A study of a bilingual program in a Deaf school in Minnesota examines the following: the principles primary grade teachers articulate and demonstrate as important for the use of American Sign Language (ASL) to teach English literacy; the strategies primary grade teachers use to teach English literacy through ASL; and how primary grade teachers use…

California is extremely linguistically diverse, with one of the largest numbers of deeply endangered indigenous languages. None of its 50 living Indian languages are being learned at home by children, with few native speakers left. Outlines some language activism that native Californians are using to help develop new speakers and save their…

A study (n=181 college students) examined effects of lexical ambiguity in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) on beginning second-language learners, focusing on whether personality type affects retention of second-language vocabulary independent of translation issues and in an ambiguous CALL context. Findings support the need for beginning…

Investigates how accurately learners can assess their understanding of words and whether this accuracy is influenced by the learners' culture, gender, and lexical knowledge. Subjects were university students of English in China, Israel, and Japan. A mismatch between the objective and perceived understanding of a reading task was related to the…

A study of error patterns of Arabic-speaking learners of French at a Jordanian university revealed a negative influence of Arabic polysemic words on the learning and use of French vocabulary. It is recommended that second-language instruction make use of explicit instruction in vocabulary that, in the native language, has multiple meanings. (MSE)

Describes how instruction and exposure contributed to the development of oral proficiency in English as a Second Language in mutually exclusive learning situations in Nepal. This study finds that both instruction and exposure contribute to second-language acquisition, the former promoting accuracy, the latter promoting fluency. (Author/VWL)

Describes the "Brochure Project" in which the Japanese Language II honors students at Punahou School in Honolulu (Hawaii) concentrated on language study, global education, and technology when producing brochures about Hawaii in Japanese. Suggests that in a social studies classroom, the focus could be on global education and cultural…

To test how to achieve a reliable score on an essay test, based on judgments of specific criteria such as grammatical accuracy or topic relevance, a workshop was conducted on interrater reliability at a teacher educators conference in South Africa. Experienced English teacher educators assessed two essay protocols. Results showed substantial…

Describes an exploratory study that investigated the effects of explicit instruction in revision on learners' performance and perceptions about writing. Learners were from a secondary school in Hong Kong. Indicates that explicit teaching of revision strategies has a measurable influence on writing performance. (Author/VWL)

Discusses growing enrollments in foreign languages at Spelman College, a small language arts college for African American women in Atlanta, Georgia. Attributes the growing enrollments to the willingness of faculty to attend to student needs, interests, and specific black heritage. Suggests strategies for attracting students of color to languages…

Presents findings relating to a study on pupils' perceptions of the in-school foreign language learning experience. The study is part of a longitudinal study on the motivational perspectives of secondary pupils learning German. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the English literacy development of Cambodian adults in the United States. Describes how Cambodian adults, literate in Khmer, participate in each other's English literacy development; how Cambodian children, fluent but not literate in Khmer participate in their parents' English literacy development; and how a Cambodian teacher…

Examines the performance of Hungarian secondary school students on two types of unscripted tasks--an argument task and a narrative task. Focuses on grammatical patterns of learner language, and reports significant differences in the learners' performance. (Author/VWL)

A descriptive case study provides a comprehensive profile of 13 learning disabled students' experience after one full year in a French immersion learning difficulties program in Canada. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the potential for stories in the foreign language curriculum, and presents results of a qualitative research study in which 22 stories from the oral traditions of Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico were presented to students in different formats: picture books, audiotapes, videotapes, a Web page, and a Hypermedia program. (Author/VWL)