A University of Yucatan (Mexico) professor who taught a Mayan linguistics course to indigenous teachers in Mayan discusses three issues that are central to understanding how indigenous education interacts with pan-Maya identity: the importance of locally developed Maya literature, the symbols used to define Maya culture, and a conflict over Maya…

Surveys completed by 218 K-8 teachers in two southern California school districts examined teacher opinions about using language minority students' native language for their instruction. Support for practical implementation was less positive than for the theoretical principles. No clear predictors of attitudes toward the issue were found,…

Examines the role of literature in the acquisition of literacy in English as a Second Language and Nigerian mother tongues. Provides a critique of the Nigerian literacy instruction model, and discusses how to help students acquire effective and efficient literacy. (Author/VWL)

Mainstream media spreads misperceptions that American Indian gaming benefits just a few, is not well regulated, and encourages criminal activity. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act mandates that gaming revenues fund tribal government programs; now that they have their own revenue, tribes are enthusiastically funding educational programs to maintain…

The ongoing debate between advocates of bilingual education and advocates of English-only instruction often fails to acknowledge classroom realities. The author, who has taught native Spanish speaking students in a variety of settings, draws on her experience to explain that not all bilingual programs are the same and that no program will…

This paper reports on a study of 31 Japanese-American adolescents enrolled in a Saturday Japanese heritage school (JHL) in Los Angeles. The study examined the relationship of the participants' sense of ethnic identity, attitudes toward the JHL school and self-assessed proficiency in Japanese. The major finding of the study, consistent with…

Early federal government policies for American indigenous people alternated between extermination and assimilation. Imposing the colonists' and immigrants' language on indigenous people was important for achieving the latter. In the 1970-90's, federally funded grants for bilingual education for indigenous schools were offered to accommodate Native…

With the shift of the concept of English teaching, learning beliefs and learning strategies are increasingly attracting researchers' attention. This study, based on a questionnaire, centered on the current situation of learning beliefs and learning strategies used by three-year college students. The result shows: (1) the students have the…

This paper examines the reading experiences, strategies, and curriculum preferences of university-level heritage language students. One hundred and twenty eight students enrolled in four different heritage language programs at UCLA--Korean, Russian, Thai, and Vietnamese--completed a survey about their exposure to print, early and current reading…

This paper proposes an identity theory of Chinese as a Heritage Language (hereafter CHL) development, based on the characteristics of the Chinese as a Heritage Language learner and drawing insights from Language Socialization, Second Language Acquisition, and Conversation Analysis. It posits that CHL development takes place in a three-dimensional…

A cooperative literacy education program involving Mexico and the United States' border states is documented. The project has three objectives: to (1) implement the Mexican literacy agency's approach to promoting literacy among native Spanish speakers; (2) coordinate U.S./Mexico literacy task force activities; and (3) develop an immigrants' rights…

A study investigating the design of elementary school programs for limited-English-speaking children is reported and the resulting recommendations for a program designed for Hispanic migrant children in a Washington school are presented. The three major issues addressed include: the appropriate amount of instruction in native language arts; how to…

Many of the institutions that have helped children deal with the challenge of growing up, such as small towns and extended families, are disappearing or changing, and as a consequence schools are faced with greater responsibilities. Educators must reexamine what they do to acknowledge and validate the home and family, and must extend the…

A discussion of the language skills of Maya-speaking children in Mexico describes the relationship of Maya and Spanish languages in this population's education and reports on a study of the construction of orthography by these children. The study first examines how language is used in literacy education and the difficulties of literacy in a…

The Bilingual Academics for Special Education Students project (Project BASES) in its first year served 76 Spanish-speaking students with limited English proficiency and emotional disturbances. The New York City Public Schools program, serving students aged 10 to 14, used an Integrative Linguistic Model to weigh students' academic and linguistic…