Two studies investigated what instructional issues may be involved when second-language television recordings with first-language subtitles are used in the second-language classroom. The experiments were conducted in an English-as-a-Second-Language class in advanced listening for native Chinese-speakers. In the first experiment, conducted at…

A study of the translation process compared the decisions that native speakers (experts) and non-native speakers (non-experts) made that influenced resulting translations. Subjects were 40 students, graduate students, and faculty in a university foreign language department. English language proficiency was measured for native speakers by using the…

Designed for continued language learning beyond the beginning level, this workbook provides practice and sets of exercises for improving Romanian through reading and writing. The content areas include history, traditions, language and literature (both prose and poetry). Each unit includes several texts with exercises for use with a tutor or under…

Role-playing is proposed as an ideal technique to teach language because it prepares learners for the unpredictable nature of real-life communication, teaches appropriate language use, and boosts self-confidence. Theories that have paved the way for the current communicative approach to language teaching are reviewed, role-playing is defined, and…

A discussion of second language learning through science content focuses on English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learning at the elementary and secondary levels. Principles for integrating language and content instruction are identified, and the benefits of the language-across-the-curriculum approach for ESL learners are examined as they relate to…

This digest provides a description of block scheduling and discusses specific advantages, concerns, and considerations of block scheduling and foreign language instruction and learning. Block scheduling is a reorganization of school time that comes in many complex variations, including 4x4 (four blocks of 90 minutes each) and A/B (eight blocks…

The common perception on the part of higher education institutions, academic staff, and scholarship donors, that English language skill level is the cause of the academic difficulties (problems in adjustment, longer completion times required) of international graduate students is examined, drawing on experience at the Australian National…

A study investigated the acquisition of grammar-based reading routines in both first and second languages (L1 and L2). The objective was to determine whether routine integration of grammatical information to construct a semantic representation of the text is a matter of general cognitive development or language-specific learning. Subjects were…

This study investigated the relationship between student motivation, both extrinsic and intrinsic, and learning strategies for English as a foreign language (EFL) students. Subjects were 46 Taiwanese undergraduate and graduate students of advanced EFL at a public university in the United States who were administered motivation and learning…

A study examined factors in the hierarchical formation of self-concept in English as a second language among bilingual college students. Subjects were 306 students in a Hong Kong institution of higher education, who were administered an academic self-description questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis of the data found distinct self-concepts…

This document (two manuals combined) offers a practical, straightforward means of evaluating the reading level of students in French immersion classes at the elementary level. The evaluator's manual features a good review of the relevant publications in the field and provides clear, detailed descriptions of each of three reading levels, the…

The handbook, designed for Peace Corps volunteers but adaptable for other adult learners, offers ideas about how to improve one's own language learning through effective learning strategies. The handbook intended as a reference, not a text, for when the learner becomes discouraged with his rate of progress, is progressing well but looking for new…

The relationship between the reading comprehension and writing production of non-English speakers was examined in an exploratory study to determine whether knowledge gained through reading academic texts can facilitate the writing of compositions. The 10 subjects were enrolled in a developmental English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) university-level…

Research on themes that offer practical and theoretical bases for teaching language and content simultaneously is discussed. Three theoretical perspectives are cited that are relevant to this approach: the input hypothesis (Krashen's monitor model), the bilingual proficienty theories (Cummins' language proficiency model and the views of its…

This report describes the development, construction, and validation of the Preliminary Chinese Proficiency Test (Pre-CPT), a standardized, nationally-normed test of listening and reading comprehension for beginning-level native English-speaking learners of Chinese as a second language. The Pre-CPT was designed as a lower-level version of the…