The learning of modern languages in primary school (PL) was recently promoted to statutory status in the curriculum of England and Wales, but practice remains patchy. Low PL capacity amongst primary school teachers and constraints on curricular time persist. Viewed through the lenses of policy, learning theory and context, current PL practice can…

This report on professional teaching standards in the Central Region examines what K-8 general education teachers are expected to know and be able to do in order to teach English language learner students. It reviews the standards for coverage of six topics that the research literature suggests are important for improving student achievement. Key…

This report on professional teaching standards in the Central Region examines what K-8 general education teachers are expected to know and be able to do in order to teach English language learner students. It reviews the standards for coverage of six topics that the research literature suggests are important for improving student achievement. Key…

Students in Papua, New Guinea were given a test in which the words more and less were used in different contexts. Half the pupils studied had English as their first language; for the other half English was a second language. Study results of pupil errors suggested serious educational implications. (MP)

An attempt is made in the present paper to resolve inconsistencies between the results of recent studies which have reported that bilingualism is associated with positive cognitive consequences and earlier studies which suggested that bilingualism might adversely affect cognitive and scholastic progress. Because recent studies involved balanced…

Focusing on how children learn to read in a language they have previously only spoken, this book illustrates the skill theory of reading development, which encompasses both new perceptual processes and modified but familiar integrative cognitive processes of language comprehension. The chapters discuss the following aspects of learning to read:…

If the study of foreign languages cannot be begun at the elementary level, it should be delayed until after adolescence, because adolescents between the ages of 10 and 18 have the greatest difficulty learning languages. At the tertiary level, emphasis should be on the reading skill. (CFM)

This paper reports on an investigation of learning strategy applications in elementary foreign language immersion classrooms. The focus of the paper is on identifying strategies more and less effective learners use for classroom reading and writing tasks in the target language. Think-aloud data from third grade and fourth grade students were…

Data is presented in support of the assertion that the interlanguage hypothesis should be extended from adult second language acquisition settings to those non-simultaneous child language acquisition settings where the major sociolinguistic variable is the absence of peers who are native speakers of the target language. (Author/RM)

The fourth-year update of a longitudinal study examined the progress of the 31 remaining members of 2 classes in the first cohort of a Spanish immersion program and their standard-program monolingual comparison group of 15 students. Achievement gains were measured on standardized tests of mathematics and language skills. Results provided new…

This paper presents a number of hypotheses concerned with individual learning strategies based on a pre-experimental, observational case study. Three children (two seven-year-olds and one eleven-year-old) native speakers of Hebrew were the subjects of the study. The language data collected from them consisted of spontaneous speech about their…

Designed to be integrated into a regular language arts curriculum in grades 1-3, the program begins with a review of the recent history of elementary second language programs in the United States and a discussion of the direction the movement might take in the 1980s. Research done on nonintensive, nonbilingual second language programs in the past…

This newsletter contains articles which deal with current issues in education which are relevant to schools for Indian children and reports on Bureau of Indian Affairs activities, recent publications and conferences, text materials for the teaching of English, and bilingual reading materials. The newsletter begins with articles on early childhood…

Researchers worked with French, Japanese, and Spanish immersion teachers in metropolitan Washington, DC elementary schools (grades 1-6) to implement language learning strategies in their classrooms. Workshops, materials, and observations were provided for professional support. Teachers were debriefed on the effectiveness of the teacher training…

Using sources such as personal observation, personal communication, and published literature, this essay identifies issues that have accounted for Foreign Languages in Elementary Schools (FLES) programs' failure to survive. Seven essential elements of a successful foreign language program in the elementary school are identified and discussed: (1)…