Reports on a study of the influence of cognitive/affective variables on the second language learning ability of adults. Two variables, field independence and ambiguity tolerance, were found to be significant predictors of English as a second language proficiency for international students studying in the United States. (SED)

Assesses the performance of bilingual children on two language tasks in both the children's languages in order to determine whether the profile of skills in the first language was replicated in the second language. (HOD)

Describes a study of home language use patterns of urban Hispanic families to determine the differences between academic achievement, language development, and psychosocial adjustment of children whose families have maintained Spanish as the main home language and those whose families have switched to English. The results challenge the assumption…

Discusses four major outcomes of studies on language acquisition and the dimensions of the concept of communicative competence that need to be substantiated empirically. Warns that classroom teachers may go further than theoreticians in condemning the teaching of grammar, as if communication were something to be acquired in spite of grammatical…

Discusses the following questions: (1) What is the nature of the reading process? (2) How does one bring meaning to print? (3) What sort of knowledge does the reader bring to bear on the text to make sense of it? and (4) What are the implications of these issues for teaching? (SED)

A study was done to identify the cultural or linguistic bias present in an English as a second language placement examination at the university level. Test items exhibiting bias in their respective skill domains were identified by comparing 34 native Spanish speakers and 77 native Chinese speakers. (SED)

Presents a psycholinguistic analysis of young children's performance in Japanese before, during, and after a two-month stay in Japan from the perspective of Vygotsky and the Soviet school of psycholinguistics. Looks at the social function of their utterances, the types of regulation involved, and strategic functions that may be intended. (SED)

This essay addresses the effect of introducing a foreign language into the formal education of oral-traditional societies. Highlights include the nature of such societies, language in formal education, reading and language acquisition, developing a theory of high retention and recall, and overall implications for national development and…

A technique for teaching dialog is outlined that provides considerable preproduction input and acquisition experiences through which students create dialog lines. The technique uses these steps: prenarrative activities, narrative, contextual expansion of new vocabulary, reading input, dialog construction from visual cues, dialog recreation, and…

Defines "listening comprehension" and discusses both its role in the process of first and second language acquisition and the modes of language processing presumed to operate in listening comprehension. Presents specific teaching strategies and material incorporating listening comprehension in the foreign language classroom at all levels. (SED)

The development of an advanced English course emphasizing communication skills for adult students is described. The course was intended to foster a broad range of conceptual and interpersonal abilities. (RM)

A program of the University of the Pacific established a cluster college to integrate a non-Western perspective into the curriculum of a liberal arts education. Study in India, Japan or Taiwan includes intensive language courses and working internships. (CHK)

The new roles and functions of university language departments are discussed. A decline in younger language students is countered by growing adult demand for language training. New institutions or sections cater to new learning groups; extramural, decentralized and distance courses have developed. Advantages for student and university are…

The purpose of this tool kit is to provide guidance, tools, and resources that will assist communities in building culturally and linguistically competent services, supports, programs, and practices related to young children, their families. By offering services in culturally and linguistically meaningful ways, communities can engage all families…

State and federal laws mandate that local educational agencies equip students who have limited English proficiency with the English language skills necessary to succeed in all academic content areas. In efforts to comply with both state and federal law, the Arizona State Department of Education (ADE) has developed a mechanism to identify, assess,…