Writing for the BBC World Service "Short Story" Program provides English as a second language students with the necessary conditions for "authentic writing," namely authentic and communicative writing practice, encouragement of language acquisition, and improvement of the teacher student relationship. (CB)

The creative writing of English poetry by English as a second language college students helps them to: overcome initial psychological inhibitions to language learning; stimulate interest and involvement in study; develop a means of self-expression; and prepare for study in other areas. (Author/CB)

Describes and analyzes more than 75 years of research on the relationship between bilingualism and scholastic performance. Emphasizes studies of particular interest to educators, explains apparent contradictions in the research, and makes recommendations for policies with regard to bilingual and foreign language programs. (JHZ)

"EFF HOT (Highlights on Teaching Topics) Topics" is a publication of the EFF (Equipped for the Future) Center for Training and Technical Assistance. Each issue concentrates on a specific topic, highlighting examples of actual practice and offering strategies and tools for using EFF in the classroom. This issue of "HOT Topics"…

If literacy is defined as the ability to read and write, in the context of Hong Kong, literacy is more commonly known as language proficiency. The introduction of the Hong Kong Extensive Reading Scheme in English (HKERS) in 1991 aimed to motivate the students to read and thus enhance their English proficiency. Yet, as of 2001, after a decade since…

Throughout the 1990s, legislation increasingly required programs receiving federal funding to be more accountable for what they did. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2002 further emphasized the levels of accountability to ensure student success in schools. For limited English proficient (LEP) education, these requirements have intensified the…

This report presents data on Asian and Pacific Islander Americans (APIAs), focusing on California. It discusses: who APIAs are; nativity and citizenship; residence (nearly all APIAs reside in metropolitan areas, particularly California); educational attainment (because of the model minority myth about Asians, APIA children are deprived of…

Rauding theory states that two factors, accuracy and rate, explain nearly all the variance in the general reading ability of American schoolchildren (Carver, 1999). Using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and regression, this dissertation investigated to what extent the Rauding model could be applied to 92 Japanese university aged young adults…

A study evaluated the overall evaluative validity of the Four Skills Exam, a Spanish language proficiency test designed to ensure that bilingual education teachers in New Mexico can meet Spanish language demands in the bilingual education classroom. The test's construct validity was limited for several reasons. In designing a test capturing…

This document is a comprehensive, annotated series of resource lists designed to assist in selecting resources for the senior high English as a Second Language (ESL) program. This source book is divided into five levels. Level 1 is intended for students who are acquiring literacy for the first time or who have had significant gaps in previous…

Articles in this special issue include the following: "Learning to Write in a Second Language: Two Decades of Research" (Alister Cumming); "Some Steps Towards a Socio-Cognitive Interpretation of Second Language Composition Processes" (Julio Delarios Roca, Liz Murphy Liz); "Trends in the Conceptualizations of Second Language Composing Strategies: A…

This collection of papers reports research on the effects of bilingual learning on the ability to speak two languages and the ability to acquire full literacy in both. There are 12 chapters in 4 parts. Part 1, "Background," includes (1) "Assessing the Effects of Bilingualism: A Background" (D. Kimbrough Oller and Barbara Zurer…

This digest discusses the contextual factors that affect students' learning of a second language. These individual, social, and societal factors can be considered from the perspective of the language, the learner, and the learning process. These perspectives are discussed as they relate to learning any second language, with a particular focus on…

This paper reports on the results of a small-scale survey of the attitudes of instructors of non-language subjects towards the use of English as a medium of instruction in Turkish universities, where Turkish is the native language of the great majority of the students. The sample of this study consisted of 100 instructors at the universities in…

Describes difficulties encountered by an Intensive English Language Program staff and students in negotiating the transition from a predominantly structure-based syllabus to a communication-based one. Explains how the new syllabus compromises between the two approaches, gradually increasing emphasis on communicative activities as proficiency…