Foreign language instruction should focus on developing in students a coordinated set of basic language learning skills, the acquisition of which would make it possible for the student to learn more than one language. Such an instructional package would fit well into the communicative approach to language instruction, and would provide a common…

Two groups of grade 12 French immersion students in Ottawa and Carleton, Ontario, one having been in immersion French since at least grade 4 and one having started in grade 6 or 7, were administered three tests of French proficiency in a study of the groups' comparative language achievement. Scores sufficiently high to excuse the students from the…

A discussion of the use of native languages in the instruction of limited English proficient Asian students addresses three questions: (1) whether the students' native language should be used as a means of instruction; (2) whether there is a transfer of skills from the native language to the second language; and (3) how the language and culture of…

The realization that the areas of second language and mathematics education share some common features and that educators in these fields may profit by an exposure to research and practice in both fields motivated the production of this paper. From an introduction to the literature, parallels in the history of the two disciplines were recognized:…

A set of Peace Corps materials for introductory Spanish contains 19 units on aspects of Spanish verbs: the verb "estar"; the present tense of regular verbs; the use of "necesitar" and "ir" with infinitives; "querer,""poner,""tener que" and the infinitive; the verb "ser"; the…

Two studies investigated: (1) aspects of the language of native-English-speaking (ES) and non-native-English-speaking (NES) parents of children learning English and (2) the demands made on the listening of young children learning English from native-speaking parents and non-native-speaking parents. Information in the parent study was drawn from…

The first two years of a study of the development of bilingual language proficiency are reported in separate volumes. The core of the work during this period was the development of a model of language proficiency. Other related studies addressed topics such as the relationship between aspects of language proficiency and scoring methodology on…

Process writing, a student-centered approach to literacy, can be implemented to meet the academic needs of second language learners at the high school level. A discussion of this approach begins with a description of the profoundly hearing impaired as limited-English-proficient (LEP) students, and then examines the interrelationship of three…

This guide, in parallel English and Spanish volumes, provides information necessary for implementing bilingual/multicultural programs. Section 1 defines and describes the bilingual approach, examining instructional goals, rationale, philosophical justification, legal foundations, and practical considerations. Section 2 discusses attitudinal…

A longitudinal study assessed the progress of 271 students of English as a Second Language (ESL) who had entered Project SEEK at Brooklyn College (New York) in the fall of 1985. The goals of the study were to identify factors predicting success or failure in academic courses, and to study attitudes of the students toward their second language and…

Random parallel reading comprehension tests in Japanese and English were administered to a sample of native Japanese students enrolled in intensive English instruction. The students had been placed at three different levels of English language proficiency based on an independent proficiency assessment measure. Evidence for a threshold competency…

A framework for describing relationships among the different linguistic systems in a bilingual or second language learner is proposed. The framework attempts to represent the ways in which knowledge of one language is used in integrating into memory new knowledge about another language. The model is partially implemented in a computer program that…

Results are presented from the first phase of Coastline Community College's Improving English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) Instruction for College-Bound Students project. The goal of Phase 1 was the systematic collection of information about non-native English speakers and ESL subject matter to be used in course development and outcomes measurement.…

A study examined the attitudes and learning strategies, and their relationships to achievement, of university students enrolled in elementary Spanish (n=88) and elementary Japanese (n=121) for one academic year. For both groups of students, the classroom was seen as the most relevant context for language learning. Specific classroom behaviors…

A study examined the effect of a job-related approach to language learning on a fossilized learner of English as a second language. The subject was a bilingual female nurse with 20 years' residence in the United States. Her oral and written output was thoroughly analyzed and her social and linguistic needs for interacting with patients and…