The U.S. job market increasingly seeks culturally responsive, multilingual employees a goal poorly aligned with U.S. higher education policies. This paper reviews recent K-16 enrollment in foreign language courses, with a focus on higher education. The individual and societal case for foreign language immersion throughout the educational pipeline…

Discusses the author's experience as director of the Program in English as a Second Language (ESL) at Lehman College of the City University in the Bronx, New York. ESL, bilingual, and mainstream (ie., curricula that assume English proficiency) programs should be better coordinated to meet their common goal. (BJV)

While much has been done in the area of bilingual education since Title VII was passed in 1968, some changes in the direction of programs should be made. Advances have occurred in systematizing curriculum development, producing more materials, developing teacher competencies, and generating greater interest in bilingual education. However,…

A survey investigating public beliefs about teaching methods of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) and bilingual education is reported. An introductory section chronicles the political history of ESL and bilingual education in the United States, describes major program designs, and reviews literature on public opinion concerning these programs.…

Searching for additional bilingual-crosscultural teachers, the California State University (CSU) system plans to combine teacher education and the CSU International Programs approach. Basic elements of this program are: (1) intensive study of Spanish and immersion in a Spanish-speaking milieu; (2) a living experience in the Mexican culture; (3) a…

This paper addresses the ecology of communicative language teaching (CLT) by reflecting on the Singapore experience. It reviews how CLT was conceptualized, advocated and implemented in stages/phases as reflected in the different syllabuses by the Ministry of Education, Singapore. In anchoring the discussion against a historical backdrop and…

The concept of cultural pluralism and how it is being applied to education, particularly in terms of its implications for Asian/Pacific Americans, is addressed in this paper. First, historical background to the emergence of cultural pluralism as a concept in education (and its institutionalization as multicultural education) is briefly reviewed.…

The current growth of interest in intercultural communication skills may be poorly directed. Unlike TESOL programs, bilingual and intercultural communication programs are designed to promote knowledge and experience in more than one language culture. Bilingual education's transformation into a program directed not at promoting true bilingualism,…

This paper reviews the results of a survey of institutions of higher education which offer coursework focusing on Japanese Americans and emphasizes the program in Japanese American Studies at San Francisco State University. The results showed a distribution of twenty-eight courses offered at fifteen institutions in California, Washington and…

The Alternative Services To Raise Achievement (ASTRA) program at the Greater Hartford (Connecticut) Community College is designed to supply developmental and other services to students with academic potential who are in need of such services to complete their education. The program's structure is intended to meet the diverse needs of students;…

This paper contains nineteen resolutions adopted by the National Association for Asian and Pacific American Education (NAAPAE). The resolutions concern (1) the maintenance of Asian/Pacific American linguistic and cultural traditions by educational institutions, (2) the support of Asian/Pacific American studies programs, (3) NAAPAE support of…

Education policies of the European Commission and the Council of Europe stress the importance of cultural and language diversity. A white book by the European Commission on education and training recommends that every European citizen be able to communicate in at least 3 of the 12 officially recognized languages of the European Union by the end of…

Despite the fact that the majority of the world's population speaks mother tongues other than English, about a third of their number use English as a second or an alternative official or commercial language. English is also the language of available information, of international communication (such as air- and sea-speak), and of computer…

Teacher training is examined from two viewpoints: (1) how bilingual teacher education has evolved over the years; and (2) what all teachers, especially bilingual and English-as-a-Second-Language teachers, should know and be able to do when working with language minority, culturally different students. The first part of the paper describes the…

This paper argues that if bidialectal education is to be seriously contemplated for Aboriginal Australians, it should be considered with more than the surface structures of dialectal difference. Bidialectal education programs must be underpinned by an understanding of the meanings carried by Aboriginal English and the processes of interpretation…