The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) Statewide Survey series provides policymakers, the media, and the public with objective, advocacy-free information on the perceptions, opinions, and public policy preferences of California residents. Inaugurated in April 1998, this is the 116th PPIC Statewide Survey in a series that has generated a…

Many factors complicate the education of urban students. Among them have been issues related to population density; racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity; poverty; racism (individual and institutional); and funding levels. Although urban educators have been addressing these issues for decades, placing them under the umbrella of "urban…

What turns a good school into a great school? With today's schools under enormous pressure to make adequate yearly progress (AYP), the answers are more important than ever--and this essential guidebook gives K-12 administrators and educators scores of proven, concrete strategies to help their school succeed. Authors Martin Ratcliffe and Melissa…

In California, Algebra I is the 8th grade math content standard. The United States Department of Education found the annual 8th grade General Math California Standards Test to be out of compliance with the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 since it assesses 6th and 7th grade math standards and not Algebra I math content. In response to the…

The fifth edition of this bestselling book provides a comprehensive introduction to bilingualism and bilingual education. In a compact and clear style, its 19 chapters cover all the crucial issues in bilingualism at individual, group and national levels. These include: (1) defining who is bilingual and multilingual; (2) testing language abilities…

Developing the ability to speak in a foreign language is an arduous task. This is because it involves the mastery of different language subsystems, simultaneous focus on comprehension and production, and the impact of a range of social factors. This challenge is further compounded in situations in which learners have limited access to the target…

"The Routledge Applied Linguistics Reader" is an essential collection of readings for students of Applied Linguistics. Divided into five sections: Language Teaching and Learning, Second Language Acquisition, Applied Linguistics, Identity and Power and Language Use in Professional Contexts, the "Reader" takes a broad…

This paper describes the theoretical framework and the main objectives of the European Comenius project MuViT -- Multiliteracy Virtual. The project engages primary pupils across the world in multilingual and audiovisual reading and writing processes through the use of information technology resources to enhance multi-literacies, plurilingual…

This study focused on auditory perception, or phonetic discrimination, in foreign language learning. Subjects of the study were English-speakers (n=35) learning French. Researchers measured subjects' auditory sensibility, comparing it with progress in phonetic discrimination during the school year. Progress in the latter was measured by both a…

Text linguistics, a recent development in the study of language, moves the focus of inquiry from the sentence to the text and examines texts as acts of communication rather than individual, static sentences. It investigates textuality rather than grammaticality, the relationships between sentences and between text and context that make text…

Traditional methods have hitherto neglected the situation in foreign language teaching. The situation - a means of tying closely together the use of language (expression) with the conditions for the use of this language (situation) - represents only a substitute, indeed, for the real situation, but does fill a significant place in language…

A heuristic procedure, suggested by Harald Weinrich, for the explication of "text coherence" or "textuality" is examined and critically analyzed. A text model emerging from this critical analysis is then adduced as an example. The concept of "transition" in particular, introduced into the debate by Weinrich, reveals…

The rhymes and songs hitherto used in foreign language teaching such as nursery rhymes, carols, hymns, etc. belong almost exclusively to England's older culture. Since they are too difficult at least for Secondary grade 1, both as to language and as to content, school children's rhymes are suggested for teaching - that is, rhymes made by children…

The movement to teach Latin orally as a living language is a recurring educational theme; this paper reviews the work of the Swiss Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746-1827) in oral Latin. (CK)