This manual was written to encourage and aid Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and their affiliates to respond to the official English movement that is currently raging in the United States. It includes a copy of the 1987 "TESOL Resolution on Language Rights." Specific articles include: (1) "A Brief History…

Assessing and treating bilingual children with speech and language disorders is difficult given the relative paucity of data on the speech and language skills of typically developing bilingual children and those with speech and language disorders. The purpose of this article is to review the research that is available with regard to clinical…

Among Gaelic-English bilinguals in East Sunderland, Scotland, code choice is made according to interlocutor. When the chosen code is Gaelic, the community norm for rendering direct quotations within a narrative is to produce them in Gaelic, regardless of which language was used originally or whether the quoted person is capable of speaking Gaelic.…

A review of the status of research on literacy concludes that vagueness and ambiguity of definition, measurement, methodology, and evaluation continue to grip the large body of literacy research, debates, and programs, with the underlying assumptions made about the concept of monolingual societies resulting in overly simplified and speculative…

French second language instruction in Australian schools is seen as endangered by political and economic forces favoring other "priority" languages. Arguments in favor of continued French language instruction are presented. (MSE)

Bilingual education research methods should incorporate a multilevel model of pupils, classrooms, and schools and consider various cognitive and noncognitive outcome variables focusing on progress rather than attainment to determine not whether bilingual education is more effective than monolingual instruction but which aspects of bilingual…

Semantic theory, its relationship to comprehension, the nature and function of semantic memory, and results of some research on semantic memory and bilinguals are discussed through a review of recent literature. The findings discussed seem to confirm these general observations regarding semantic memory and bilinguals: (1) there is integration and…

Central concerns in the movement to make English the official language of the United States are reviewed, publications and activities of two major organizations supporting it are compared, and basic assumptions and directions of the movement are criticized. (21 references) (MSE)

The role of bilingualism in reading difficulties is explored in the areas of: categories and variations in bilingualism; misinterpretation of standardized reading test results; and diagnostic-prescriptive issues. Particular case studies are presented. (JN)

Linguistic and cognitive assessment of children whose home language is not English involves a number of complex issues: minority labeling, the relationship between cognition and bilingualism, "normal" data on bilingual development, and monolingual versus bilingual environment for children experiencing delay. This paper concentrates on reviewing…

Neuroimaging studies have suggested that across different written languages, skilled reading behavior is supported by similar, largely left hemisphere (LH), networks. In addition, recent studies of reading disability (RD) in monolingual readers, conducted in several languages, suggest a common neurobiological signature for this syndrome…

Understandings of the ways home and school languages shape classroom dynamics and influence development, identity, and subsequent school success are important for teachers of both bilingual and African American students. This article builds a link between these complementary bodies of research by analyzing interactions in a second grade mainstream…

Research on education in Canada, the United States, the Philippines, and Ireland suggests that bilingual education of a pluralist character neither depresses nor enhances performance in English or in non-language subjects. Decisions to promote bilingual education are often based on social demands. (f=fiche numbers). (CP)

Reviews salient historical events and selected factors that reveal views on bilingualism in the United States from precolonial times to the present. Identifies patterns of attitudes toward bilingualism, and summarizes factors associated with various patterns in an effort to understand current controversy over bilingualism. Contains 42 references.…

The idea that bilingualism causes cognitive damage to children is no longer held by researchers, but it lingers in popular belief. It is based on the assumption that language is central to cognitive development, which is not held by all theorists. Another theoretical issue is whether the mind is a limited-capacity container or can accommodate two…