This digest focuses on teaching integrated skills in the English-as-a-Second/Foreign-Language classroom (ESL/EFL). Segregated-skill instruction is examined and two types of integrated-skills instruction are highlighted: content-based instruction and task-based instruction. The advantages of integrated-skill instruction are discussed, and five…

Considerable evidence exists that high-quality early childhood education programs for children from birth to age 5 can have long-lasting, positive consequences for children's success in school and later in life, especially for children from low-income families. However, such programs are not available for all children who need them, nor are all…

Noting that speech is not simply basic communication, this digest discusses ways in which teachers can help children develop oral language proficiency. The digest holds that speech involves thinking, knowledge, and skills, and that it requires practice and training. After setting out three criteria for oral language competence--fluency, clarity,…

This digest outlines the reasons for and challenges of developing the language skills of heritage language speakers and describes one effort to carry this out, the Heritage Languages Initiative. Specific sections address the following: developing language skills of U.S. residents; the range of language proficiencies of heritage language speakers;…

This digest focuses on meeting the educational needs of recent Asian Pacific American (APA) immigrants. Newcomers usually have various levels of English proficiency, and many find school rules incomprehensible because they differ so widely from their previous experiences. In addition, American teachers expect children to be interactive, creative,…

Civic education "means explicit and continuing study of the basic concepts and values underlying our democratic political community and constitutional order" (Butts 1988, 184). It draws its content chiefly from four disciplines: political science, jurisprudence, history, and economics. Political science and jurisprudence provide an…

Increasingly, technology is incorporated into second language teaching and learning both in and out of classroom situations. The computer alone has many capabilities for enhancing language learning, but when combined with other technologies, the possibilities multiply for information retrieval, interactive audio- and video-assisted learning, use…

This digest describes how foreign language instructors at Iowa State University of Science and Technology and Santa Clara University (California) have integrated the participation of native speakers from their communities into the curriculum in ways that allow students to practice their language skills and develop a heightened sense of cultural…

Recent technological, pedagogical, and regulatory developments have heightened awareness and appreciation of the utility of closed captioned television (CCTV) for adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and literacy instruction. A federal mandate that most televisions provide a closed caption decoder, increased captioning of all program types,…