The Fluency First in English as a second language (ESL) project at City College (New York) began as a result of the high failure rate among ESL writing students at the college, and the fact that this kept many students from entering the regular college courses. Revision on the ESL reading and writing curricula, beginning in 1987, focused on…

The argument is advanced that many literacy materials, such as basal readers and workbooks, do not allow literacy students to learn to read and write in the daily context in which the skills will be used, and an alternative is described. The limitations of phonics-based materials and the resulting controlled vocabulary of readers and workbooks…

A large urban California elementary school provides approximately 900 limited-English-proficient students with 3 bilingual programs: full and modified bilingual programs offering varying amounts of content instruction in the native language or sheltered English, and the "English language development" program which uses sheltered English…

The second year of the International Academy for Bilingual Education and Bicultural Studies program in New York City is described. The program provided instructional and support services to 40 Chinese- and English-speaking students in one pre-kindergarten and one kindergarten class at P.S. 1 in community school district 2. Half of the students…

English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) student writers are often labeled as having poor language proficiency skills, poor writing skills, and poor organizational skills. These labels can negatively affect teachers and students. They have become yardsticks for guiding teachers' instruction and measuring students' performance. Often, ESL writing…

A review of selected research studies and practices on the teaching of literacy to limited English proficient (LEP) students suggests that there is considerable variation in the way literacy is defined. Several methods currently being used to develop LEP students' literacy skills are reviewed. Many LEP students continue to be taught reading skills…

In recent years, the rate of Chinese immigrants to the United States has been increasing. Chinese parents desire that their Chinese-American children learn Chinese as a second language. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects on four American-born Chinese children when the researcher, as an instructor, employed whole language…

This document consists of the six issues of "ESL Magazine" published during 1998. This journal for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) professionals includes the following articles during this period: "The Internet in the Classroom" (Christine Meloni); "Trippingly on the Tongue: Putting Serious, Speech/Pronunciation…