Spanish-speaking preschoolers learning English in a bilingual preschool program were videotaped while working independently on tasks to examine their spontaneous private speech. Results show that the private speech of bilingual preschoolers appears to develop normally. Positive effects of second-language learning in a bilingual program on the…

Among six Mexican-American fifth graders who were native Spanish speakers and had varying levels of English proficiency, oral proficiency was related to reading comprehension within each language. Assisted line-by-line reading facilitated comprehension for low proficiency students, deficient in both English vocabulary and syntactic knowledge. (SV)

Reports findings from an action research project that set up an instructional program for Punjabi-speaking women immigrants and traced their English and literacy development in classroom and home settings. Data indicate that efforts to teach and acquire literacy focused on language code; self-control strategies and schematic representations for…

Recommends a method for teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) in Australia to help teachers facilitate a steady accumulation of learners' language, knowledge, and skills. Describes the ESL Framework of Stages which provides a reference point and resource for ESL teachers. (SM)

Summaries of five language-related research projects are presented from Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. Topics include teaching/learning Bahasa Malaysia; English-language programs in Malaysian teacher education colleges; interlanguage variability in verbs; reading/writing theories; and cross-cultural strategies and English in written business…

In the context of an increasingly interdependent world society, discusses the benefits of early acquisition of a second language for American children. Benefits cited include the ease of learning a second language at an early age, improved abilities in concept formation, greater cognitive flexibility, and appreciation of cultural diversity. Second…

The effects of two distinct ways of responding to a student essay (discrete-item attention to form and holistic feedback on meaning) were compared for a linguistically diverse group of 26 first-year college students. Findings suggest that the holistic response is likely to result in improvements in grammatical accuracy. (19 references) (Author/LB)

Typical markup methods for providing feedback to foreign language learners are not applicable to languages not written in a strictly linear fashion. A modification of Hart's edit markup software is described, along with a second variation based on a simple edit distance algorithm adapted to a general Southeast Asian font system. (10 references)…

Through a review of recent studies on the subject, it becomes clear that the focus of innovation in language teaching has been largely concerned with technological change rather than adoption of new pedagogical procedures. Furthermore, the assumptions behind innovation efforts need to be challenged to determine whose interests are being served.…

Discusses research regarding College of Liberal Arts students at the University of Minnesota where there are proficiency requirement-based second-language programs. Research results provide data that compare qualitative results on reading, listening, writing, and speaking proficiency tests of students from the proficiency requirement program at…

Studied the effect of grading classroom communicative activities on student performance at two different levels. Results indicated no significant difference in scores between the experimental and control groups at either level. (10 references) (VWL)

An inductive and interactive classroom technique to help advanced French language students reformulate simplified schemata into more useful insights into French grammar is described. It is proposed that, by developing the ability to revise continually structural hypotheses, students can expand syntactic repertories and improve long-term language…

On multiple-choice and translation tests, 87 Swedish-speaking learners of English avoided neither phrasal nor figurative verbs, regardless of whether the verbs were similar to, or different from their Swedish translation equivalence. (Author)

Discusses the practicalities associated with the introduction of proficiency-based instruction into university programs and courses that teach Arabic. Some of the additional responsibilities that such innovations place on the language teacher are identified, and issues for further discussion, research, and experimentation are raised. (19…

The expressions of the English modal auxiliaries "can,""could,""may," and "might" by 75 Panjabi-speaking students were studied. Students who were exposed to English at an earlier age showed better comprehension of verb forms. Modal acquisition by these second-language students mirrored that observed in…