In a study of bilingual speech production, data were collected from 771 unintentional language switches by 45 Dutch learners of English at 3 different proficiency levels. One finding was that the occurrence of language switch was related to learner proficiency in English. (Contains 40 references.) (Author/LB)

Summarizes the ways in which community colleges serve their limited English proficient students and provides background on second-language teaching methods and course design. Offers examples of diverse language programs offered by colleges, highlighting cooperative arrangements between businesses, colleges, other educational institutions, and…

A case is made for bilingual education in Britain, emphasizing the importance of the heritage language in child development. For children to appreciate language diversity, they must gain insight into the nature and form of languages and their roles in society. (SLD)

Reports results from the Nuffield Modern Language Inquiry, which surveyed 586 college language students about their experiences in year-abroad exchange programs. Questions focused on students perceived improvement in language and cultural knowledge and future employment prospects. (six references) (MDM)

This study compared the relative effects of traditional and processing instruction on the acquisition of Spanish past tense verb morphology among 61 college-level learners of Spanish. Results revealed significant gains in both comprehension and production for subjects in processing instruction, while subjects in traditional instruction had…

Among 32 ESL students who received training in metacognitive strategies for mathematics problem solving, those students who were the highest achievers in mathematics and whose teachers were involved extensively in project activities were better problem solvers than less able math students or students in low implementation classrooms. Includes…

Looks at the large-scale experiments on the testing of oral proficiency in English, French, and German that have been carried out over the last five years in the Swedish gymnasium. Various kinds of tasks and different grading criteria have been used, and the practical problems of scheduling and of teacher training have been discussed. (nine…

Analyzes the case of a Vietnamese-speaking science student who has repeatedly failed an English competency examination that analyzes essay content, rhetorical organization, and preparation for writing. Raises questions regarding the purposes, development, and evaluation of writing competency tests. (RDS)

Explores how the developmental needs of college English-as-a-Second-Language students can be met by placing them in a position of authority in relation to their reading texts, through activities that focus on the reader and the transactional nature of reading, which subsequently empower the reader and disempower the text. (CB)

A study of the success of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students on an institutional exit exam showed that ESL students are twice as likely as native English speakers to fail the exam although they compensate by passing the appeal. The findings suggest that portfolio assessment may be more valid for judging ESL students' writing. (Contains 25…

Examined the effect of gender on English language teachers' evaluations of audiotapes of Japanese students' spoken English. The results showed a slight pro-male bias when the speakers were introduced as students but none when the speakers were introduced as doctors or experts in their field. Teacher gender was found to have no effect on the rating…

Spanish-speaking preschoolers learning English in a bilingual preschool program were videotaped while working independently on tasks to examine their spontaneous private speech. Results show that the private speech of bilingual preschoolers appears to develop normally. Positive effects of second-language learning in a bilingual program on the…

Among six Mexican-American fifth graders who were native Spanish speakers and had varying levels of English proficiency, oral proficiency was related to reading comprehension within each language. Assisted line-by-line reading facilitated comprehension for low proficiency students, deficient in both English vocabulary and syntactic knowledge. (SV)

Designing school-linked services that take into account the growing diversity of the nation's population requires individuals and organizations to address several difficult issues, beginning with understanding language and culture. Building trust is perhaps the biggest challenge to developing effective collaboration. (SLD)

Discusses research regarding College of Liberal Arts students at the University of Minnesota where there are proficiency requirement-based second-language programs. Research results provide data that compare qualitative results on reading, listening, writing, and speaking proficiency tests of students from the proficiency requirement program at…