In the field of EFL, effective language evaluation is receiving more and more attention. However, in many Chinese EFL situations, the evaluation of language development is still considered to be product-oriented. It is the purpose of this article to examine an evaluation system of an English language program offered by a university in Yunnan…

Discusses the Bangalore Project in South India and responds to three articles on it, particularly the one by C. J. Brumfit (ELT, 1984). Argues that more information on teacher and learner performance and more explicit and illustrative evidence of materials and methodology are needed in order to evaluate the project accurately. (SED)

Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) sees discourse as a form of "social practice", in which language use is seen at the same time as socially influenced and influential. Another characteristic of CDA is that it is engaged and committed; it intervenes in social practice and attempts to reveal connections between language use, power, and ideology. The…

A study of school effectiveness for language minority students, authored by Virginia Collier and Wayne Thomas, is criticized as having two serious flaws. The first is that its methodology is a simple descriptive cohort analysis, seen as unscientific and producing misleading results because: each grade consists of different students; the number of…

This article describes the context and conditions of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs in Quebec's French-language schools and reports on several studies of the intensive ESL classes used in some elementary schools. Research on these programs demonstrates their effectiveness in fostering English language skills and positive attitudes…

Second language acquisition research has led to a major emphasis on the need for learners to experience the target language (TL) in use if they themselves are to become users of the language. At the same time, there is discussion of the role of the first language (L 1) as a tool in the processing of language/culture experiences. Achieving optimal…

Observations from site visits in England and Wales and a limited review of the literature about bilingual education of young children, particularly of preschool age, are reported here. The current native language teaching situation in England and several related ongoing research projects are described, and English as a second language programs and…

The study was designed to test the effects of a limited amount of sentence-combining practice on the syntactic development and overall writing ability of foreign students. Participants were freshmen studying English as a second language during an eight-week period. Twenty-four students were divided into a control and an experimental group. The…

The core of the case for bilingual education is that the principles underlying successful bilingual education emphasize the same factors that underlie successful language acquisition in general: understanding messages and obtaining comprehensible input; using background knowledge; and the development of literacy. The importance of the first…

This study investigated the utility and effectiveness of a simple dictation test for placement of students in a university's summer English-as-a-Second-Language program. The dictation test was explored as an alternative to the traditional oral interview, which had shown some problems of interrater reliability and consistency, resulting in…

Describes an overview of language research and courses in British institutions of higher learning. Information is provided on the view of language held there, the development of the functional/notional approach, demands on the language teaching profession resulting from the Council of Europe proposals, and immigration into Britain. (Author/AMH)

A study investigated the relationship between the 1982 native language proficiency of 4,700 newly-enrolled Spanish-speaking, limited-English-proficient (LEP) kindergarten through seventh grade students and their success rates in acquiring English proficiency in the following 4 years. Findings of the study, and the implications derived from the…

Describes factors influencing growth in demand for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction in German higher education since 1989, and describes how Dresden University has designed a curriculum to meet the need. The Dresden program includes courses in generic scientific English required in a number of disciplines, elective English courses…

A profile of the state of English and English instruction in Turkey covers the following topics: a description of the role and status of English language use in industry and commerce, government, and education; the role of English at all levels of the educational system; the availability, characteristics, and training of teachers of English; the…

Prepared for the National Center for Bilingual Research, the document provides information on the "state of the art" in American Indian language education and presents a full picture of the situation exploring concepts (e.g., self-determination, Indian language diversity) and concerns (e.g., tribal reluctance to see Indian language…