The growing presence of Latino students in U.S. colleges and universities is evident in foreign language (FL) classrooms. Latino students with a high proficiency level in Spanish are usually placed in advanced language or content-based courses along with other non-Latino students. This paper examines university instructors' beliefs and practices…

In a series of three papers, I examine the identity development of three Chinese women teachers as they moved back and forth between Eastern and Western cultures and languages amid the rapidly changing events of the last four decades. I use a river metaphor to explore three phases in the cross-cultural lives of these women: in the first paper,…

Humor is an excellent teaching tool because, in addition to preventing classroom boredom and monotony, it introduces lateral aspects of language such as irony, sarcasm, mockery, elision, ellipsis, and euphemism. Humor in language can be approached interactively or structurally through a variety of activities. It can be used to expand vocabulary,…

American and Canadian research is reviewed concerning the language needs of native primary students entering English schools from homes where a language other than English is spoken, and a study is reported that contrasted the language performance of children entering school from homes where only English is spoken and from homes where a language…

A collection of research materials on sign language and primatology is presented here. The essays attempt to show that: sign language is a legitimate language that can be learned not only by humans but by nonhuman primates as well, and nonhuman primates have the capability to acquire a human language using a different mode. The following…

Individual approaches to the reading and study of 14 modern poems that have proved their worth and appeal to adolescents are offered in this publication. The poems--by such poets as Marianna Moore, Stephen Spender, W.H. Auden, Wallace Stevens, and Robinson Jeffers--are reprinted; and each is followed by a discussion in which a high school teacher…

A comparison of the linguistic contexts of Scotland and Taiwan focuses on three aspects: (1) existence of two linguistic codes belonging to the same language family; (2) the status of one of those languages as the standard set by a larger, more powerful neighbor from whose perspective any other variety is likely to look like a dialect; and (3) the…

In a series of three papers, I examine the identity development of three Chinese women teachers as they moved back and forth between Eastern and Western cultures and languages amid the rapidly changing events of the last four decades. This life-based narrative inquiry, situated between non-fiction, fiction, and academic discourses opens up…

The structure of an 8-week intensive course in literature for advanced learners of English as a Second Language is described. Focus is on engaging student interest with texts rich in theme and/or language that can elicit thoughtful discussion. In the first 2 weeks, the language and length of the texts (short stories) selected make them relatively…

In the spring of 1988, Massachusetts conducted its second Educational Assessment Program to assess the performance of students in grades 4, 8, and 12 in reading, mathematics, science, and social studies. Students' responses to open-ended questions in one form of the reading test were studied. One-twelfth of the fourth-graders, one-sixteenth of the…

The purposes of this study were (1) to investigate the effectivenss of activities centered around children's literature on pupils' use and understanding of figurative language, (2) to study the effect of the activities on pupils' reading vocabulary and comprehension, and (3) to examine the relationship of age, sex, IQ, and socioeconomic status to…

This teaching guide for written composition in grades K-3 contains (1) a statement of objectives for a curriculum in composition, (2) sequence charts which relate subject content for each grade to basic understandings about composition, (3) illustrations of ways in which the ordinary experiences of children can become the bases for compositions,…

This guide for teaching composition in grades 4-6 (1) objectives for a curriculum in written composition, (2) sequence charts which relate subject content for each grade to basic understandings about composition, (3) illustrative learning experiences, and (4) units for teaching specific skills. The units for each grade are "Structuring a…

Discusses the failure of Joe Bob Briggs' parody of "We Are the World" in terms of the development of the communal sense that creates a set of group norms, which in turn create "phantom constraints" of which the parody's author may not be aware.(NKA)

This article describes a method of constructivist pedagogy resembling the quilting process. Inspired by the work of Faith Ringgold, a story quilt was created in two sections of a teacher training social studies methods class. Each class created a story quilt to demonstrate the connection between the power of story, research, and technology--the…