Describes a year-long intercultural exchange program between fifth year Spanish students from a suburban high school and English as a second language students from an inner city junior/senior high school in Rhode Island. Results of the exchange show that attitudes and proficiencies improved for both sets of students. (LMO)

Advises the secondary school teacher lacking special training how to use the ACFL Guidelines to test for oral proficiency in the classroom. Sample situation cards and a sample grading sheet are included. (LMO)

Discussion of computer-assisted language learning highlights a British study with elementary, secondary and university Spanish language students that incorporated speech synthesis and interactive video. The Multifacet Language Laboratory is described, software used is explained, student and teacher reactions are discussed, and a sample of the…

Analysis of responses of native French-speaking (N=10) and English-speaking (N=10) college French instructors rating students' errors in French revealed that (1) native French speakers were more critical evaluators than native English speakers; (2) teachers were generally more critical evaluators than students; and (3) more fluent speakers were…

Dutch native children and Turkish immigrant children, born and reared in the Netherlands, were asked to tell a story from a series of pictures, at age six and again at age eight. The Turkish children exhibited about the same level of narrative proficiency in Dutch as their Dutch peers. (Author/LMO)

Investigates the role of dialect variation in the acquisition of American English by adult second language learners. The study revealed that dialect differences present problems for learners and cause variable intelligibility and negative learner attitude toward some varieties of English and its speakers. This attitude could negatively affect a…

Adult native English speakers (N=20) and foreign students (N=44; most of them Japanese) enrolled in English as a second language (ESL) courses and completed a reading task and a cloze test to determine reading proficiency and prediction ability. While advanced ESL students made fewer total errors than beginning students, error patterns of all ESL…

When college students (N=124) studying French performed a cloze test, translated additional text, and recalled the reading, results indicated that both syntactic and vocabulary proficiency positively affected reading comprehension and recall of text. This supports continued attention to grammar and vocabulary-building exercises for students in…

Data collected from young adult English-as-a-second-language students' (N=20) reports, think-aloud protocols, and analyses of achievement in composition writing indicated that most learners were able to use these learning strategies to make discernable achievements in their writing proficiency. (Author/CB)

The two major justifications for the traditional grammar curriculum in Dutch schools are: (1) its superiority to direct skill training in improving general language ability; and (2) its facilitation of teaching and learning foreign languages. An evaluative investigation, which included a literature review and logbook and textbook surveys, found no…

The Egyptian educational system uses examinations to determine qualification for university study in various disciplines. This system results in lack of motivation for English study while using English as the medium of instruction in certain disciplines at university level. Suggestions for improvement are made. (RM)

English language learners (ELLs) were once expected to learn English before they learned critical content needed to succeed in school, but this is longer true, because now federal education laws require that ELLs be held to the same academic standards as other students. There are, however, requirements to assess and document progress on tests of…

This paper studies the similarities and differences between the goals of bilingual education in China and the United States. China and the U. S. have similar purposes in providing bilingual education to language minorities at the elementary-secondary school level. The Americans use bilingual education as a remedy, but most Chinese treat it as a…

The European Language Portfolio (ELP) is a tool for developing learner responsibility and autonomy through reflection and self-awareness.The ELP is based on the Common European Framework (CEF) Reference Levels that enable learners to describe what they can do in different languages.The CEF is a Council of Europe initiative aimed at improving the…

In Portugal's monolingual school system, foreign students are expected to succeed just like Portuguese native students, despite their linguistic and cultural needs and differences. This study characterized the attitudes and motivation of four 9th grade foreign students toward Portuguese and English language classrooms in two Portuguese public…