In cooperative learning, students work together in small groups on tasks that require cooperation and interdependence among all individuals in each group. This digest looks at how cooperative learning can be used as an effective method for working with students from diverse language backgrounds. Focus is specifically on the structural approach to…

Concludes that today's teacher needs to update her reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills in some language other than the native language to be an effective reading teacher. (RB)

Native nonverbal voice properties may interfere with the learning of vocalics of a second language; this is especially true for adults. Without proficiency in and understanding of these patterns, practice of the language will be uncomfortable and frustrating. (MSE)

Foreign language aptitude was the subject of much research in the 1950s and has been the subject of intermittent research for the last 30 years. Aptitude is measured by the amount of time it takes an individual to learn. Foreign language aptitude appears to differ from general aptitude or intelligence. One theory states that foreign language…

This report describes the technical means for generating and justifying an educational program design via empirically-based analysis of Instructional Accomplishment Information System data bases. The conventional approach to educational program planning is to pursue design implementation first, operational implementation next, and then to hope…

Student adaptation involved in moving from an elementary school in English Canada to a French school in Europe was investigated. Information was gathered from 35 students. About half had gone from an early French immersion program to a French language school in Europe. The others had either attended French schools in Quebec or schools using a…

Many foreign language professionals do not realize that global and international education are hollow shells if they are designed and implemented using sources presented in only one language and with reliance on only one perspective from which to address world accomplishments and problems. Foreign language professionals should insist on a…

A model of assessing language proficiency in hearing bilingual students is adapted and discussed in terms of hearing impairment needs. Empirical data are presented to verify that the language or system acting as a "first language" for hearing-impaired students in cognitive/academic stituations can be determined. Educational implications are…

Ever since the early days of its existence, the field of psychology has been trying to achieve two different and somewhat contradictory objectives: to understand the "general principles" of the human mind and to explore the "uniqueness" of the individual mind. The latter direction has formed an independent subdiscipline within…

The assumed connection between ease of language learning and age has been investigated in recent years by researchers from a wide range of disciplines. With the exception of the findings of research that authentic accents are more easily acquired by children, studies seem to indicate that efficiency in language learning increases with maturation.…

The translator selected six short stories by modern Indian writers and compiled them as a reader for advanced students of Hindi and Area Studies. The Hindi text on the right-hand page is translated into English on the left. The stories were selected to include vignettes of urban and rural life and characters from both middle and lower class…

The point is made that, though foreign language teachers often have among their goals the knowledge by students of the unique patterns of thought, behavior and attitudes that characterize members of a target culture, there have been few systematic attempts to evaluate these outcomes. A general design for such a test is suggested, including three…

Attempts to identify specific components of a complex associative task, foreign language vocabulary learning, that might be particularly sensitive to developmental differences in imagery generation ability. Subjects were 95 second grade children enrolled in four schools and 90 sixth grade children enrolled in two of these same schools. (Author/MP)

Discusses the teaching of Welsh at the preschool and adult level, emphasizing differences in opinion as to how the language should be taught. (SB)