Among 187 Arizona Mexican-American children with limited proficiency in both Spanish and English, participation in a maintenance bilingual education program during grades K-2 produced significant gains in oral language acquisition for both languages. Students with the lowest proficiency scores in kindergarten showed the greatest gains. (SV)

Among the topics examined in this research review of issues in bilingual and bicultural education are (1) demographic and educational trends that point to growing numbers of bilingual and bicultural children; (2) continuing misconceptions about how young children learn a second language; (3) successful approaches in early childhood bilingual…

At the University of Miami, the Bilingual Study Group has been evaluating linguistic and academic performance of children from a broad spectrum of socioeconomic status who appear to be well-matched across bilingual and monolingual groups. Because the studies vary in the degree of exposure to English and Spanish among bilingual subjects who are…

A study investigated the retention and loss of school-learned foreign language skills. Subjects were 150 students of Dutch secondary schools with 4 or 6 years of French language instruction and 0, 2, and 4 years of disuse. Nine tests of general language proficiency, listening and reading comprehension, phonology, vocabulary, and grammar were…

An ongoing research project into the dissolution or attrition of native language structure under the influence of bilingualism analyzed certain paradigmatic changes in the first language of a Hungarian-Hebrew bilingual speaker. Data were collected over a 2-year period from an Israeli woman who was born in Hungary and immigrated to Israel at 6…

The book contains eight papers originally presented at a University of Chicago conference on October 27-28, 1978, to discuss the socio-political consequences of different policies toward the Spanish language in the United States. Each pair of papers is followed by the remarks of the official discussants. The papers and their authors are:…

A study was conducted in Ireland of the mechanisms of linguistic change and the effects of a politics of linguistic irredentism on the language behavior of the population. The objectives of the study were: (1) to discover the nature and the importance of people's attitudes toward the Irish language and its restoration, and (2) to ascertain the…

This paper illustrates the Clinical Model of Parents' Awareness (CMPA) for effectiveness of teaching Chinese Americans based on a previous research finding, the Patterns of Chinese Americans' Learning Chinese Learning Environment (PCACLE). The clinical model includes eight components: (1) prepare a teacher-parent conferences; (2) present 5…

This collection aims to provide an introductory study of linguistic minorities in Central and Eastern Europe, taking into account historical development, present situation, language maintenance and shifts, as well as language and educational policies of the different countries in the area. The introduction (by Christina Bratt Paulston) discusses a…

This regional dossier aims to provide concise, descriptive information and basic educational statistics about minority language education in a specific region of the European Union--Northern Ireland. Details are provided about the features of the educational system, recent educational policies, divisions of responsibilities, main actors, legal…

This regional dossier aims to provide concise, descriptive information and basic educational statistics about minority language education in a specific region of the European Union--Brittany. Details are provided about the features of the educational system, recent educational policies, divisions of responsibilities, main actors, legal…

This digest focuses on teaching Spanish to native or Hispanic heritage language students in the United States. Heritage language students are students who speak another language (in this case Spanish) as their first language either because they were born in another country or because their families speak another language at home. The entrance of…

Reasons for which children of Bhutan learn English better than their native language, Dzongkha, are explored, including the overall language situation in Bhutan and its economic and cultural influences. Recommendations are made for increasing the learning and use of Dzongkha while retaining English in the school curriculum. The spread of English…

Discusses the results of a study designed to investigate the effects of five different program models on both acquisition and maintenance of Spanish by native Spanish-speaking kindergarten children. (Author/CFM)

Discusses language data from the Australian 1991 Census that indicates the vast resources available in languages other than English. Notes that two of the tenets of Australia's various language policies are language maintenance and the development of Aboriginal and community languages as well as the provision of opportunities for learning…