A study examined the differences between 17 children with language disorders and 20 children with normal language development (ages 8-13) in the way they developed shared knowledge with an adult using an interactive communication task. The structure interaction map task involved the child describing a route through a simple schematic map to an…

Conference papers on bilingualism and children are presented, including: "The Nurture and Nature of Bilingual Acquisition" (Laurel Kamada, Liu Xing-Ying, Willeta Silva, Mary Goebel Noguchi); "Early English Acquisition in the EFL Situation" (Soo-Woong Ahn); "Age Factors and Language Proficiency in Child SLA" (Kazuko Yumoto); and "Development of…

The ability to communicate in a foreign language requires more than linguistic accuracy. To understand and be understood by others requires the ability to recognize cultural differences. For example, polite behavior in one language may not be the social equivalent in another language. In order to acquire cultural competence, students have to…

A study of 30 Asian high school students (9 males, 21 females), who were in U.S. schools for a variety of reasons, ranging from extended visits to families of relatives to temporary academic or occupational appointments of parents in U.S. universities or corporations investigated student perspectives on English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL)…

An institute in oral proficiency and teaching effectiveness for practicing secondary Spanish and French teachers is described. The spoken language classes of the institute took place daily, 4 hours per day for 4 weeks, using a modified Foreign Service Institute (FSI) method of small group instruction. Native speaker tutors were used who were…

Case studies of six foreign adolescents participating in a 3-week immersion English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) program at the American Village language camp in Big Sky, Montana, are examined, including the students' motivations in learning and using English. Research focused on exploring student motivations toward learning and using English at the…

Many examples of cooperative projects between English for Specific Purposes (ESP) units and university subject departments have been reported in the literature. Most are case studies of specific ESP programs, and explanations of methodologies have not been prominent. This paper reviews the different ways in which cooperative methods have been used…

While national debates focus on rising immigration and its impact, current data on immigrants and how they affect the national life are limited. To determine the feasibility of conducting a national survey of immigrants, a pilot project surveyed Salvadorans and Filipinos in Los Angeles in 1991. This report addresses key methodological issues in…

This paper presents a preliminary investigation of the psycholinguistic abilities of first-year undergraduate student learners of French. In particular, it reports on the construction and use of a battery of tests of metalinguistic knowledge, language aptitude, grammatical accuracy in French, and French linguistic proficiency, and explores the…

This study investigated the extent to which home exposure (HE) to the Chinese language affected the oral proficiency of students of intermediate-level college Mandarin Chinese. In fourteen hypotheses, it was predicted that HEs would perform at a higher level than would non-home-exposure students (NHEs). Students were given a simulated oral…

This paper reports the experiences of faculty and students at Anadolu University (Turkey) who participated in Globaled, a global education, computer-mediated communication project. The project, initiated at the University of New Mexico, included faculty and students at four other American universities and those at Anadolu. The paper examines the…

This report provides information on the characteristics and work patterns of United States agricultural workers performing seasonal agricultural services (SAS) during fiscal year 1990. SAS crops include the majority of nursery products, cash grains, field crops, and all fruits and vegetables. More than 2,000 personal interviews with SAS workers…

The Arabic Proficiency Test (APT), developed in 1991-92, is described and details of its scoring are outlined. The APT is designed to measure general proficiency in literary Arabic in reading and writing, and in listening and production of standard spoken Arabic. Its proficiency rating scale corresponds to the American Council on the Teaching of…

The effects of specific guidelines in the taking and rating of tests of language summarizing ability were investigated, as well as interrater agreement regarding the rating of specific ideas within the summaries. The tests involved respondents reading source texts and providing written summaries as a measure of their reading comprehension and…

The purpose of this paper is to describe current practices in various states used to identify linguistically different students, provide a review of literature regarding recommended practices, and offer alternative practices for identifying linguistically different students. The paper provides an information base regarding current identification…