This book explores the key themes of raising achievement and the various strategies in both teaching and learning which will lead to students achieving their potential. Experienced A-level teachers reflect on issues including: the link between cultural awareness and developing linguistic skills; teaching study skills and learning strategies as an…

This collection of papers examines the premises for changes to the curriculum and the manner in which those changes are reflected in the development of schools in Finland and England. The papers provide an intrinsic context for integrating language and content. The book begins with a foreword, "The Challenges of Curriculum Development and the…

Because of the significant political implications of first and second language policy, many decision-makers have been reluctant to review language policy in the context of literacy work. Issues that must be considered include the following: whether mother tongue literacy should be a precondition for introduction of a second language in…

This booklet is the fourth in a series designed to assist parents who are home-schooling their adolescent children and focuses on teaching a foreign language, history, science, and physical education. The articles in this booklet are: (1) "Habla Espanol? Tackling Foreign Language," examining effective and ineffective foreign language instruction…

This descriptive study investigates the uses of SMART Board, an interactive electronic whiteboard, in secondary school foreign language classes. The paper first discusses how SMART Board can facilitate the teaching process. SMART Board supports the foreign language teaching process in three main ways: it helps the presentation of new linguistic…

Two Navajo men reflect on their quest for literacy and their struggle with cultural maintenance and acculturation. Jimmy Eltsosie, who has lived on the Navajo Reservation all of his life, realized he had to learn English to survive in both worlds. Phil Hale, who grew up in California, learned Navajo in order to live and work on the reservation.…

This study compared the performance of college students completing an advanced-level German language course with that of high school-level candidates on the Advanced Placement (AP) German examination. Successful high school-level AP candidates demonstrated a language competency equal or superior to that of college students who received…

Maintains that California schools have undergone an enormous transformation over the past two decades, with over a million students identified as limited English proficient. Describes changes in teacher education and certification designed to meet the needs of limited English proficient students. (CFR)

Reports a study that tested the possibility of language instruction in a MOO (Multiple-User Domain, Object-Oriented). The experiment consisted of two groups: adult evening-school participants in Germany learning English-as-a-Second-Language and American college students in their fourth semester of college German. Partnerships were formed with one…

Describes a faculty-development program designed to change teacher attitudes, behavior, and instruction and, thus, improve the achievement of language-minority students in two New York state secondary schools. Examines challenges to creating and maintaining school structures that promote immigrant students' success and identifies factors that lead…

A study with 181 beginning-level college students of French investigated the effects of sentence-level native-language (L1) translations on retention of second-language (L2) vocabulary presented in a context designed to promote inference rather than word-to-word translation. Research was conducted to address the specific design of software for…

Discusses four components of the classroom environment found to play an important role in the successful participation of children learning English as a second language. Those components are: a physical environment that is organized, inviting, and accessible; inclusion of materials and artifacts from many cultures; opportunities for community…

Over the past decade, the concept of "community" has been at the center of reform in literacy education. Most literacy educators agree that community-oriented environments are critical for students' literacy learning, yet many have difficulty building these communities in multicultural and multilingual classrooms. In this article we draw upon the…

Elementary teachers Fay and Whaley share anecdotes of how carefully listening to English language learners read--and discussing with them their errors and confusions--helps teachers better analyze such students' true language and reading abilities. They discuss the importance of spending time talking individually with each child learning to read…

This study investigated the role of students' motivation and attitudes in second language (L2) study within an online language course context (LOL). Students' attitudes and motivation were examined within a socioeducational framework (Gardner & MacIntyre, 1993) while learning contexts were examined based on Dorneyi's (1994) components of foreign…