This article offers a critical analysis of the language socialization of Spanish-speaking families in a Scout group in Metro Vancouver. Using tools of discourse analysis, the article examines the language use patterns of the participants, particularly focusing on the language ideologies to which they oriented themselves and the identities indexed…

Recent reports on the quality of education in South Africa seem to be negative, indicating a downwards trend on a yearly basis. Consequently, early literacy is lacking in the majority of learners who enter the formal school environment. As part of the South African government's literacy campaign, Read Educational Trust, an NGO involved in literacy…

Hegemonic discourses authorise certain ways of being, knowing, and doing. We internalise or appropriate images, patterns, and words from the social activities in which we have participated. Race, gender, sexuality, age, education, class are among aspects of identity (social constructions) that affect our language and literacy acquisition, the way…

In response to pressures to integrate literacy and science learning, an observational, comparative analysis was conducted exploring the added value of blended science and literacy curricula over inquiry-oriented science curricula in two 2nd-grade classrooms (ages seven to eight). Data were collected over ten weeks by the research team, and…

To assess students' developing literacy, teachers regularly listen as individuals read. Similarly, listening to students talk about their mathematical reasoning is a powerful way for teachers to assess students' problem-solving abilities and mathematical understanding. Traditional paper-and-pencil tests have long been the main avenue to evaluate…

As part of a larger summative evaluation of a foreign language department and a two-year foreign language core competency, the researcher investigated fourth-semester student self-efficacy (a person's belief, rooted in experience, that they can do something) and future expectancy of second language use. In effect, this was also an evaluation of…

The purpose of this study is to move beyond the more traditional focus on individual characteristics as they relate to anxiety in the use of a foreign language. In order to do this, cultural characteristics, perceptions of the cause of successful learning, and foreign (English) language use anxiety were included as the major variables. Three…

This study examined effects of 1-session training to increase 2 targeted teacher language behaviors: use of Socratic (open-ended) questions and length of turn-taking conversations with low-income preschoolers. Teachers, matched in 21 pairs for education, age, and training in early childhood education, were assigned to E (experimental) or C…

This study used a mixed methods research approach to examine how native English-speaking (NS) and non-native English-speaking (NNS) teachers assess students' oral English performance. The evaluation behaviors of two groups of teachers (12 Canadian NS teachers and 12 Korean NNS teachers) were compared with regard to internal consistency, severity,…

Using the 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey, this article examines the roles of parental human capital and social capital in the pursuit of university education among immigrant youth in Canada. We find segmented patterns across the largest minority groups in Canada, with the Chinese and the south Asians, such as Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis,…

The imperative need for the editing of a dictionary of Latin Americanisms should be a cooperative effort between both individuals and language academies. (Text is in Spanish.) (Author/DS)

The comparison of a tape recording of Pompidou's press conference on Sept. 21, 1973 and its reproduction in "Le Monde" on Sept. 23, 1973 shows what changes the text undergoes on being put into writing, from the spoken original. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

To help teachers stay abreast of changes in language usage, this update presents 100 alphabetically arranged short answers to questions often asked by teachers, parents, and students. The guide takes a "style" approach to usage, providing answers that draw attention to the language choices and flexibilities available in particular situations. For…

Suggests that the field of semantics has effectively instructed us not to be manipulated by language but has neglected to emphasize that words do have magical qualities and creative and constructive use can be made of that fact. (TO)

Discusses some of the sexually discriminatory problems encountered and solutions employed by the makers of "The School Dictionary" published in 1972 by the American Heritage Publishing Company. (TO)