Discusses the correspondence between French phonology and spelling with regard to the role of accents. Refers the reader to the first part of the essay (n162, Jul 1981), then analyzes vowel harmony, free variation, the diacritic function of the grave accent, and the etymologic function of the circumflex accent. (MES)

Presents a selective bibliography of dictionaries, books, and articles. References are grouped under three sections: I. Lexicology, II. Dictionaries and III. Didactics. Each item is followed by a concise critical note. The compilation is by the "Centre d'Etudes du Lexique" (CELEX, Paris-Villetaneuse). (MES)

Describes the newly emerging debate in England known as "bilingualism and mother-tongue teaching" by discussing: (1) the general scene, including historical background and educational and minority group attitudes; (2) the main component of the mother-tongue debate embodied in administrative questions; and (3) certain features of the wider context…

Reports on a test conducted to compare students' critical and evaluative reading abilities in their native language with their abilities for the same reading skills in the target language. A statistically significant correlation was found. The test results and suggestions for its improvement are given. (PJM)

Describes a computer program used at Isleta Pueblo's Headstart to teach preschool children to speak Isletan (a dialect of Tiwa). Discusses problems with technology and with community traditionalists seeking to protect secret cultural information. Provides contact information for those interested in starting a spinoff program, as have the Zunis.…

Offers an alternative to the two approaches to teaching Spanish to adolescent and college-level bilingual native speakers interested in developing their Spanish abilities. This theory draws heavily from Freire's problem-posing procedure for critical dialogue and Vygotsky's theory of social learning. (28 references) (Author/VWL)

Learn and Teach is a foreign-funded literacy project in South Africa that is intended to combine conscientization with literacy instruction. The approach includes vernacular as well as English instruction. A call is being made for a mass literacy campaign on a national scale to end the marginalization of the Black population. (SK)

The connection between heritage language instruction and self-esteem was investigated for 64 Inuit, 13 white, and 36 mixed-heritage children. Children educated in their heritage language showed an increase in self-esteem after one year, but Inuit and mixed-heritage children educated in a second language did not. (SLD)

English language learners (ELLs) who experience slow vocabulary development are less able to comprehend text at grade level than their English-only peers. Such students are likely to perform poorly on assessments in these areas and are at risk of being diagnosed as learning disabled. In this article, we review the research on methods to develop…

Research and theory on second language reading has reached heightened dimensions in recent years. It is through reading that learners access much information concerning the target language and culture, and consequently reading is an important part of almost all language programs across stages of acquisition. The purpose of this article is to offer…

The "School Administrator's Guide to Implementing Language Programming" serves as a starting point to plan for and implement language programming. It provides a general overview; suggests practical strategies for working with students, parents, teachers and the surrounding community; and includes details on areas to address in selecting…

The ultimate goal of reading is to construct text meaning based on visually encoded information. Essentially, it entails converting print into language and then to the message intended by the author. It is hardly accidental, therefore, that, in all languages, reading builds on oral language competence and that learning to read uniformly requires…

This paper outlines current cognitive perspectives on second language acquisition (SLA). The Associative-Cognitive CREED holds that SLA is governed by the same principles of associative and cognitive learning that underpin the rest of human knowledge. The major principles of the framework are that SLA is Construction-based, Rational,…

The article discusses how Sinte Gleska University (SGU), South Dakota, has been promoting Lakota language since its inception. SGU is the first tribal-based university in the U.S. White Hat, a teacher from SGU, has been promoting Lakota language through his impressive style of teaching. The university requires every SGU student to opt for Lakota…

This report describes a study (part of the IEA Written Composition Study) which used a questionnaire to collect curricular information from 16 countries about mother tongue teaching in general and teaching writing in particular. The report describes some basic dimensions of mother tongue curricula and writing composition curricula as well as how…