A curriculum guide for secondary levels 1 and 2 offers a linguistic and cultural program for native speakers of Spanish. Designed especially for bilingual students in Texas, the guide recognizes the high level of linguistic achievement of the Spanish-speaking pupils, and stresses an appreciation of Hispanic culture. The bulletin provides…

The survey of foreign language testing described in this paper resulted in the issuing of three handbooks and a special validation report, encompassing the results of research, consultation with professional committees, and significant position statements in four major areas of foreign language testing: placement of incoming students in foreign…

This newsletter contains a variety of articles on topics related to teaching English as a second language. The first article provides a general discussion of the development of teaching methods for foreign language instruction and of the needs that must be met for successful language teaching. The second article discusses reading and the need for…

A study was conducted to: (1) determine the simple and multiple correlation coefficients between selected educational/personal variables and academic achievement at intermediate grade levels as measured by the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills; (2) determine the multiple linear regression equations for predicting individual student achievement as…

It is maintained that if foreign language learning is included at the elementary school level, it should be done to make it possible for the large majority of the pupils to reach a certain minimum objective in secondary education. And, elementary schools must reach one common objective which is closely related to the minimum objective of secondary…

This paper presents a "natural" method of second language learning which stresses contact with native speakers and de-emphasizes textbook learning. The method described here is that used by Baptist missions in eastern Africa to teach Bemba, but is transferrable to any language. Some of the main principles of the method are: (1) language…

The present study reports on exploratory research to determine whether the Aluminum Paragraph, a sentence-combining exercise developed by O'Donnell (Hunt, 1970) to measure the development of syntactic complexity in the writing of native speakers of English, can also serve as a measure of the active syntactic proficiency of learners of English as a…

This paper describes the process used to determine if a Thai individual, of a limited English speaking background, seemed to have enough proficiency in English to understand the "Miranda Rights," designed to inform him of his rights to an attorney. These Rights should be simplified for limited English speakers. (CFM)

When analyzing data concerning interlanguage variation and discourse domain, it appears that learners may exhibit more control in their work-domain than in their life-story domain. Data were collected on the Dutch-French interlanguage of two university economics students to investigate the relation of domain to variation in utterances. (Author/…

Foreign summer language programs offer many advantages to students, but students may only receive superficial contact with the host culture and language and may be motivated only by their wish to have a memorable experience abroad. Suggestions are presented to ensure academic validity of such programs in the areas of motivation, academic credit,…

Students in freshmen English classes (N=273) at a Japanese university were given translation and acceptability judgment tests involving the verb "give" (in text). The selective use of two predicate structures for "give" in appropriate contexts of usage were examined: (1) GIVE (noun phrase NP and participial phrase PP) and (2)…

Analyzes the results of a 1975 study of a 12-year-old Spanish speaker with regard to his acquisition of negation in English. The hypothesis of formulating/testing second language learning is reaffirmed with an alternate explanation of variation in syntactic forms. Results show that free variation is functionally determined. (LMO)

The structure and programs of the multilingual European Schools network are outlined, focusing on the role of language in the curriculum. The schools' linguistic outcomes are compared with those of Canada's immersion programs. The use of social engineering to foster multilingual contacts is discussed. (MSE)

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)