The development of the Stanford Foreign Language Oral Skills Evaluation Matrix (FLOSEM), a rating scale for assessing communicative proficiency in foreign languages, is described. Information on the utility of the FLOSEM is presented based on the results of three studies. Oral proficiency measures were obtained by means of the FLOSEM from 573 high…

This study examined how parental practices in mainland China influence adolescents' school performance, including school motivation and grade point average (GPA), when moderated by self-esteem and self-efficacy. Participating in the study were 497 students, ranging in age from 12 to 19 years, attending six public junior and senior high schools.…

A thematic approach used to teach Chinese to third-grade Chinese-American children is described and illustrated with photographs and student art. The unit discussed focused on the moon, and was scheduled to coincide with the Chinese Moon Festival. Language related to the moon was taught by introducing vocabulary and Chinese characters with a moon…

Posits a shaky future for religious schools in Hong Kong after its reunion with communist China in 1997. Although religious schooling enjoys a long history of popular support, education in Hong Kong is clearly recognized as a government responsibility. Includes a history of religious schools in Hong Kong. (MJP)

Increased use of English in Singapore, a multiracial, multilingual country, especially its use for cultural purposes, has met with some controversy. This article traces the historical development of Singaporean literature in English and the sociocultural and political problems such literature faces in a country where the official languages and…

This paper describes the home and school experiences of 12 children from bilingual (mostly Chinese/English) homes who, before beginning first grade, demonstrated advanced ability to comprehend written English. Results demonstrate that lack of fluency in oral English should not exclude children from advanced instruction in reading. (Author/JDD)

Measures of Chinese character recognition, vocabulary, and interest in reading were administered to 92 second grade children in Hong Kong, while questionnaires on parental literacy practices were administered to their parents. In a hierarchical regression equation, maternal education, children's age and vocabulary skill predicted 18% of the…

Although Chinese has become the third largest mother tongue in both Canada and the USA, Chinese/English biliteracy development has received little attention in educational research. This article explores three Chinese-Canadian first and second graders' biliteracy (Chinese/English reading and writing) and trilingual (Mandarin, Cantonese, and…

If intercultural awareness is a key area in which sojourners are expected to make progress while abroad, then appropriate methods of assessment should be used to measure the gains they have made. While much attention has focused on the preparation, format, and content of study abroad programs, relatively little has been published about modes of…

This article presents a model of formative task-based language assessment implemented in the Chinese language program at the University of Iowa. The model was conceptualized from both empirical evidence, namely previous research done by other team members and me, and assessment theory, namely task-based learning and testing. Our formative…

Parental ratings of 695 adopted Chinese girls' internalizing, externalizing, and total problem behaviors were analyzed in 4 stages to: (1) Compare adjustment profiles of Chinese adoptee samples with relevant US normative data; (2) analyze age differences in behavioral adjustment differences of Chinese adoptees; (3) examine interrelationships among…

This study investigates achievement in second language learning (Chinese) in primary school in relation to learner variables such as amount and duration of instruction and home language background. Currently in the State of Victoria it is recommended that all students learn a second language from the beginning of primary school to the end of Year…

The Emergency Immigration Education Act supported three distinct programs in New York City in the summer of 1994: (1) the Summer English as a Second Language (ESL) Welcome Program for Students of Limited English Proficiency; (2) the Summer Bilingual Program; and (3) Projects Omega, Wise, and Bell. The projects served 3,443 students in all. The…

Intended as a an aid to classroom teachers, this 52-page handbook presents a literature unit based on the children and young people's book, "Dragon's Gate" by Laurence Yep. It begins with sample lesson plans, pre-reading activities, author information, a book summary, vocabulary lists and suggested vocabulary activities. Next, chapters…

It is suggested that Chinese students in China and Chinese Americans have difficulty learning to read in English due to native language interference and to cultural traits and thinking patterns. Reading in English requires overcoming some psychological barriers. A chart outlines the different ways in which a Chinese student would read the same…