This paper examines the reading experiences, strategies, and curriculum preferences of university-level heritage language students. One hundred and twenty eight students enrolled in four different heritage language programs at UCLA--Korean, Russian, Thai, and Vietnamese--completed a survey about their exposure to print, early and current reading…

This article reports on the Pittsburgh Public Schools Oral Ratings Assessment for Language Students (PPS ORALS) project, a Title VI Foreign Language Assistance Program grant-funded project to create an online testing Software program that makes large-scale oral testing in a world language not only feasible, but also easy to create, administer, and…

Interest in home-school communication has paid little attention, to date, to the experiences of English as a second language (ESL) parents. This article examines recent Chinese immigrant parents' and Canadian teachers' perspectives of ESL learning presented at Parents' Night. On the basis of observations of three annual Parents' Nights, interviews…

Educational assessment, as it is typically conducted in U.S. schools, does not successfully capture or build on potentially important content knowledge and understanding of Indigenous students. In fact, current policies (such as the No Child Left Behind Act, 2002) are interfering with the implementation of many of the things we know about making…

This document contains a total of 57 welcoming speeches, theme addresses, seminar and workshop papers, and poster sessions that were presented at a conference on technological education and national development. The papers explore the ways technology and technological advances have both necessitated and enabled changes in the way education is…

This document is designed to provide assessment materials for specific Grade 4 outcomes in the Punjabi Language and Culture Nine-year Program, Grades 4-5-6. The assessment materials are designed for the beginner level in the context of teaching for communicative competence. Grade 4 learning outcomes from the Punjabi Language and Culture Nine-year…

Internet is the most important technological innovation of today, which can easily be integrated into every field of people's lives. The reason of its rapid improvement is its usefulness and easy access. Web, WWW, is a new technology which is used as a communication facilitator and it is an instructional delivery medium. It is vital to learn…

These Proceedings document an educational research forum held at Wake Forest University (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) on December 12, 2007. Table of contents and 23 research studies of high school teaching are included. Each paper contains a literature review, methodology, results, conclusions, and references. Studies include: (1) Cultural…

It is argued that while task-centered assessment of second language learning has the strong support of teachers and learners, focuses on language as a tool rather than as an end in itself, and fosters learning, there remain some problems with its use. Further work must be done to develop assessment criteria that reflect current theories of…

Many states currently offer bilingual certification or endorsement, encouraging both practicing teachers and prospective teachers to complete their requirements necessary to add this certification on to their regular teaching license. Although these requirements routinely include courses in bilingual education, the "second" language…

This report describes results of research on the actual and potential effects of educational reform on the academic achievement of school language-minority students. It is found that recent education reform efforts complement societal sentiments favoring greater inclusion of students, but this sentiment can be translated into action only when…

This paper describes the process of developing and designing a Japanese business course for intermediate level students at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo and for a non-credit intensive workshop for local business people. A needs assessment was conducted by means of a survey to find out the expectations and goals of students and…

In research and development it is not unusual to find the resources driving the instruction; this approach can be modified to a more acceptable one if the new technology is applied in such a way as to integrate sound instructional methods. Research and development personnel of the University of Victoria (Canada) Language Center often initiate…

A discussion of second language learning and second language underproduction proposes a differentiation between conscious avoidance and subconscious underproduction Reference is made to J. Schacter's avoidance theory, which was based on a study in which Chinese and Japanese students of English as a Second Language (ESL) produced fewer Relative…

This paper reports on a study done with Anglos and Hispanics in Texas, focusing on the pending English Only legislation and their awareness of and attitudes towards it and what biases these attitudes were based upon. A 1-page, 2-sided, questionnaire was distributed to 328 Anglo and Hispanic subjects in a predominantly Hispanic city. Forty-seven…