The Illinois Early Learning Standards were developed by the Illinois State Board of Education with the assistance of hundreds of educators. The goal of the standards is to provide teachers and caregivers useful information that is directly needed as part of their daily classroom work. Based on comments from educators, parents, and various experts…

This paper highlights the possibilities that Internet technology presents for the creation of an online, dynamic learning environment for language learners. Rather than simply use the Internet to deliver course content, the paper demonstrates the learning process can benefit from the interactive, self-directed, and self-authoring potential of the…

The articles in this volume are divided into the three panels from the conference, after introductory presentations. First is the introduction by the editor, Rosalie Pedalino Porter, followed by the article which provided the seed that germinated into the other papers of the conference, "Rethinking Bilingual Education" (Charles L. Glenn). The…

There are no good figures on the number of limited English speakers who are also illiterate in their native languages. This data is worth having because there is research indicating that literacy in the native language plays an important role in the acquisition of oral English and the development of English literacy. This digest reviews recent…

The chapters in this edited volume cover a wide range of topics in theory, practice, and research and may be of interest to anyone concerned with the promotion of autonomy in language learning. There are 16 chapters divided into 5 parts. Part 1, "Setting the Agenda: Theory, Practice and Research," has 3 chapters: "Why Focus on Learning Rather than…

This paper presents an alternative view to the pedagogical needs relating to literacy for Aboriginal students. The question posed is how to utilize this knowledge to lessen the impact of perceived failure in early schooling of entrenched non-attendance patterns for Aboriginal students of compulsory school attending ages. The potential for…

This guide, provided by a partisan education policy public interest group, seeks to answer the most frequently asked questions about teaching, designing, and evaluating an English immersion classroom and the research underpinnings in favor of English immersion. This guide aims to help teachers and policymakers better understand what English…

This article describes how Japanese college freshman English language learners are assigned to watch two English language films per month and keep journals in the form of a simple film review. The response to the extensive outside listening has been very favorable; the instructor found that even students who usually have trouble doing their…

This book details the experiences of a teacher in a Haitian-populated preschool in an urban area of the United States, focusing on the development of literacy and English as a second language. An introductory chapter describes the children, some of their personal and cultural background, their classroom demeanor, and the context in which they were…

This brief paper tells the story of a group of high school students in West Texas who worked together to solve a language problem in their local public schools. They determined that there was a need to have better bilingual resources and services available to new arrivals with limited or no English language speaking ability. The bulk of the paper…

A teacher of English in China describes his experiences teaching the listening component of a summer course designed to help 37 doctoral students improve their English skills before beginning an agricultural economics program. In the listening component, students were to gain experience in notetaking while listening to extended academic lectures.…

This theme issue of "Bildung und Wissenschaft" explains the importance of multilingualism in today's world, focusing on foreign language instruction in Germany. It examines the following issues: "Multilingualism in a Changing World"; "The Significance of Foreign Languages for Germany"; "Foreign Languages in…

One of the ways in which language testing interfaces with applied linguistics is in the definition and validation of the constructs that underlie language tests. When language testers and score users interpret scores on a test, they do so by implicit and explicit reference to the construct on which the test is based. Equally, when applied to new…

This paper seeks to build on the growing body of literature demonstrating the value of a dialogical process in second language learning, especially in work with students who are not part of the dominant cultural or linguistic group. It identifies and describes the ways in which bilingual secondary students engaged in dialogical processes begin to…

The Aboriginal Language Standardisation (ALS) Project's task is to develop quality literacy materials in order to help preserve aboriginal languages of Canada. The Canadian Assembly of First Nations, a group of tribal leaders, recently called for the establishment of standards for written and oral languages by approving terminology, developing…