The purpose of the study was to examine if there was a significant difference between first-grade English Learners (EL) who constitute a majority (greater than 50%) of the English language mainstream classroom (homogeneous grouping) and first-grade EL who constitute a minority (less than 50%) of the English language mainstream classrooms…

This report by the Center on Education Policy (CEP) looks at how local educators perceive and act on state policies designed to help at-risk students and English language learners (ELLs) achieve the levels of proficiency needed to pass state high school exit examinations and graduate. Our findings are based on data from school observations and…

Malaysia is currently reforming its education system in line with the government's Vision 2020. Key areas such as science and mathematics education are high on the agenda. However, as considerable world knowledge is written in English, Malaysian preservice teachers are being educated to teach these areas using English as the Medium of Instruction…

Engineering students in North American universities often participate in cooperative education placements in workplaces as part of the requirements for their degrees and professional certification. Students for whom English is an L2 often experience difficulties in these placements due to the fact that while their academic language ability may be…

This study investigated the relationship of first language (L1) skills in elementary school and second language (L2) learning in high school. Students classified as high-, average-, and low-proficiency L2 learners were compared on L1 achievement measures of reading, spelling, vocabulary, phonological awareness, and listening comprehension…

This report on language testing research focuses on lessons applied to limited English proficient (LEP) students and programs. First, a review of the history of primary and non-primary language testing is provided. The question of why there is no field of primary language testing is then discussed. The second major section of the report is a…

The traditional model of linguistic proficiency has been a monolingual one that ignores the worth of communicating in two languages in a single speech situation. An alternative view is explored in which the two languages are components of a single skill, communication. Segments of a Spanish language interview with a bilingual Mexican-American…

To evaluate the effectiveness of a traditional college English program, 100 incoming freshmen (Group A) were requested to postpone freshman English to their sophomore year; another 100 (Group B) were asked to postpone the first term to their sophomore year; another 100 (Group C) were asked to postpone their second term to the sophomore year; and…

An error analysis was conducted with materials published in Spanish in connection with an election in the U.S. Southwest. Most improprieties in the Spanish texts were found to be the result of an inadequate command of Spanish and lack of proficiency in translation skills. (Author/RM)

Children with language disorders experience problems in three dimensions of semantics: (1) content of content (reference, referents, concepts); (2) form of content (structural units of meaning); (3) use of content (functional variation in meaning). Teacher intervention strategies in each area (e.g., for problems of reference, sentence meaning,…

Reports on a study done to test the validity of the Test of Spoken English (TSE) in evaluating foreign nursing graduates. Results show that the TSE is a valid measure of oral proficiency in the nursing profession and that it is possible to establish professionally-based standards of proficiency. (SED)

Cautions against adapting the Interagency Language Roundtable and the ACTFL/ETS guidelines for specific purposes. Defines "hothouse special" as a second language learner who can impressively speak on one or two higher topics but fails to transfer this level of vocabulary and grammar to other topics. Proposes new definitions of proficiency,…

Discusses using redundancy in language as a means of facilitating second-language learning. (EKN)

Reports on study in which students of Hebrew as a second language took four versions of oral proficiency test. Results indicate that different speech styles and topics significantly affected students' scores, and correlational analyses between pairs pointed to low reliability and lack of stability of the test. Urges caution in making decisions…

This survey was developed in 1991 by Marilyn Gillespie, David Spener, and JoAnn Crandall at the Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL), and was used for a 2-year project with funding from the National Center for Adult Literacy, established at the University of Pennsylvania by the U.S. Department of Education. The survey was used to collect…