Reasons for which children of Bhutan learn English better than their native language, Dzongkha, are explored, including the overall language situation in Bhutan and its economic and cultural influences. Recommendations are made for increasing the learning and use of Dzongkha while retaining English in the school curriculum. The spread of English…

Part 1 of this document describes the background, format, and early groundwork that went into the development of a test sponsored entirely by private enterprise. The discipline imposed by a financial bottom line imposes special pressures but also offers new opportunities. This private enterprise model is a multi-constructional process where…

This paper is an attempt to design a curriculum for a short-term development course for a non-native speaker English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers. The purpose is to share experiences in the effective teaching of lexis and structures; to make its participants aware of the importance of such necessities and creating a learning community and…

This study focuses on the progress of six middle schoolers in the St. Louis public schools who had been placed in 6th grade even though they had only first grade-level reading skills. It seeks to answer the following question: What effect will the use of Reading Recovery techniques and individualized reading strategies have on middle school…

Students in Taiwan are required to learn English, and schools are placing even more emphasis on listening and speaking skills. At the same time, English-language programming is widely available in Taiwan via cable television. Cable television is a useful instructional tool for teachers of English as a Second Language. This source of authentic…

A study investigated the effects of question type (multiple-choice, wh-questions, and cloze items) and question preview on assessment of English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) listening comprehension. Subjects were 90 freshmen at a Chinese university, randomly assigned to two groups. One was administered a question preview before listening to a…

This issue includes the following articles: "Detaching Discourse Functions from Functional Projections" (Dora Alexopoulou); "Interface Conditions on Child Language: A Crosslinguistic Look at Genitives" (Sharon Armon-Lotem, Stephen Crain); "Formal Features and Movement at PF" (Ralph C. Blight); "Semantic Features…

This brief asks the question of what happens if the instructor isolates verbs and uses them in lesson plans for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students at the beginning and intermediate levels. The discussion is based on the experiences of one ESL teacher who found that the most pressing practical need of her students was a better command of…

The focus of this practitioner brief is: How do adult English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students manage their learning? The adult ESL instructor found that his students wanted more opportunities to speak English in class, and to practice actual oral communication skills in English, but felt too much of their time and effort was directed into rote…

The Build Up: ESOL for Construction course was developed by Louise Cottom at Peterborough Regional College as part of the Basic Skills Agency's contribution to the ASSET UK Project. The course was designed to provide the students with a 60-hour general introduction to the construction industry in the UK and to develop the English language skills…

In California, the state is responsible for ensuring equality of educational opportunity for all of its students. Yet, with respect to English learners, the state has largely failed even to assess the conditions of education for these students. It has not adequately monitored their educational opportunities in terms of access to critical resources…

Since 1915, when the Americanization "movement" came into being, the American people have joined dozens of Americanization societies, listened to hundreds of people who declaimed Americanization, and read thousands of dissertations, wise and otherwise, on the same theme. For several years past, Americanization movements have been…

This important book includes sections on cognitive and developmental approaches to language and literacy acquisition, sociocultural approaches to language and literacy, crosslinguistic and bilingual issues in language and literacy, and critical perspectives on language and literacy education. The range of methodologies, perspectives, and research…

This bulletin reports on the contributions of the Federal Government to the improvement of language and area studies. This report indicates that two fundamental conclusions have become readily apparent: (1) non-Western studies have received material assistance under the National Defense Education Act of 1958 (NDEA) without which the present high…

150 female graduate students at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia were interviewed. Since most students are not proficient in English, they are required to take an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course when admitted to the M.A. and Ph. D. programs, as locating information in specialized journals is required for their assignments,…