Parents and child care personnel in English-dominant parts of the world often express misgivings about raising children bilingually. Their concerns are based on the belief that dual language learning during the infant-toddler stage confuses children, delays their development, and perhaps even results in reduced language competence. In this…

Discusses experimental evidence which suggests that there may be greater right hemisphere involvement in language processing in bilinguals who acquire their second language late relative to their first language and in bilinguals who learn their second language in informal contexts. (EKN)

Describes immersion programs in the United States and Canada and reviews results of evaluative research pertaining to them. Discusses findings with respect to students' native-language development, academic achievement, and second language proficiency. Also discusses the suitability of immersion for students with distinctive, potentially…

Existing research related to the suitability of French immersion for disadvantaged and minority group children is reviewed with a view to drawing conclusions and making recommendations. (Author/RM)

A review of literature on foreign language testing indicates that the earliest approaches to language assessment were generally uninformed by contemporaneous linguistic and psychological theories and were characterized by a lack of psychometric sophistication. This trend was followed by the development of test instruments that were heavily…

There has been a longstanding interest among second and foreign language educators in research on language and the brain. By understanding how the brain learns naturally, language teachers may be better able to enhance their effectiveness in the classroom. This digest examines current brain research and discusses its implications for second…

Reviews research findings as they relate to the acquisition of reading skills (in the first and second language) by majority-group school children participating in early immersion programs. (Author)

A description of four research strategies which are different from the commonly used between-groups design: the sub-group method, the regression or correlation method, the case study method and the ethnography method. Two studies carried out in Montreal using the regression method are discussed. (AMH)