course of two semesters and discuss their collaboration and professional development. Students' evaluations of teaching and a retrospective survey of students…

Discusses the complexity of Spanish heritage language learners through a study of a program at the University of San Antonio. Highlights variables to consider in planning programs, such as institutional location, percentage of Hispanics in the student body, types of Spanish spoken, attitudes of teachers toward student language and culture, length…

Examines how second-language knowledge is integrated with the first, noting elements of native language development that are most resistant to influence from second languages and those that are most permeable. Discusses how the process of integration and influence can be universal or different depending on the language, using data from native…

Presents and analyzes the results of a cooperative electronic-mail project conducted at Mount Holyoke College (Massachusetts) and Ohio State University, to determine whether an e-mail exchange between two intermediate-level German classes would improve students' writing and speaking skills. Suggestions and practical tips are offered to instructors…

Examines how children learn to play with multimedia written in a foreign language. Two Polish sisters (aged six and eight) were observed using software containing English science vocabulary on an elementary level. Discusses second language learning by children; the experimental design; learning process and social relations between the sisters;…

Language teachers in the Ukrainian community undertook a complex literacy initiative to investigate and improve Ukrainian-English bilingualism/biliteracy in Western Canada and throughout the diaspora. Documents project activities over several years, presents findings of student/teacher needs assessments, shares the approach to reading and reveals…

Reports on a study exploring the effectiveness of giving oral remedial instruction to secondary and university students using a consciousness-raising approach. The focus of remedial instruction was three high frequency lexico-grammatical anomalies: psuedo-tough movement, the verb "concern" and the related adjective "concerned," and the…

Used a postmodern research paradigm to examine views of immigrant and refugee parents and children from the former Yugoslavia. Explored five themes: family well-being in school involvement, children's social/emotional adjustment, second- language learning, community support, and conflict management. Noted educational implications at the classroom,…

Demonstrates the dangers of an Americanized world expanding through the importation of American English. Suggests that linguistic sameness creates a loss of identity and deprives people of specific cultures and languages to call their own. (Author/VWL)

To redress the perceived gap in the definition of effective language instruction, students at an intensive English program were asked to participate in interviews in which they were asked to respond to questions about classes they were attending and they defined as effective. A discourse analysis was performed on the transcripts of several…

Discusses changes that have occurred with regard to issues of language acquisition in Kenya in the last several decades, and the challenges these changes pose for educators and linguists today. Evaluates discrepancies that exist between theoretical norms and actual language behavior, especially as they affect the English language. Solutions to…

Data from 34 British-born Chinese-English bilinguals are examined to elucidate patterns of first language (L1) development in a second language environment. Based on tape-recorded conversations and narrative data, analysis focuses on use of two Cantonese morphosyntactic features, classifiers, and quantifiers. Findings suggest despite a slight…

Focuses on student perspectives of communication partnerships--paired interaction--between 92 adult ESL students and TESL students, describing a tutorial experience during summer sessions at a mid-sized Southwestern university. The description includes course information, tutorial goals and guides, analyses of student-journal and tutorial…