Examines the historical and socioeconomic context of classroom code switching in Hong Kong. Empirical analyses of actual instances of classroom code switching reveal this action to be the teachers' and students' local pragmatic response to the symbolic domination of English. The article concludes with a cost-benefit analysis of the Hong Kong…

Using ethnographic observations of classroom interaction in three primary schools, determinants of teachers' language choice and codeswitching among English, Swahili, and mother-tongue were explored: official school policy, cognitive concerns, classroom management concerns, values and attitudes about societal multilingualism. (36 references)…

This qualitative study investigated the writing processes of eight emergent bilingual children as they composed stories in two languages in a Writing Workshop (WW) context. The research was situated in two grade 1 classrooms in a Spanish/English Two-Way Bilingual Education program in the north-eastern USA. For six months, researchers observed…

This monograph presents language factors related to bilingualism, to assist educators to distinguish normal phenomena due to bilingualism from symptoms of a handicapping condition. The first section, called "The Nature of Bilingualism," discusses the diversity of bilingual students and their dynamic use of two languages, focusing on simultaneous…

The notion of language dominance is often defined in terms of proficiency. We distinguish dominance, as a property of the bilingual mind and a concept of language knowledge, from proficiency, as a concept of language use. We discuss ways in which language dominance may be assessed, with a focus on measures of mean length of utterance (MLU).…

This study investigated the ways in which a bilingual's choice between the minority first language (L1) and the dominant second language (L2), in this case English, suggests the value the language has for the social and in-group identity of the bilingual. Adult bilinguals (n=38) of widely varying L1 backgrounds were surveyed concerning their…

This is a study of three contiguous generations of the extended families of Olivo and Atilano that emigrated from Central Mexico to Illinois. The general purpose of the investigation is to describe the development of the home language (Spanish) in an emigrant environment by concentrating on the generation as a transitional stage. In particular,…

The lives of many families involve contact with more than one language and culture on a daily basis. This book is aimed at the many parents and professionals who feel uncertain about the best way to go about helping children gain maximum benefit from the situation. Every family's situation is different, but there is much parents can do to make…

This article examines issues in language assessment in children exposed to two languages, including arrested language development in preschool children, arrested development and language loss in school-age children, effects of educational policy (especially the devaluation of non-English languages) on bilingualism, problems in primary language…

A followup study looked at the language development of three children (aged 5-6 years during the present study) three years after initial observation. Initially, the children were Spanish-dominant; all had one native English-speaking parent; all were learning English easily. The followup study involved parent interviews and observations of the…

This study analyzes the language attitudes of the Paraguayan people toward their two languages, Guarani and Spanish. To study the bilingual situation in the South American country, a pilot survey was carried out in the capital city addressing the major topics of language attitudes, language usage, and language varieties. The goals of the survey…

The validity of the theory of crucial similarity in language interference is investigated. The theory proposes that when a first and a second language are structurally similar in some aspects, the second language learner will assume similarity in other aspects, causing interference. In this study, the German of first grade students whose teacher…

The phonological switching processes of 16 bilingual (Spanish-English) adults were observed to provide phonological evidence for the coordinate/compound theory of bilingualism. Each subject was categorized as a coordinate or compound based on responses to a questionnaire. Subjects were recorded reading a mixed list of Spanish and English words.…

This digest presents eight principles drawn from theory and research on second language acquisition and culturally sensitive instruction to guide teachers who work with linguistically and culturally diverse students. Each principle is accompanied by a brief explanation and suggestions for classroom techniques and activities. They are: (1)…

This compilation of articles deals with practical questions of bilingualism that appear to be important to the development of education in Britain. The conference for which the papers were originally prepared concentrated on three general aspects: the existence of many thousands of bilingual children in Britain whose native languages are largely…