This report examines the use of foreign language skills within the Army, Department of State, Department of Commerce's Foreign Commercial Service, and Federal Bureau of Investigation, discussing the nature and impact of foreign language shortages, strategies for addressing these shortages, and efforts to address current and projected shortages.…

This study of immigrant language skills used data from the Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to Australia, which followed a cohort of settler arrivals for the first 3.5 years of their residence in Australia, surveying them at three points in time. The survey examined determinants of improvement in English language skills with time among immigrants…

Although calls for educational reform have been raised in many nations, just how accountable are schools, teachers, or students themselves in Japan for their own language teaching or learning? While the use of course evaluations has come into vogue, many colleges do not assess English majors' linguistic ability in a professional manner, for…

Research reports major concerns over classification and measurement for students with limited English proficiency (LEP). Poor operational definition of the English language proficiency construct and validity concerns on the existing language proficiency tests are among these issues. Decisions on including LEP students in large-scale assessments…

Validity and reliability issues in standardized testing of students of limited English proficiency (LEP) were studied. Existing data from four different school sites were obtained for LEP and non-LEP students for three different standardized tests, the Stanford Achievement Tests (Ninth edition), the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, and the Language…

This report examines: how long children with limited English proficiency need to become proficient, what approaches are used to teach them, and what requirements the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) expects school districts to meet. Researchers reviewed available studies; talked to experts; reviewed Department of Education survey data; contacted 12…

As society becomes increasingly diverse, the issue about language used for assessments becomes critical. Research suggests that completing measures in a language other than one's native language may result in inaccurate scores. The Children's Hope Scale (Snyder et al., 1997), a scale assessing dispositional hope in children ages 8 to 16, was…

This paper analyzes the effects of language practice on earnings among adult male immigrants in Canada using data from the 1991 Census of Canada. It examines whether destination language skills are complements to or substitutes in generating earnings with respect to other kinds of human capital (schooling and pre- and post-migration labor market…

This study evaluated the impact of an urban school district's English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) program on 317 participating K-12 language minority students. The study used the Language Assessment Scale (LAS) to examine students' English proficiency after participating in the yearlong program. The LAS measures language skills necessary to succeed…

Empirical studies in the migration literature have shown that migration enclaves (networks) negatively affect the language proficiency of migrants. These studies, however, ignore the choice of location as a function of language skills. Using data on Mexican migration to the United States, this paper examines the location choice of migrants and…

Germany and Canada are at opposite ends of the debate over language integration and ascension to citizenship. German naturalization contains an explicit language criterion for naturalization. The first German immigration act will not only concentrate on control aspects but also focus on language as a criterion for legal immigration. Canada does…

These two volumes of a newsletter on English as A Second Language (ESL) literacy education provide articles on: "Health Literacy: Recognizing its Importance in ESL Instruction" (Kate Singleton) and "English That Works" (Brigitte Marshall). Both volumes offer interviews (one with an ESL teacher and one with an author who write…

This study was conducted to investigate the dimensionality of language tests by means of latent variable models for categorical data. It differs from previous studies by conducting the analysis at the level of the original items using the structural modeling approach of B. Muthen (1984) for dichotomous and ordered polytomous variables. In this…

This study researched the relationship between patterns of language learning strategy used by speakers of other languages and language proficiency. Participants were 348 students of English aged 14-64 years from 21 countries enrolled in a private language school in Auckland, New Zealand. Proficiency levels varied from elementary to advanced.…

Reports a study which developed a data base concerning the home background of Puerto Rican pupils as it relates to present and potential educational progress; the subjects of the study consisted of 218 Puerto Rican families having children in the public schools of two large cities in Connecticut. (Author/JM)