An overview of issues in bilingual vocational education and language assessment is related in this paper to the Limited English Speaking (LES) Program at Mesa Community College (MCC). First, problems with traditional approaches to LES students are cited. Then, the goals of Vocational English as a Second Language (VESL) are discussed and necessary…

When working with limited English proficient (LEP) children who have been mainstreamed into regular elementary school classrooms, teachers must keep in mind that the first order of business is to help the students build a store of knowledge about English--how it sounds, what it looks like in print, and what it means. Teachers will discover that it…

A common assumption underlying cross-linquistic studies in child language is that the comparison of any feature in unrelated languages may simplify semantic-grammatical complexities in a way that studies on a single language cannot. This paper begins by discussing the order of acquisition of grammatical morphemes in Spanish by four…

This curriculum for technical students aims at linking the identity of the learner, his initial linguistic and technical competence, and his expectations with the competence expected of him on entering the technical college. The materials of the curriculum make use of a wide variety of information and data sources such as school-level science…

Contrastive analysis is viewed as an interlinguistic, bidirectional phenomenon which is concerned with both the form and function of language. As such, contrastive analysis must view language psycholinguistically and sociolinguistically as a system to be both described and acquired. Due to the need for a psychological component in the analysis,…

Most second language acquisition research has been concerned with grammar or phonology and has failed to discuss lexical acquisition. The main reason for this neglect has been the lack of vocabulary study by linguists. However, recent concern with semantic theory has brought new impetus to work on lexical acquisition. Useful research on lexical…

Language skill attrition refers to the loss of any language or portion of a language whether it be the declining use of mother tongue skills, the replacement of one language by another in language contact situations, the deterioration of language in the neurologically impaired or elderly, or the death of whole languages. In this paper, language…

Explanatory studies into second and foreign language education conducted from 1968 to 1977 in areas of the United States, Japan, and Australia are presented. Issues covered are: (1) the reason individuals study languages, (2) the relationship between language study and cultural awareness, (3) the discovery of cultural knowledge through…

This paper is one of ten that were commissioned to investigate research needs and to stimulate planning activities. Two underlying assumptions of this paper are that all Americans should have the opportunity to develop an ability to speak, read and write English well, and that all Americans should be encouraged to maintain or acquire a second…

The needs and challenges of intermediate-level language courses and the beneficial effects of authentic language experiences are considered, and five essays are presented which explore revitalization of the Classics and ways of introducing authentic language via film, theater, music, and student exchanges. "New contents" in second…

An approach to teaching the subjunctive in the foreign language classroom is presented here. Based primarily on the work of the linguist William Bull, the numerous and vague "rules" are reduced to two essential principles that determine subjunctive use. The materials consist of a sixteen-page teaching guide, an outline for student use,…

Knowledge of linguistics, a systematic understanding of language and languages, is a necessary qualification for language teachers. In language learning, a "mini-language" is constructed before fluency is approached. Interaction in the language is needed, and the teacher, as the partner in the interaction, must be able to work within the narrower…

This annotated bibliography on the teaching of modern foreign languages is the product of a West German information dissemination system that is similar to ERIC. The bibliography is published quarterly and lists items compiled in conjunction with the ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics as well as with a number of institutions all over…

A manual for use in training French and Spanish language examiners at the Foreign Service Institute is presented here. After a discussion of the history of the language proficiency test and of the testing procedure and evaluation techniques, the following topics are covered: (1) language proficiency ratings based on the absolute criterion of the…

Considerations for communicative competence instruction in second language courses are largely undefined as to exactly what topics of appropriate behavior or rules of social interaction should be included. Sociolinguistics can provide second language teachers with an abundance of analytical material regarding the underlying cultural implications…