Summarizes current data available on the educational attainment of precollegiate Hispanic students. Reviews factors contributing to the heterogeneity of Latino and the educational implications of the demographic changes of the last 20 years. The increasing residential segregation of Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans promotes linguistic isolation…

To improve the listening abilities of non-native English speakers at Pan American University, discourse-level listening curriculum guidelines were developed, based on research about listening skills. The approach separates the steps of listening into preparation, memory practice, cues, organizational patterns, and review. Sample guides and…

College students (N=60) majoring in French, German, or Spanish took Self-Appraisal of Speaking Proficiency and State Anxiety Inventory before being assessed by American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages' Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI). Results showed that anxiety did not exert as much influence on scores as ability did. However, once…

Compares Italian native language instruction and instruction in English and French as a second language and discusses how the similarities may be used to improve the effectiveness of language teaching. (MSE)

English for academic-purposes courses are often regarded as self-contained entities. Sufficient attention is paid neither to interrelations with other aspects of language teaching nor to relevant sources of research. Suggested areas of future investigation include language-teaching research and classroom research. (Author/CB)

Describes a study done to identify those syntactic structures that effectively communicate ideas in written German composition of fourth-semester students. Also identified were grammatical structures that writers can control on a syntactic level, but which they do not employ as a communicative strategy. (Author/SED)

Presents the first report of a three-year evaluation of the impact of French schooling on English-speaking children in Quebec. Focuses on the English language development, French language proficiency, and mathematics achievement of children in the fourth grade. Systematic observations of teaching approaches in the French schools were also carried…

A survey of francophone parents in Monckton, New Brunswick enrolling their children in either English-language or French-language schools revealed the reasons for the enrollment choices, satisfaction with the choice, perceptions of their children's linguistic competence and ethnic identity, their own linguistic assimilation, home and second…

Discusses academic writing as it is learned by Chinese students of English as a second language (ESL), and critiques Kaplan's claim that ESL students writing expository prose in English will show organizational patterns different from those of native speakers. Developmental factors in second language learners' writing are discussed. (SED)

Argues that a truly learner-centered approach in second language teaching should be concerned with allowing learners a greater role in the management of their learning by providing opportunities for learner choice in the method and scope of study. Reports on experiments in this approach at the University College of Bahrain. (SED)

Although economic considerations are influential in one's success or failure at second language learning, sociolinguistic and psycholinguistic factors should not be overlooked. Suggests that a fuller understanding of language acquisition and language behavior might be gained by a combined analysis of economic data (human capital model), family…

A structural equation model of second language acquisition for adult learners describing the relationships between latent variables representing sociocultural background, cognitive ability, functional language proficiency, cognitive language proficiency, attitudes, motivation, and instructional approach was evaluated. Data were drawn from a…

As a result of learning French in a situation in which only speech skills are necessary and reading and writing skills are not, Tunisians produce fixed, economical, and valid usage that is incorrect or unacceptable in relation to the norm. (MSE)

Discusses the case study approach incorporated into a course in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) Administration for graduate students at the University of Aston (Birmingham). Authors cite the need for such a course, noting that a good knowledge of course design, methodology, and materials production will not turn an ESP teacher into a future…

Describes "Imitation Exercise," which has been developed to help beginning language learners cope with hearing and recognizing a collection of sounds they are unfamiliar with. By conducting the exercise entirely in the students' native languages, they are not threatened, and in addition, they are allowed to listen to sounds in a familiar,…