Eight conference papers on language teacher development are presented, including: "Mosaics of Teacher Development and Socialization" (Andrew Barfield, Paul A. Beaufait, Sean Conley, Tim Murphey, Katsura Haruko), a panel presentation on aspects of and experiments in teacher development; "Questions About Teaching? Answers from…

Data from "The Condition of Education, 1997" are used to show how changes over time in the composition of students in terms of factors such as student English language proficiency, family income, parents' education, and family structure affect the social context of education. This report traces associations between these student-level social…

Two solutions for teaching college-level German instruction in Japan are described. The first solution is the TALK Learning System, materials designed for use in large classes. Instead of a course book, each learner has a manual in Japanese, three tool cards for each of four topics (one with dialogue patterns, a question card, and a data card), a…

English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) student writers are often labeled as having poor language proficiency skills, poor writing skills, and poor organizational skills. These labels can negatively affect teachers and students. They have become yardsticks for guiding teachers' instruction and measuring students' performance. Often, ESL writing…

This report summarizes evaluation results for the Austin Independent School District (AISD) bilingual education and English as a second language programs for the 2001-2002 school year.

Analysis of reading comprehension errors made by 22 Spanish-speaking fourth-graders in decoding English text found that comprehension "errors" began at the word level and advanced to larger misinterpretations at the sentence level. The cognitive processes of English language learners when comprehending English texts showed individual differences,…

Describes a computer program that takes multiple-choice cloze passages and compiles them into proofreading exercises. Results reveal that such a computerized test type can be used to accurately measure the proficiency of students of English as a Second Language in Hong Kong. (14 references) (Author/CK)

Examines the status of English second language instruction in Dutch-speaking Flanders (Belgium), particularly as concerns these areas: education (teacher education, language certification, types and intensity of English courses, materials and methods); Flemish society and daily life; its image and the quality of its use; and status in competition…

Investigates the effects of science students' domain-specific knowledge and language proficiency on local lexical and syntactic processing and on semantic and higher conceptual processing of biology texts written in the students' first and second languages. Results indicate that language proficiency affects lower-level processing and…

Examines instructional strategies for improving the education of English language learners. The strategies reviewed were ESL in the Content Areas, Effective Use of Time (EUOT), and a combination of the other two. The EUOT group had the highest scores on reading and language arts achievement and the combined treatment group, the lowest. (34…

Explores issues on instruction and evaluation of students who are nonnative speakers (NNSs) of English in institutions employing Writing across the Curriculum programs. The authors examine faculty expectations of NNS writing and NNS performance on Writing Proficiency Exams and conclude that these students are held to a double standard. (15…

In spite of increasing ethnic, linguistic, and socioeconomic diversity, educational reform efforts continue to target mainstream English-speaking U.S. public. The educational plans of the America 2000 initiative are no exception. This theme issue provides examples of classroom-based research in which educators try to improve literacy education for…

Reports on an ethnographic study of primary level science classes in Kenya where English is the government-mandated language of instruction. Finds that important ideas were conveyed more easily when teachers did not adhere to the policy of English-only instruction. Concludes that the importance of sociolinguistics in instructional processes should…

Research described oral texts produced by second- and third- generation bilingual Chicano Spanish speakers when required to carry out a set of functions in only one of their available codes. Analysis focuses on characteristics of planned, noninteractive spoken language produced in Spanish by university students in a classroom setting, compared…

The effectiveness of an explicit, systematic reading intervention for first-grade students whose home language was Spanish and who were at risk for reading difficulties was examined. Participants were 69 students in 20 classrooms in 7 schools from 3 districts who initially did not pass the screening in Spanish and were randomly assigned within…