We evaluated language development in deaf Italian preschoolers with hearing parents, taking into account the duration of formal language experience (i.e., the time elapsed since wearing a hearing aid and beginning language education) and different methods of language education. Twenty deaf children were matched with 20 hearing children for age and…

GLASPORT first convened in October 2009 with funding provided by a Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant. The grant proposal was submitted by then Glastonbury Assistant Superintendent of Schools (and former Foreign Language Director) Christine Brown. The committee was charged with two ambitious objectives: (1) to aid in the development…

This document presents the proceedings of the 18th Annual Research Forum held June 26, 2013, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Included are the following 13 action research papers: (1) Developing Oral Language Ability in the Secondary Spanish Classroom Using the Interpersonal and Presentational Modes of Communication…

The improvement in the ability to process sounds in oral language (phonological awareness) through the contribution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is reported by many researchers. However, deficits in phonological awareness may persist despite intervention. There is increasing research interest on how educational technology…

This article presents a research study that analyses eighth and twelfth graders' knowledge of speaking strategies to communicate in English. The Oral Communication Strategy Inventory, developed by Nakatani in 2006, was applied to 108 students belonging to the public, semi-public and private educational sectors in Chile. The findings show that 8th…

This study attempts to determine which factors students find most influential in their oral participation in a foreign language class and their thoughts on what actions the teacher should take to encourage more oral participation in class. Participants were 38 students in Spanish 1 and 2 at a rural middle school and high school. Students completed…

Having orally proficient Spanish speaking heritage learners in a class alongside monolingual English speakers who are learning Spanish as a second language is quite the challenge: the heritage learners' ability to converse can be intimidating to the non heritage learner, but at the same time, the non heritage learner's ability to grasp the grammar…

Orally and later in written form, stories have been used to identify and reinforce the values of a culture. The parables of the Bible and the vocalization of articulate animals in Aesop fables continue to be used to teach morals to children. While the majority of existing research investigates the effective use of animals as a tool in character…

Purpose: To demonstrate that early childhood speech sound disorders (SSD) and later school-age reading, written expression, and spelling skills are influenced by shared endophenotypes that may be in part genetic. Method: Children with SSD and their siblings were assessed at early childhood (ages 4-6 years) and followed at school age (7-12 years).…

Early childhood and special educators are under growing demands to develop children's language and literacy skills through evidence-based practices. One promising research-based strategy for vocabulary and language development is dialogic reading (DR), which is an interactive picture book reading technique developed in the late 1980's by…

This study reports on the integration of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) multimedia courseware for oral presentations into a self-learning and elective program for non-English major students in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) setting. A computer-aided instruction approach, combined with a task-based learning approach, was adopted.…

With the new approach to guide the learning process of students with a model based on the development of competences, and in comparison with the traditional lecture-based learning, it is necessary to start working with the teaching modalities that help to achieve this objective. With that in mind, the aim of the study reported in this article was…

In a multiracial and multilingual society where bilingualism is adopted as the cornerstone of education policy, mother tongue maintenance is a significant issue. An innovative initiative termed as "modular curriculum" was introduced in Singapore primary schools to cater to Chinese students, the major ethnic group, with varying Chinese…

It is argued that tasks with different structures yield different performances in terms of accuracy, fluency and complexity. The present study is thus an attempt to investigate the impact of task structure on second language task performance. Thirty two upper-intermediate Iranian learners of English performed two narrative tasks (Structured vs.…

This article reports on a study conducted at Universidad Nacional de Colombia in the foreign language extension courses. The author shows how young learners who study English in this program can develop their oral production by making and listening to music. The study took place in the first semester of 2009 and followed the qualitative and…