A study was conducted to determine teachers' level of awareness of the cultural and linguistic behaviors of gifted and talented Hispanic limited-English-proficient students that could mask a student's giftedness and result in inappropriate identification. (Author/VWL)

Argues that students' accounts of their efforts to learn English, together with language and literacy acquisition theory, suggest ways that English-as-a-Second-Language teachers and college faculty can promote language development. (18 references) (GLR)

Offers guidelines for eliciting, modeling, and evaluating written-as-if-spoken dialogues for testing learner's oral productive skills prior to interviewing or in place of interviews. (16 references) (GLR)

Participants in classroom discourse must be able to see, hear, speak, and be heard. In managing these aspects of the language classroom, the teacher must also command various strategies for managing students'"face"--the right to contribute or not, the right to acceptance of one's contribution in form and content. (Contains nine…

Maintains that Switzerland's national spirit lies in cultural and linguistic diversity. Proposes a "Ten Commandments of Multilingualism" for Swiss citizens who share this core principle of national identity. Concludes that Swiss should be happy and proud to have a nation based on cultural diversity. (CFR)

Shows that teachers often severely underestimate the literacy abilities of Navajo children. Makes the case for creating school literacy environments that build on the literacy orientation children bring with them from home and that provide opportunities to experience literacy in a wide variety of functional and purposive contexts. (RS)

Discusses the past history of German instruction in Alsatian schools and focuses on a recent and new development--the introduction of bilingual instruction (in French and English) in a series of pre-elementary and elementary schools, public as well as private. (Author/JL)

Investigated the emergence of orientations and their relation to motivation in a predominantly monolingual context. Participants were 93 Quebec City francophone Grade 11 high school students learning English as a Second Language. (Author/JL)

Reports on a survey of state assessment directors (100% response rate) in 1994 documenting assessment policies and practices concerning English language learners (ELLs) within state assessment systems. In the 1993-94 school year, 17 states required students to pass one or more content-area tests to receive a diploma, testing ELLs in several ways.…

Outlines the preferred learning styles of students studying second languages, offering suggestions for their application in second-language classrooms. The paper describes the right-brain/left-brain theory and how the two brain hemispheres are involved in learning; presents four classroom strategies (diversification, contextualization,…

A study investigated "lexical inventions" in the advanced oral French of 39 native Dutch-speakers, 32 of whom had French as a second language (L2) and English as a third language (L3), with the others having L2 English and L3 French. A higher proportion of lexical inventions produced by French L2 speakers derived from non-standard use of…

A study of the "silent period" in second-language learning focused on behavior of a 6-year-old Polish child shortly after immigration, in interaction with American children, bilingual Polish-American children, and another recent English-learner. Comparing play environments allowed identification of characteristics of interaction with…

Presents nine tips for planning effective second-language writing lessons. Tips are based on three principles (writing is a means of communication, writing is a process, and eliciting oral or written production of foreign language varies according to the degree of guidance teachers give to students). The paper offers six sample writing lessons for…

One Israeli elementary school created and implemented the idea of combining communication studies and English lessons in sixth grade. After each textbook unit, they taught one communications studies topic, choosing several essential words for each subject and teaching them as vocabulary items. The program taught students to be more aware of what…

Describes the Speaking Test, which forms part of the revised First Certificate of English (FCE) examination of the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate. Discusses key revisions, including use of paired-testing format, and notes the role of the oral examiners. Considers why the new design provides improvements in the assessment of…