Purpose: To develop a reliable and valid questionnaire of bilingual language status with predictable relationships between self-reported and behavioral measures. Method: In Study 1, the internal validity of the Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q) was established on the basis of self-reported data from 52 multilingual adult…

Among risk factors associated with reading difficulties, poverty and underdeveloped oral language skills can be particularly detrimental to reading success. The City Early Reading First (CERF) project implemented a comprehensive curriculum, professional development, intensive mentoring, and home supports to enhance children's language, literacy,…

The purpose of this essay is to consider some of the practical implications of Martin Heideger's view that "Language is the house of Being," for the academic study of cultural transformation and intercultural communication. The paper describes the ontological basis of Heidegger's work, and the inquiry into Being, and contains sections on…

The foreign language camps, operated by Virginia Tech since 1981, offer high school students a one-week foreign language experience in French, German, or Spanish. The camps bring together native speakers, high school students and teachers, and university students and faculty to experience learning situations similar to those encountered in a…

Intended to introduce students to the most dynamic aspects of language and to help them see the metaphors of poetry from a perspective beyond poetry, this book offers background information for class discussion on the pervasiveness of metaphors, giving examples of how metaphors underlie folk expressions, proverbs, riddles, cliches, and slang, and…

Emphasizing the constructive role teachers pay in children's literacy development, this book provides a clear and richly illustrated description of children's writing development from preschool through approximately fourth grade. The book, divided into the three sections covering beginning writing, spelling, and composition, consists of the…

IN ORDER TO ENHANCE THE SPEAKING ABILITY OF THE STUDENT, TO HELP HIM DEVELOP READING AND WRITING SKILLS, AND TO AID HIM IN ACQUIRING BETTER TECHNIQUES IN SPANISH, SUGGESTIONS ARE MADE TO THE TEACHER REGARDING THE USE OF THIS VOLUME. SUCH SUGGESTIONS INCLUDE CHORAL AND DOUBLE REPETITION, A READING OF MATERIAL PREVIOUSLY MEMORIZED, AND A VARIED…

This speech, presented at the 1977 meeting of the World Organization of Preschool Education (OMEP), proposes that the preschool linguistic environment determines language facility, which affects later school and work success. The normal course of communicative ability is traced. It is proposed that although most children, in and out of preschool,…

TWENTY-NINE OUTSTANDING, EXPERIENCED TEACHERS WERE SELECTED TO CONDUCT A STUDY TO DETERMINE A SEQUENCE OF SKILLS APPROPRIATE FOR FIRST GRADE CHILDREN FROM SPANISH-SPEAKING HOMES WHO WERE LEARNING TO READ IN ENGLISH. THREE RANDOMLY ASSIGNED TEACHING METHODS WERE USED--(1) A BASAL READER APPROACH, (2) A LANGUAGE-EXPERIENCE APPROACH, AND (3) THE USE…

This program selected 252 students on the basis of teacher recommendations and kindergarten survey test scores. Students were divided into teams and remained with an Intensive Reading Instructional Team for 10 weeks. Moving from teacher to teacher at hourly intervals each morning, students met with teachers specializing in one of three crucial…

Urges educators to utilize metaphors in language instruction. Two experiments support this position. The results of the first experiment reveal that students learn lexical items more efficiently if presented in metaphors. The results of the second experiment indicate the usefulness of metaphors in developing students' critical thinking. (CFM)

Describes the history of use of language laboratories in foreign language instruction and argues that both the quality and quantity of such activities fell short of the laboratories' potential. (CB)

First part of an article to be continued. (SK)

Better results in language teaching require that teachers assume positions of responsibility, cooperation, and mutual understanding. (Editor)