This book presents an outline of the historical development of English in Africa. The book covers all the major aspects of English in separate chapters, but aims at demonstrating how closely these aspects are intertwined. The differences in the historical impact of the English language in different regions are reflected in present sociolinguistic…

This report discusses the role and status in China of the English language, the main foreign language in the country. The following topics are outlined: (1) The prevalence of English as a foreign language; (2) English within the educational system at preprimary through postsecondary levels, in preservice and inservice teacher training, in…

This monograph presents language factors related to bilingualism, to assist educators to distinguish normal phenomena due to bilingualism from symptoms of a handicapping condition. The first section, called "The Nature of Bilingualism," discusses the diversity of bilingual students and their dynamic use of two languages, focusing on simultaneous…

Seventy-one subjects (22 English monolinguals, 23 Spanish monolinguals, and one bilingual group comprised of 19 Spanish-dominant and 7 English-dominant bilinguals) were assessed by means of the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery and the Woodcock-Johnson Language Proficiency Battery at the beginning of kindergarten and first grade. These…

Numerous instruments used by school districts to assess language dominance are not designed to determine either language dominance or proficiency. Nor do they yield sufficient data for appropriate program placement. One example of such an instrument is the Del Rio Language Screening Test (DRLST), designed to screen children of three to seven years…

This study investigates whether Mexican Americans have a different cerebral specialization for native language than for second language as measured by visual shift. The possibility of a different cerebral arrangement for each language has implications for educators. The relation between cerebral arrangement and cognitive style entails…

In both diagnostic procedures and in program prescriptions, this book attempts to deal with the problem of the Hispanic child who speaks no Spanish and who, in fact, may be discouraged from learning Spanish by parents who mistakenly feel they are helping the child make a quicker transition to the dominant culture. The first three chapters present…

Regulations adopted in 1977 by the Alaska State Board of Education governing bilingual-bicultural education in Alaska are presented. The procedure for the initial identification of language dominance in students is set forth. Obligations of school districts toward their non-English-speaking students are detailed. Parental and community involvement…

Because of the recent Lau vs. Nichols decision by the Supreme Court, school districts will be looking for various instruments to determine language functionality in bilingual students. Nine tests are reviewed: the Leiter International Performance Scale (LIPS), the Michigan Oral Language Productive Tests Structured Response, the Michigan Oral…

A study investigated whether teaching techniques and the use of self-evaluation tended to increase student motivation and second language proficiency. Subjects were 59 high school Honors Spanish 4 students with varying levels of academic ability, motivation, and proficiency, and included both non-native and English-dominant Spanish speakers. The…

A sample of 236 elementary-level Black, Hispanic, and Anglo pupils, referred or nonreferred for learning disabilities, were assessed with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised and the Kaufman-Assessment Battery for Children cognitive and achievement scales. Results showed that referral status, ethnicity, and language proficiency…

The usefulness of kindergarten screening methods in predicting first grade achievement was studied in 246 children with English or Spanish as the home language. Results support the hypothesis that the predictive validity of kindergarten measures varied as a function of the predominant language in the home. (SLD)

Fundamental issues in language policy and planning are discussed: language death, language survival, language change, language revival, language shift and expansion, language contact and pidginization or creolization, and literacy development. (Contains 21 references.) (LB)

Describes the English-only effort in the Territory of Hawaii that typified the Americanization crusade that swept the United States during and after World War I. Asserts that, although the Americanizers focused on southern and eastern Europeans on the mainland, the focus on Japanese in Hawaii added overtones of racial and political discrimination.…

The notion of language dominance is often defined in terms of proficiency. We distinguish dominance, as a property of the bilingual mind and a concept of language knowledge, from proficiency, as a concept of language use. We discuss ways in which language dominance may be assessed, with a focus on measures of mean length of utterance (MLU).…