Common approaches to language teaching in many New Zealand schools typically show a lack of attention to students' own language-learning strategies. This article argues that the success or otherwise of language immersion programmes, in particular within Maori-medium educational settings, depend as much on the skills and strategies of the student…

Assessment "as," "for," and "of" learning complement effective curricular and instructional practices, however, the complexities of assessment for multilingual students are too-often overlooked and misunderstood. What if multilingual learners, teachers, and educational leaders all had opportunities to plan for and use…

This classroom-based case study examines how Spanish-English emergent bilingual children in a second grade one-way immersion classroom draw on prior knowledge and experiences and use comprehension strategies to discuss and comprehend three texts with different levels of cultural relevance. Through an examination of the rich range of cognitive,…

This article explores the beliefs about second language (L2) sociolinguistic competence of four university-level advanced L2 learners. It places particular emphasis on 1) how these university learners conceptualized L2 sociolinguistic competence; 2) how they thought about two different language learning contexts (viz., the L2 classroom versus…

From 1969 to the late 1980's, most French programs in schools were based on a traditional foreign language instructional model, usually offering 30 minutes a day of French language instruction in elementary grades, increasing to 50 minutes a day in middle school. Contingent on funding and political swings over time, programs expanded from…

Preschool and early elementary science provides engaging opportunities for integrated content-based language learning. This instruction uses the concepts of other content areas as a springboard for language acquisition and self-expression. It is through the active interpretation of content standards by foreign language teachers that the ideas and…

Lack of knowledge of learning psychology is the underlying reason for failure in second language learning. The highest cognitive step is not given the required attention. The unanswered question is whether an institutional setting allows for this, or whether an immersion program should be a mandatory complement to any program. (MSE)

Provides a brief overview of the sociolinguistic situation in which the Catalan immersion program is being implemented and discusses the issues related to the main feature that distinguishes the program--the low socioeconomic background of the students. Also discussed are current theories about the discontinuity between the language used at home…

This paper explores the role of negotiation in teacher-student interaction and argues that the negotiation of meaning, defined as a set of conversational moves which work toward mutual comprehension, is too narrow a construct to fulfil its pedagogical potential in teacher-student interaction in communicative and content-based second language (L2)…

Using the Communicative Orientation of Language Teaching (COLT) observation theme, this study compares the second-language-learning environments of elementary-level students of French in four submersion and four immersion classrooms in Montreal, Canada. Results indicate clear differences between the two environments. (Author/VWL)

This article describes a learning context in which the first grade classroom teacher creates a learning community where she uses different teaching strategies to encourage children's second language use and learning. The first graders share, discuss, and learn both the second language (German) and content.

The proceedings presented consist of summaries and reports of the presentations given during a summer institute on teaching linguistically and culturally diverse learners. Summaries of the following papers are provided: "Education 2000 and Beyond: The Challenge of Our Culturally Diverse Students" (Eugene Garcia); "Second Language…

Qualitative analyses of teacher-student interaction recorded during subject-matter lessons in Grade 4 French immersion classrooms indicate that language form is often out of focus in immersion classroom discourse. Discusses pedagogical implications of research findings related to corrective feedback. (Author/VWL)

Reviews pedagogical claims of computer assisted language learning (CALL), multimedia applications and outcomes, and new research in second language acquisition. Findings reveal that computer mediated communication gives second language learners the opportunity to enhance their learning experience. (88 references) (Author/CK)

A two-year ethnographic study of kindergarteners' experiences in a French immersion classroom focused on the processes by which children find and construct meaning through classroom interaction and communication processes. Data were gathered through classroom observation and videotapes. The initially unilingual English-speaking students were…