Researchers examined relationships between students' home language and academic achievement. National Education Longitudinal Study data indicated socioeconomic and social psychological variables explained the association of home language with academic performance for Mexican-Americans. For Asian Americans, speaking another language at home related…

A survey of health care issues among Hispanic Americans (469 adults and 235 children) in Arizona revealed that the poor health status and access to health care found for Hispanic Americans was even more pronounced for those whose language of interview was Spanish. (SLD)

A response to an article on multiculturalism and the status of community languages in Australia looks at the situation in Singapore, in which the government created policy supporting development of selected languages, and examines the positive economic consequences of the policy. Effects on educational and manpower policy are also considered. (MSE)

Discusses the potential of design and technology as an environment for collaborative problem solving based on experiences in England and Wales with the National Curriculum. Topics include sociocultural approaches to learning and planning, situated learning, authenticity, interpersonal aspects, peer interaction, cognitive strategies and social…

An Australian study examined the role of language background and gender in the assessment of native and non-native English-speaking university students enrolled in physics courses. Attention was given to differential performance and was analyzed in relation to test-item type and level of student communication skills. Implications for academic…

Presents an overview of current language policy and planning in Macao, as well as the language situation, especially in relation to language in education. The situation of four principal types of language-medium schools is also reviewed, with a view to assessing how efficiently these schools are achieving their proclaimed goals, and what problems…

A study investigated how well college-bound minority secondary school students are prepared for academic language tasks in college, how aware they are of their academic language needs, college academic culture, college curricular demands, and the effect of academic language instruction on these factors. Results indicate that students are generally…

Teaching foreign-language literature in translation, within the foreign language department, has intellectual and pragmatic justifications. Intellectually, it is a source of joy for language faculty to share target language literature, and it is the thematic components, not language, that offer richest discussion. Practically, students don't have…

In Bulgaria, a complex matrix of power relations governs English language education, and a triangle of international and intercultural relations between Bulgaria, United States, and United Kingdom. In the context of the changing economic and political milieu of central and eastern Europe, a study examines how Bulgaria fits into the emerging…

Focuses on the influence of language on economic, social, and political change in postrevolutionary Cuba. One of Cuba's primary postrevolutionary objectives was the eradication of illiteracy. Linguistic policies with respect to both Spanish and foreign languages were seen as a means to build human value and to establish a strong base for future…

Examines the representations of mental functioning in terms of images and stories of gender relations. Suggests that the rational pole of the mind is often stereotyped as "hard" and "masculine," while the nonrational pole is considered "soft" and "feminine." Reviews evidence suggesting that these dynamics…

Underlines the importance of investigating development within concrete thinking. Points out the importance of taking seriously the need for epistemological pluralism respecting and rewarding the labor-intensive methods of inquiry that embody the kind of concrete, contextual thinking researchers try to understand. (AA)

Integrity is commonly conflated with basic literacy in assessments of the skills workers need. This case study of a word-based character education program in Springfield, Missouri examines how business leaders may blame a lack of skills by employees on a lack of moral literacy. The premise of this essay is that the expression of a literacy program…

Despite its multilingual heritage, the USA has a history of linguistic intolerance. Arizona, in the country's desert Southwest, is decidedly anti-bilingual although it has significant non-English-speaking groups, especially Spanish-speaking Mexicans/Mexican-Americans and indigenous groups such as the Navajo, Hopi and Yaqui tribes, among many…

In this study, the authors explored the effect that particular patterns of communicative interactions may have on young children's understanding of representations and the link between knowledge of a 2nd language and theory of mind. The authors tested 140 single language users and 57 dual language users (aged 3-4 years old) on a deceptive task…