Among Puerto Ricans who have migrated to the United States, a significant number have returned to Puerto Rico, while others shuttle between Puerto Rico and the United States. These groups of people are identified as return migrants. Studies suggest that return migrant youth in Puerto Rico have had to make environmental and cultural adjustments…

The Advanced Language Training Program (ALTP) of the Language Training Branch of the Public Service Commission of Canada is described. The ALTP is a structured program designed to increase employee second language proficiency. The program has an academic phase and an assignment period. The core of the four-month academic phase is a set of modules…

An experimental test consisting of dialogue with intermittent pauses for responses and a white noise accompaniment was given to non-English speakers who were candidates for admission to the English Department at Bar Ilan University in order to evaluate aural comprehension. Development of the test and results are reported. (RM)

Interest in foreign language education is growing rapidly, linked to increased concern about international trade and international relations and a general interest in educational quality. The foreign language profession in the 1980s is committed to the development of proficiency-oriented curricula and instruction and the production of proficient…

A study of the language use of 45 transitional Spanish-English bilinguals focused on subject pronoun usage patterns evolving when the bilingual has acquired both a prodrop (Spanish) and a non-prodrop (English) language and frequently switches between them. Subjects were of Mexican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican background, and had not attained the…

"English Only" and "Official English" are two terms that are used to describe the movement to declare English the official language of the United States. Sixteen states have laws declaring English their official language; 14 of these laws have been passed since 1981. This report decribes the effect of the movement in New York…

Guidelines employed by the Neighborhood English Scheme (Brent) in London, England, to insure that student placement interviews are purposeful and effective are outlined. Ideally, a successful interview results in the student being placed in an English-as-a-Second-Language class that is at a convenient time and location, at an appropriate level,…

This study investigated how and when foreign language competence makes a difference in the international operations of U.S.-based corporations, what skills are required, and how companies access them. Thirty-two interviews were conducted in nine companies of varying size and type, with people representing a variety of perspectives in human…

Current thinking about academic language and the variety of language appropriate to school and similar settings is discussed. Recent literature concerning academic language is explored, and common themes and significant observations that emerge when the concept is viewed from a sociological perspective are examined. The research reviewed includes…

A discussion of the relationship of second language course content and testing focuses on the instruction and assessment of language proficiency. Basic principles of measurement of proficiency and syllabus design for proficiency and their implications are examined. An approach is recommended to syllabus design that has the learner's real needs at…

This paper reports the development of a test battery to replace the structural testing used in Kuwait to assess skills acquired in the communicatively-based Crescent English Course. A list of activities and tasks required of students at level six was drawn from the course syllabus, and four modules containing clusters of integrated language tasks…

Factors in reading comprehension relating to English as a second language (ESL) are considered, focusing on what contributes to text comprehensibility (grammatical structure or density of new vocabulary), the effect of a learner's English language proficiency on use of grammatical words for comprehension, and the possible interaction of these…

The self-concept scores of 50 learning disabled male adolescents (mean age 16.5 years) on the Situation Specific Subject Competence Test for mathematics, English, and physical education were compared with their most recent achievement test performance in these three subject areas. Results suggested that math achievement was positively correlated…

Research findings that indicate the need for greater integration in the development of verbal and mathematical skills for college technical majors are presented in this paper. Although the project discussed was originally designed to isolate language-related difficulties that affect mathematical skills among bilingual Hispanic students, some…

A study of the relationship of language proficiency level and bilingualism or monolingualism to the comprehension of anaphoric third-person subject pronouns in 9- and 10-year-old children found that bilingual children have the same difficulty with anaphora as their monolingual counterparts. In the comprehension of the pronouns tested, partial…