Identifies differences between bilingual programs for minority language children and second-language immersion programs for majority language children. Examines points of mutual relevance between approaches. Discusses exemplary characteristics of effective second-language learning environments: integration of language and academic instruction,…

Assesses the validity of Language Assessment Scales (LAS) and a cloze test in measuring language proficiency. The LAS and two written cloze passages were administered to 28 Mexican-American third graders enrolled in bilingual classes. The cloze test correlated significantly only with the California Test of Basic Skills. (Author/LMO)

Two Toronto community English-as-a-second-language (ESL) programs used oral interview tests to place adults in appropriate programs. Instruments used included: Foreign Service Oral Interview; Ilyin Oral Interview; object-oriented testing; group testing; performance in authentic situations; Ontario Test of English as a Second Language; and George…

Gives a brief account of some factors which affect the teaching and learning of English pronunciation in Jordanian secondary schools. These factors include negative transfer from Arabic into English, learning strategies, and socioemotional, methodological, and psychological factors. (SED)

English writing ability of Hispanic college candidates taking the College Board's English Composition Test (ECT) was studied. The performance of three groups on essay and multiple choice portions of the ECT were compared with each other and with performance on the same measures by ECT test takers as a whole. (Author/DWH)

This collection of articles includes the following: "Second Language Acquisition Research and Applied Linguistics" (Teresa Pica); "'Communicative Lingerings': An Exploratory Study of the Experience of 'Foreign' Communicative Features in the Interactions of American Expatriates after Reentry" (Laura Sicola); "Acquiring…

This paper discusses the importance in Korea of learning to speak English proficiently, and describes a 16-week course designed to advance such proficiency. The paper begins with a general description of the importance of English in the curriculum of Korean higher education, and how important it is to obtain and keep professional employment, which…

"Dimension" is the annual volume containing the selected, refereed, edited proceedings of each year's conference. On the eve of its 40th anniversary, the Southern Conference on Language Teaching (SCOLT) plans a special series of articles on assessment within the foreign language profession. The 2004 edition of "Dimension"…

This document outlines a curriculum design intended for use with Bosnian refugees living in the United States learning English as a Second Language for survival purposes. The first chapter identifies the setting of instruction and background information regarding this refugee group. The second chapter reviews the theoretical issues of adult…

This document is the first in a series of reports about Texas's refugees and is an analysis of more than 1,000 Vietnamese and Laotian refugee interviews. What follows is an examination of the relationships English proficiency and education have with Southeast Asian refugees' income, mammogram screenings, smoking, citizenship, possession of a…

The strategic and indirect use of language in academic discussions poses particular difficulties to non-native speakers of English. In order for English language teachers to address the needs of non-native speakers in this area, descriptions of how language is used by proficient speakers of English in academic discussions are required. This paper…

This comprehensive and easy-to-read book explores both the theory and practice of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) assessment and is full of work samples, ideas, organizers, and personal experiences that all readers can use or adapt for their own situations. The primary goal is to provide proven and effective assessment methods. As ESL students…

A study compared two methods for assessing English proficiency of limited-English-proficient school-age children, for purposes of placement in bilingual and monolingual education programs. The two instruments used were the Idea Oral Language Proficiency Test (forms C and D) (IPT), which assesses oral English proficiency, and the Woodcock-Munoz…

This study reports on the development, administration, and analysis of a test of collocational knowledge for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learners of a wide range of proficiency levels. Through native speaker item validation and pilot testing, three subtests were developed and administered to 98 ESL learners of low-intermediate to advanced…

This paper analyses the influence of age on the acquisition of English as a third language by focusing on the development of general proficiency in English by school children. Participants were 60 secondary school students who had studied English for 6 years but started learning it at different ages. All participants completed a battery of tests…