Help young students master concepts of print, phonemic awareness, and alphabet knowledge--the key predictors of early literacy success and school readiness. This resource will show what children need to know about print in order to become successful readers, how to connect children's development with learning about print, and how to provide a…

This paper examines problems in U.S. English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs, focusing on the stories of three Chinese ESL learners from immigrant families. All three of these people had been long-term ESL students in New York City (they had been enrolled in ESL programs for 4-8 years but had not mastered the cognitive and academic skills in…

This paper describes two Internet-based French language courses that help students acquire fluency in a nontraditional format. The Annenberg/CPB Project's "French in Action Online" was originally offered as a free online adjunct to a television course. The Coastline Community College's French 186AB French Topics Online is a stand-alone…

This paper explains that change is part of every language, noting that it occurs from both internal manipulation (e.g., youth culture) and external influences (contact with other languages). The paper focuses on external influences as they apply to Japanese and discusses how much external influence, specifically English, is too much. Today, Japan…

The Rasch Model is an item response theory, one parameter model developed that states that the probability of a correct response is a function of the difficulty of the item and the ability of the candidate. Item banking is useful for language testing. The Rasch Model provides estimates of item difficulties that are meaningful, irrespective of…

This paper is designed to build interpersonal, basic, and thinking skills so that students will become better able to answer basic questions about themselves (such as name, job title, job skills, personal qualities) in response to basic and general questions likely to be encountered in the course of seeking employment. Students are configured in…

This paper discusses what teachers who are beginning to work with adult English language learners need to know. Recommendations in four areas are discussed: applications of adult learning in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) contexts; second language acquisition; culture and working with multicultural groups; and instructional approaches that…

This paper examines the assimilation of immigrant families in the United States. Chapter 1, "Introduction," reviews basic issues. Chapter 2, "Why Discuss the Integration of Immigrant Families?" examines such issues as continuing mismatches between immigration and immigrant policies, population dispersal, the shifting political…

This newsletter is designed to be of help to the English as a second language community. This volume includes the following articles and features: "Stress: Helping Refugees Cope"; "BEST Gets Better"; "Integrating English Literacy and Civics"; "Summit Stirs Many Into Action"; "TESOL-AEIS on the Internet"; "Civics for Adult Immigrants"; "BEST Gets…

This paper uses conversation analytic research on a particular practice of organization in talk--pre-sequences--to evaluate English as a Second Language (ESL) textbook dialogues and make recommendations for their improvement. Pre-sequences, such as pre-invitations (e.g., What are you doing on Friday night?) and their responses are used to show…

This teacher's guide is intended for the instruction of both French as a first language and French as a second language in an immersion setting. It provides a host of strategies for teaching listening skills in the classroom in Grades 6 through 12. The first section is designed to bring the teacher's awareness to the training procedure. It…

This paper examines the ambiguity in defining terms within the field of bilingual education, noting problems with poor professional development available to teachers selected to participate in bilingual education programs. The first section discusses terminology within bilingual education programs, focusing on the following: transitional bilingual…

This report explains that 2000-01 was the eighth year in which the Centre for Language and Communication Studies (CLCS) at the University of Dublin's Trinity College offered extracurricular foreign language modules to students who were not studying a foreign language as part of their degree course. The modules are intended to develop students'…

This paper describes audio-feedback as a teaching method for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) writing classes. Using this method, writing instructors respond to students' compositions by recording their comments onto an audiocassette, then returning the paper and cassette to the students. The first section describes audio-feedback and explains…

Computers have become a solution for many traditional problems from the kitchen to the school. It is not, therefore, uncommon to use them to solve existing problems. It is also quite frequent that different educational needs can lead to similar solutions. For instance, the Australian immigration services use a number of exams to allow the access…