This paper examines assumptions about second language acquisition, bilingualism, and language planning that underlie Singapore's bilingual education policy, noting how the experience in Singapore illuminates current theories in second language acquisition and language planning. In Singapore, English is promoted as the "working language,"…

This study assessed Chinese teachers' perspectives on why Chinese students perform well on spatial tasks. The study interviewed 17 male and 12 female teachers of Chinese language, math, science, and 6 other subjects, from elementary schools, high schools, and colleges of Beijing, China. The responses indicated that the Chinese teachers perceived…

Each of these three separately-published textbook/workbook editions on the topic of recycling presents key vocabulary words relating to this topic for English as a Second Language students in six languages. These books are designed to increase students' understanding of what the most typical local recycling rules are, why complying with them is…

Twenty-two Cantonese-speaking Chinese students and 16 Spanish-speaking students were tested for short-term memory encoding strategies on word-recognition tests. Chinese speakers were found to encode Chinese ideographs phonologically, but both Chinese and Spanish learners of English were found to encode English words visually. (Author/CFM)

Presents some policy issues regarding Chinese language courses for students whose mother tongue is Chinese or a dialect of Chinese. (five references) (Author/CK)

Reports on the concerns of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teachers in Canada regarding their students' use of pocket bilingual electronic dictionaries (EDs). The article highlights the ED's features, uses, and effectiveness as a tool for learning ESL at the secondary level and ESL students' perceptions of the ED's usefulness. (nine references)…

Describes two orientations to the learning process: "transmission," transfer of information from source to receiver; and "interpretation," development of knowledge through the interaction of receiver with source. Transmission- or interpretation-based values are like a cognitive-affective filter because they form a cognitive and…

Using a questionnaire, this study investigates what representatives of the American English and Mandarin cultures say when they want to refuse a request. Findings stress the differences between the strategies of refusal such as expressing or avoiding an expression of a positive attitude, or giving external or personal reasons for refusing. (18…

To comply with the district desegregation plan, the San Francisco Unified School District previously required higher scores for Chinese American applicants to its academic magnet high school than for more underrepresented groups. Examines the admissions debate, suggesting that exclusion of Asian and Latino concerns in district policymaking led to…

Explains how the education system in Hong Kong has helped to shape Hong Kong's past diglossia and how the country is preparing to face the changes inherent in the new political context in which Putonghua will be another element. Reports on the status and use of Cantonese and Putonghua (the national language of the People's Republic of China). (33…

Surveys of 105 U.S.-born, Chinese-American and Korean-American students in southern California high schools found that those who adapted to the mainstream culture while maintaining their heritage language and culture had higher academic achievement than those who wholly adopted mainstream values and lifestyles. (Contains 21 references.) (SV)

Examines the pressures toward academic achievement in Chinese and European students in New Zealand through comparisons of the attitudes of the students, the attitudes they attribute to their parents, and the relationships between these two sets of attitudes. Male Chinese students were found to have the most pressure on them. (JS)

Reports the attitudes of 80 Taiwanese teachers of morality about moral education in the face of drastic social change and modernization. Discusses the content and nature of traditional Chinese morality, the effects of contemporary culture on children's moral development, and teaching methods. Contains 18 references. (SV)

A study of native and non-native English speakers' production of vowels in stressed and unstressed syllables found that non-native speakers had most difficulty with four-syllable words, producing a first-syllable vowel of variable quality, failing to reduce the second-syllable vowel, and failing to produce appropriate durations for vowels…

Describes current government projects and expenditures that promote the growth of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) in Taiwan schools, and contrasts CAI efforts in Taiwan with those in the United States. Topics discussed include teacher training; courseware development; the development of a Chinese language authoring system; and problems and…