This study examined the influence of first language (L1) orthographic experiences on decoding and semantic information retention of new words in a second language (L2). Hypotheses were that congruity in L1 and L2 orthographic experiences determines L2 decoding efficiency, which, in turn, affects semantic information encoding and retention.…

The data for this study consisted of a longitudinal corpus of narratives from 17 English second language (L2) children, mean age of 5;4 years at the outset, with first languages (Lls) that do not have definite/indefinite articles (Chinese, Korean and Japanese) and Lls that do have article systems (Spanish, Romanian and Arabic). We examined these…

Chinese brush calligraphy is a valuable civilization legacy and a high art of scholarship. It is still popular in Chinese banners, newspaper mastheads, university names, and celebration gifts. There are Web sites that try to help people enjoy and learn Chinese calligraphy. However, there lacks advanced services such as content-based retrieval or…

Previous studies have shown inconsistent results concerning bilinguals' use of gestures to compensate for reduced proficiency in their second language (L2). These results could be because of differing task demands. In this study, we asked 16 intermediate English L2 speakers (whose first language [L1] was Chinese) to watch a story and tell it back…

Despite the impact of the ESP genre-based framework of teaching discipline-specific writing to L2 learners, especially to L2 graduate students, the writing performance of learners in such a framework is still not fully explored. In this paper, I analyze three article introductions written by a Chinese-speaking graduate student in electrical…

This study offers insight into the perceptions of a group of Chinese American parents, many of whom have children who excel at school. The results indicate that the Chinese American parents had high expectations of their children's educational success, placed high value on education and effort, tended to sacrifice for their children's education,…

This paper shows how satellite television programs can be used to advance Asian students' listening ability in English. Particular focus is on news broadcasts. The paper is divided into three sections, an introduction, some concluding remarks, and the substantive discussion headed "Using News Broadcasts in the EFL (English as a Foreign…

The Students Upgrading through Computer and Career Education Systems Services (Project SUCCESS) program in New York City was evaluated under Title VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Project SUCCESS targeted three high schools with a recent influx of immigrant students. The project's design included instruction in English as a…

This annotated bibliography on the education of Chinese students in the United States uses "Chinese students" to refer to people defined by a common heritage tying them to the racial, cultural, and lingual characteristics of the Far East and Chinese ancestry. The annotations, which cover 1970 through 1990, are grouped into four parts:…

Program objectives and assessment results of language courses taught at the School of Travel Industry Management (TIM) of the University of Hawaii are discussed. In addition to preparing students to speak with employees and clientele in Mandarin, Japanese, French, and Spanish, these courses include the study of cultural practices and values that…

An analysis of phonetics and Chinese character learning done with 1928 character frequency data was reproduced with a more modern data base. The study tabulated the 500 characters of the Elementary Chinese Reader, volumes 1 and 2, and supporting statistics to analyze the characters' phonetics by microcomputer. The objective was to find phonetic…

This textbook, written in Chinese, is intended for advanced students of the language. It contains a graded selection of writings by some of the most important modern Chinese writers. The lessons, divided into four main groups, present several prose styles of differing complexity. Each lesson has five parts: a short biography of the author, a…

A study investigated patterns in plural marking in the English spoken in Hong Kong, largely as a second language. It focused on the effect of three types of prenominal morphemes: (1) those that are neutral with respect to plurality (e.g., "other, certain"); (2) modifiers indicating the noun should be marked for plural (e.g., "one of…

This paper examines a specific aspect of systematic variability, which is taken to be a result of influence of linguistic context on interlanguage (IL) performance. While it is important to describe how or under what circumstances a linguistic context exerts an influence on IL development, one also needs to explain why it occurs. On the basis of a…

These 33 lesson plans were designed to accompany "Contemporary China: A Teaching Workbook," a collection of class activities, primary source selections, student readings, and role-play exercises. The lesson plans are based primarily on materials in the "Workbook," although materials from other sources also are recommended. Some…