The objective was to examine the impact of different types of accommodations on performance in content tests such as mathematics. The meta-analysis included 14 U.S. studies that randomly assigned school-aged English language learners (ELLs) to test accommodation versus control conditions or used repeated measures in counter-balanced order.…

In 1974, the United States Supreme Court ruled in "Lau v. Nichols" that 1,800 Chinese-speaking children in the San Francisco public schools were entitled to English-language instruction or other support to help them understand what was happening in their classrooms. Thirty-six years later, state and local responsibilities to public…

More than 20% of U.S. children entering kindergarten today are of Latino heritage. And Latino children--growing-up in highly diverse communities--enter school with weaker math and English preliteracy skills than their non-Latino peers. The growing percentage of Spanish-speaking children in today's classrooms raises questions for educators,…

In this article, the author analyzes the policies that since the early 1990s have actively promoted the status of Spanish both as an international and global language. The focus is on the actions and discourses of Spain's primary language policy agencies, namely, the Cervantes Institute and the Spanish Royal Academy. Although the Institute has…

The main purpose of this study is to develop a Spanish language screening measure that (a) is valid and reliable for the purpose of identifying Spanish-speaking (SS) children at risk for Language Impairment (LI), (b) is valid and reliable across different Spanish dialects, different socioeconomic groups, and different ethnicities, (c) uses a…

Language differences in the United States are largely viewed as problems that schools must remedy. This paradigm has created the pervasive belief that Spanish is a root cause of underachievement for Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs). This article examines teacher beliefs systems with regard to the above paradigm. It also examines…

"Peer Tutoring and Response Groups" aims to improve the language and achievement of English language learners by pairing or grouping students to work on a task. The students may be grouped by age or ability (English-only, bilingual, or limited English proficient) or the groups may be mixed. Both peer tutoring pairs and peer response…

Describes Project Orillas, a telecommunications network designed to improve the writing skills of bilingual and foreign language students studying English and Spanish in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the United States. The electronic bulletin board system used for communication is explained and guidelines for joining the network are included. (LRW)

This investigation focuses on the literacy practices of a young Dominican immigrant woman attending a high school in the United States. Drawing from multiple bodies of research and the qualitative research genre of portraiture, the author relies on ethnographic classroom observations and interviews during one and a half years to provide a nuanced…

The 15-year history of research and application in cooperative learning in primary and middle schools in the United States, Canada, Europe, and Israel is described. A specific application is discussed of some cooperative learning structures in a postsecondary foreign language classroom. (12 references) (Author/LB)

Suggests ways that authentic speech for Spanish-language broadcasts intended for Spanish-speaking audiences in the United States can be used in the classroom to present not only idealized speech of the so called "educated native speaker," but also dynamic and current models of interlocutors from many nations, interacting effectively as…

Discusses national linguistic tensions related to the increasing number of Spanish speakers in the United States. Focuses on a group of language scholars who are engaging in efforts to change or suppress the use of U.S. Spanish, particularly in the domain of Spanish. Asserts that the arguments put forth by this group are based on attitudes of the…

Research on the development of efficiency in spoken language understanding has focused largely on middle-class children learning English. Here we extend this research to Spanish-learning children (n=49; M=2;0; range=1;3-3;1) living in the USA in Latino families from primarily low socioeconomic backgrounds. Children looked at pictures of familiar…

This article reports on a study using Piagetian clinical methodology to examine the early writing development of 56, urban, Spanish-speaking preschoolers in a metropolitan area of the United States. In addition, the article draws upon findings by the Expert Study (Flippo, 1998) to underscore the types of instructional environments that have proven…

This paper compares bilingual education policy and practice in Panama and the United States. Particular issues studied include the following: the social context of bilingual education in the two countries; programming and policy differences; teacher qualifications; availability of age-appropriate materials; and administrative support, level of…