This research explored the impact of the abrupt shift from heritage-language to dominant-language education on Inuit children's personal and collective self-esteem. Specifically, the following question was addressed: will early heritage-language education serve as an inoculation against the potential negative impact of being submerged in a…

This study compared the efficacy of measures of naming speed, verbal fluency and self-ratings for establishing language dominance in 25 bilingual English-Spanish adults with college degrees. Naming speed was measured by total naming times (in seconds) for five "Alzheimer's Quick Test" tasks (Wiig, Nielsen, Minthon & Warkentin, 2002)…

A study investigated the ways in which the background of six Spanish-English bilinguals has affected their attitudes toward the two languages and the transfer of skills between first and second languages, especially as it might relate to writing instruction. A review of literature looks at studies of linguistic and social aspects of the Hispanic…

This paper addresses the potential value of language-related criteria for use in identifying ethnic minorities in the Netherlands. A description of the way the Dutch government defines ethnic minority groups is followed by a comparative outline of the use of language-related criteria in countries with a longer tradition of immigration (Australia,…

The ideal of a world where bilingualism or multilingualism is a normal and accepted feature is promoted in a commissioned report for International Literacy Year. It is noted that many minority groups are forced into bilingualism as a necessity for survival, but that those skills are rarely seen as an advantage and often seen as a cause of…

A study was undertaken to learn whether involvement of the brain's right hemisphere in auditory language processing, a phenomenon found in a previous study of Crow-English bilinguals, was language-specific. Alpha blocking response as measured by electroencephalography (EEG) was used as an indicator of brain activity. It was predicted that (1)…

Using the 1976 Survey of Income and Education, and focusing on Hispanics aged 14 to 25, analyses were conducted to assess when in the schooling process Hispanics drop out. Findings suggest that over 40 percent of all Hispanic dropouts leave school before reaching the 10th grade, with most of the pre-high-school attrition occurring at the junior…

This guide is designed to introduce potential users of the California Language Census data to a means of accessing that data using an online, interactive computer system known as "1981 LC." The language census is an actual count of the numbers of pupils with a primary language other than English in California public schools as of March 1…

Two case studies of language use in bilingual classrooms are presented. The first case study focuses on the functions of the teacher's speech in a twelfth grade civics class. One 50-minute lesson was recorded and transcribed. The two classroom languages, English and Spanish, were coded according to their use for information, elicitation,…

This paper describes an instrument used to assess the receptive language of children. The bilingual child is tested first in the non-dominant language. When the ceiling is reached in the non-dominant language, the tester switches to the dominant language. (The ideal situation would be to give the test in one language one day, then repeat the test…

Insight into processes involved in child bilingualism is provided by this account of the "primary language acquisition" (in the sense of Lamendella, 1977) of two languages, English and Hebrew, by a 4 1/2 year old subject. The child's re-entry into her first language, Hebrew, after a year spent in an all-English environment, is traced. Of central…

This study explores the relationship between different home and school variables and reading achievement in bilingual children. The subjects of the study are 130 first- and third-grade children attending bilingual programs. Language proficiency and dominance tests were administered to the children and a questionnaire was sent to their parents. The…

The failure of educational research to fully allow for limitations in methodology when drawing conclusions is faulted. In addition to this, a failure on the part of the media--educational and other--to fully publicize these limitations is also criticized. Methodological shortcomings of the 1977-78 American Institutes of Research (AIR) study of…

The article addresses minority assessment issues, describes a Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-- Revised (WISC-R) re-norming (for Inuit children) project, examines usefulness of the re-normed WISC-R and reports results of a study comparing gifted and average Inuit children on the WISC-R, Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test, and the Goodenough…

Among a nationally representative sample of elementary school students, socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity were more important than language in explaining low achievement among language-minority students. Spanish-language background was more strongly related to reading than to math achievement deficits. Importance of the findings for…