A literature review, undertaken in preparation for a study of French regional needs for workforce English language instruction at the college level, covers research on this topic in areas of France and other non-English-speaking countries, student perspectives on language needs and motivation for learning English, linguistic issues in addressing…

A social literacies perspective is used to analyze a rap written by a high school student. The article begins with an examination of the student's uses of African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and standard English. The student writing sample and the researcher's analysis are subjected to review by two other African American teenagers, and…

This paper reports on the strategies used by an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teacher to help law students whose first language is Chinese in an English-for-law course learn and understand how to negotiate legal texts and ordinances and connect them with the concerns of people in the real world. The example of the recently enacted Human Organ…

The data and analyses presented in this report are from the first (1980) wave of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) study, "High School and Beyond," a longitudinal study of U.S. high school seniors and sophomores. This study was conducted for NCES by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago.…

Posits three interdependent languages that we use to make democracy work: (1) language of possibility; (2) language of critique; and (3) language of action. Argues for the creation and incorporation of a fourth, the language of transition. This allows for the exploration of spaces between the other three. (MJP)

Discusses the existence of three curricula in medical schools (formal, informal, and hidden) and suggests that educators and administrators investigate the hidden curriculum by examining four areas: institutional policies; evaluation practices; resource-allocation decisions; and institutional "slang." Needed reforms in accreditation standards are…

Pakistan, as a multilingual country, faces numerous problems in language planning in higher education. There are concerns about the limited role of regional languages, lack of required materials in Urdu, and student difficulties in English. The research reported here is a nationwide survey of 2136 students, 121 Subject and English teachers of…

With a Finnish-speaking majority and a Swedish-speaking minority, Finland offers a striking contrast in the kinds of cross-linguistic influence that can occur in the acquisition of English in a multilingual setting. While much previous research has looked at the differences between Finnish and Swedish influences, our study compares Swedish…

This paper addresses beginning level Spanish heritage language (SHL) learners' attitudes towards their language and culture. Heritage language (HL) programs and research have often overlooked beginning level learners, especially within university settings. The current study involved 20 participants from a beginning level SHL class in the…

This paper reviews the characteristics of students entering initial training in four countries--Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, and Trinidad and Tobago. First a brief overview of the teacher education systems is provided. Second, biographical data is reviewed on age, religious affiliation, ethnic group and mother tongue, parental occupations and academic…

This paper compares two sets of data from the same year, 2001--the numbers of students taking languages other than English at primary and secondary level, and census statistics for the home use of languages other than English. The data draws attention to languages that are taught principally in day schools and those taken mainly in after hours…

Findings of an exploratory study with a sample of students at the colleges of medicine, pharmacy, science, and computer science revealed that English is the medium of classroom instruction and most textbooks in most of the courses at those colleges. Students reported that they do not study the Arabic equivalents of English technical terms in their…

American Indian education has an important place in U.S. education, and grantmakers can form lasting relationships with indigenous communities that will have a broad impact on not only native education, but on education in the U.S. a whole. These relationships can yield transformational change in Indian communities and can be rewarding for…

The status of the Italian language in Australia, particularly in the educational system at all levels, in Australian society in general, and in trade, technology, and tourism is discussed in this report. It begins with a description of the teaching of Italian in elementary, secondary, higher, adult/continuing, and teacher education. Trends are…

Observation of 16 university students of writing in English as a Second Language in Taiwan focused on the nature of interactions during three peer response sessions and one consensus exercise. It examined the kinds of comments made by a writing group in responding to peer writing and the characteristics of the verbal interaction in a consensus…