An extensive focus on written language in early literacy instruction and assessment for emergent bilinguals places students at a disadvantage since they are learning English as a new language. Typically, classroom instruction has a narrow view of literacy and is dominated by a focus on tested skills, with little emphasis on the diverse backgrounds…

Recent studies have proposed developments to the Simple View of Reading to reflect reading development across age groups and differences among learner profiles and account for additional factors that explain reading comprehension performance beyond word recognition and language comprehension. One of these proposals is the inclusion of cognitive…

Undeniably, one language may be considered more valuable than other languages. Hence, most bilingual communities suffer from language imbalances. The present study attempts to identify the factors of code-switching during classroom presentations. Its functions were identified through analysing conversational contexts in which it occurs. Through…

The U.S. government encourages the study of critical languages spoken in geographic areas of strategic importance to U.S. national security and the global economy through a variety of discretionary grants and scholarship programs. U.S. students are traditionally underrepresented in the study of these languages; however, many of the nation's K-12…

In the Philippines, school children must contend with the use of English and Pilipino as media of instruction. Since they are taught by teachers who have not mastered English, either, the result is predictable: rote learning. In this process, pupils also learn the hierarchical authority structure of the school system, that is, the rules governing…

This issue of "Cross Currents" includes the following articles: "More About Drama for the Classroom" by Richard A. Via; "Student-Created Media: One Approach to ESL Instruction" by Kathy Campbell; "Some Advice for Japanese Students Learning English" by Yoshi-Mitsu Shimazu; "Patterns of Oral Communication…