This brief paper tells the story of a group of high school students in West Texas who worked together to solve a language problem in their local public schools. They determined that there was a need to have better bilingual resources and services available to new arrivals with limited or no English language speaking ability. The bulk of the paper…

A teacher of English in China describes his experiences teaching the listening component of a summer course designed to help 37 doctoral students improve their English skills before beginning an agricultural economics program. In the listening component, students were to gain experience in notetaking while listening to extended academic lectures.…

This theme issue of "Bildung und Wissenschaft" explains the importance of multilingualism in today's world, focusing on foreign language instruction in Germany. It examines the following issues: "Multilingualism in a Changing World"; "The Significance of Foreign Languages for Germany"; "Foreign Languages in…

One of the ways in which language testing interfaces with applied linguistics is in the definition and validation of the constructs that underlie language tests. When language testers and score users interpret scores on a test, they do so by implicit and explicit reference to the construct on which the test is based. Equally, when applied to new…

This paper seeks to build on the growing body of literature demonstrating the value of a dialogical process in second language learning, especially in work with students who are not part of the dominant cultural or linguistic group. It identifies and describes the ways in which bilingual secondary students engaged in dialogical processes begin to…

The Aboriginal Language Standardisation (ALS) Project's task is to develop quality literacy materials in order to help preserve aboriginal languages of Canada. The Canadian Assembly of First Nations, a group of tribal leaders, recently called for the establishment of standards for written and oral languages by approving terminology, developing…

This practitioner brief focuses on the question: What happens when beginner-level English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students work in small groups? This question was pursued because the ESL teacher wanted to make use of small self-directed groups during class time. She found that the students needed a lot of structure from the teacher to make…

"Harvard Education Letter" is published bimonthly at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. This issue of "Harvard Education Letter" contains the following articles: (1) Bringing Parents on Board: Strong Home-School Connections Enrich Learning Opportunities for Immigrant Kids--and Their Parents, Too (Sue Miller Wiltz); (2)…

This study examines how content-area teachers view the needs of L2 learners in their classroom. It addresses simple collaboration strategies for ELL and content-area teachers to use to help adolescent L2 students in both the resource and rotary classroom. Socio-cultural curriculum resources are cited with the appendices. (Contains 7 tables.)

In this study it is proposed to give an historical account of the teaching of modern languages--German, French, Spanish, and Italian--in the United States. The hope is entertained that the record of past achievement and present needs may inspire teachers of modern languages to greater effort and still greater achievement. The work of investigation…

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.

A study demonstrated that integratively motivated secondary students in French courses volunteered more answers, gave more correct responses, and were more satisfied with participation. The teacher's behavior seemed affected by these factors. References, a list of test battery subscales used, and the Language Research Group National Test Battery…

Seven priorities in bilingual education research are suggested: effectiveness of bilingual education programs; second language acquisition; acquisition and use of minority languages in the United States; cultural and other differences between students and school; readiness for instruction in the second language; student assessment and diagnosis;…

Provides a detailed analysis of techniques used for second language vocabulary assessment and the implied assumptions about the underlying construct of vocabulary knowledge. The article notes that existing measures of vocabulary size are uninformative as to the depth of knowledge that learners have about particular words. (56 references)…

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,…