This study explored a holistic model of English reading comprehension among a sample of 135 Spanish-English bilingual Latina and Latino 4th-grade students This model took into account Spanish language reading skills and language of initial literacy instruction. Controlling for language of instruction, English decoding skill, and English oral…

Pronunciation teaching of the segmental aspects needs to be balanced with the inclusion of learner awareness of stress, rhythm, intonation and meaningful production. Yet many formats for pronunciation teaching do not place these skills and an awareness of the suprasegmental features in either a communicative format or a specific speaking…

Increased international business and technological advances that speed business communication are affecting the expectations that business has for translators. More companies are asking translation agencies to translate such items as English business letters, advertising campaigns, flyers, brochures, and technical manuals into other languages,…

Three articles on near-native English language proficiency are presented. "Attitudes to English Usage: A Comparison between Native and Non-Native Speakers," by Ann-Christin Miemois, reports on a study of attitudes toward usage of certain lexical items in English in four distinct situations. Subjects were natives of Finland and New…

Papers included in this compilation are "Late Hebrew Immersion at Mt. Scopus College Melbourne: Towards Complete Hebrew Fluency for Jewish Day School Students" (S. C. Lorch, T. F. McNamara, E. Eisikovits); "Languages in Schools: Policy and Practice" (Roger A. Peddie); "Models and Sociolinguistic Factors in Some Victorian…

A folk theory of the effect of language on thought underlies decisions made in U.S. courts regarding language law. Previous work on folk theory has shown an internal structuring by which a premise entails subsequent terms, consistent within the framework of the folk theory's logic. An analysis of metapragmatic statements in U.S. case law materials…

In 1977, an exploratory survey examined the relative effects of family and offspring cultural maintenance upon offspring psychological characteristics and college achievement, using the responses of 1,573 Chicano college students from Texas to a mailed questionnaire. The hypothesis was that holding family income constant, high family Spanish usage…

Some of the variations in reading achievement and fluency levels among bilingual students enrolled in the Seattle Public Schools are explained, and an examination of the effects of special language services (English as a second language and bilingual subject matter instruction) is emphasized. A model is presented which examines the relationships…

In an effort to comply with bilingual instruction requirements, school districts throughout California will soon be involved in testing vast numbers of children to determine language proficiency and language dominance. Many language tests will require a child to repeat a sentence or a phrase in exactly the same manner that is stated by an examiner…

This booklet is one of a series of teacher-written curriculum publications launched by the Bay Area Writing Project, each focusing on a different aspect of the teaching of composition. The basic principles of literary cohesion (the way a text hangs together) are discussed and exercises are suggested to help students increase their sensitivity to…

Some questions concerning foreign language learning and research topics are considered. One discussion question is why education and speech communication research has neglected the special case of second language communication as a source of information on the communication process in general. The need for research into the functional, operational…

A description is given of experiments involving the standardization of aspects of oral fluency testing. Oral fluency is understood to imply a "communicative competence" requiring an ability to formulate accurate and appropriate utterances of more than one sentence in length. Throughout the test emphasis is laid on ease of application and…

The problem of determining relative weights for quantity and quality in scoring foreign language speaking and writing fluency tests is studied. French speaking and writing fluency tests were administered to students of French in several schools in England. Data from these tests was analyzed to support the suggestion that scoring formulas should…

The use of questions in the target language on reading material is an important teaching aid in developing a working command of the spoken language in introductory FL courses. The best use of reading material in the early stages of second language acquisition is as an aid to communicating in the target language. Consequently, reading material…

Irregularities in oral fluency, or "disfluencies," are common in the speech habits of both children and adults. Disfluencies can take the form of hesitations, revisions, repetitions, or interjections. Most disfluenceies do not occur at random, but are directly linked to other factors such as verbal planning--the combination of decisions…