This compact disc includes video clips covering six topics for the learner of Chinese: personal information, commercial transactions, travel and leisure, health and sports, food and school. Filmed on location in Beijing, these naturalistic video clips consist mainly of unrehearsed interviews of ordinary people. The learner is lead through a series…

This compact disc offers 15 Korean lessons from a variety of authentic sources including notes found on the family refrigerator, traditional folk tales, modern poetry, and Web journal articles about politics, technology, and popular culture. The learner is lead through a series of activities aiding comprehension and learning that sharpen…

This compact disc offers 10 Korean lessons from a variety of authentic sources, including the following: television commercials and scenes from a soap opera, news reports on politics, sports, the environment, and a book fair; and scenes from a Korean film, "Our Twisted Hero." The learner is lead through a series of activities aiding…

This report is designed for use by policymakers and practitioners involved in issues of adult education, welfare reform, and employment training programs. The driving concerns of this report are issues associated with Spanish-speaking adults who are at risk for having learning disabilities. The focus on adults is critical, because such issues as…

This 22-country survey was conducted between 1994 and 1998. Representative samples of adults aged 16-65 were interviewed and tested at home using the same literacy tests. The main purpose of the survey was to find out how well adults use information to function in society. Another aim was to investigate the factors that influence literacy…

This chapter describes a program evaluation of cooperative learning in a private language school devoted to teaching English to Japanese students. Student resistance to cooperative learning was due to a lack of training of students, a lack of understanding of basic cooperative learning principles by administrators, and a lack of cooperative…

This paper describes a first-year English-as-foreign-language junior college reading course in Japan that utilized a combination of whole class instruction and cooperative learning techniques to encourage group discussion and language skill development. Students were randomly divided into groups of eight--a group which became the students' home…

Despite several years of English language instruction, most Japanese students remain unable to produce nor comprehend more than rudimentary English. In order to overcome this problem, students must be motivated to participate in tasks designed to get them to use English communicatively--a difficult task in a country where students typically remain…

This document is the final report describing the experiences, effectiveness, and findings of a home ownership literacy program in El Paso, Texas. It is asserted that such a program was and is necessary because the adult education programs that presently exist typically are not sufficiently addressing the practical, real-life needs of the…

This study investigated over a 3-year period the learning strategies high school students reported using for learning a second language. The learning strategies used across languages and modalities are described. The report is organized by instrument--questionnaires, small group interviews, individual think-aloud interviews--and presents the data…

Phonological awareness is one of the strongest predictors of success in learning to read. Recent research findings indicate that the development of proficiency in the first language (L1) reading structures may significantly influence reading acquisition in a second language (L2). However, little is yet known of the predictive relationship of…

This article presents the results of a pilot longitudinal study that attempted to develop a method to take subjective, qualitative observations about the English language speaking skills of Japanese English language learners and transform them into objective, quantitative measures. The following considerations must be addressed in the course of…

This paper is a pedagogically-oriented case study of a "Gaikokugo" Communication course conducted in an intensive format. After a brief introduction and consideration of the intensive course format, the pedagogical approach guiding the course (together with samples of the materials used in the course provided in the appendix) is…

This chapter is part of a book that recounts the year's work at the Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) at Texas A & M University-Corpus Christi. Rather than an "elitist" laboratory school for the children of university faculty, the dual-language ECDC is a collaboration between the Corpus Christi Independent School District and…

This paper illustrates how the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma is exploring a new paradigm of evaluation that is responsive to the claims, concerns, and issues of stakeholders involved. Known as culturally responsive evaluation, this alternative conceived by the Initiative for Culturally Responsive Evaluation (ICRE) is considered more appropriate than…