To determine the normal sequence of the development of Spanish phonology and Spanish grammatical patterns in the speech of native Spanish speakers, ages 2-5, a study of the acquisition of interrogative formation was undertaken. Two male and two females from each of nine age intervals between two and five were selected as informants; all were…

The purpose of this study, which is based on a survey of 116 Hispanic organizations in the United States, is threefold: (1) to explore the organizational background characteristics that might distinguish linguistically retentive from non-retentive organizations; (2) to determine whether there is any differential/ non-differential interest in…

Objectives, organization, and teaching strategies for adult Spanish-English bilingual education programs are discussed. It is maintained that these programs exist on a continuum; the position of a particular program on the continuum will be determined by the learning needs of the students vis-a-vis English skills on the one hand and knowledge of…

The marked increase in the number of Hispanic bicultural students entering American colleges and universities has created new dilemmas for teachers of beginning and intermediate Spanish. In addition to the difficulties occasioned by new cultural perspectives, both student and teacher are faced with the problem of remodeling the classroom program…

Austin's 5-year Title VII project was intended to improve the achievement of elementary students in the following areas: oral language proficiency, knowledge of basic concepts, reading ability in Spanish, and proficiency in English reading and math. Results indicated that program participants gained in knowledge of basic concepts at the…

Two experiments conducted at the University of Texas at Austin are discussed in this paper. One experiment deals with the production of final syllable lengthening and stress in Spanish and English by native Spanish speakers learning English. The other experiment deals with judgments about the Spanish speakers' production of English by native…

A study of bilingual development in preschool children had two components: (1) a followup of a previous study in which the English and Spanish language development of children in a high-quality bilingual preschool remained stable over time, and (2) a replication of the study with a different cohort. The original study found that native…

This paper examines ways that Hispanic culture can be dealt with in Spanish as a foreign language for business. First, rationales for teaching culture are offered, ranging from the abstract observation that knowledge of culture is a required part of a humanistic education, to the more pragmatic need of businesses for representatives who are fluent…

This paper discusses the theory, research, and practice of communication in Spain, from the perspective of language, political economy, and culture. The peoples of the Iberian Peninsula and surrounding islands communicate in a rich variety of languages. In the electronic age, communication has shifted away from the print media to the spoken media,…

It has been reported (Terrell 1974) that in Cuban Spanish word-final /s/ aspiration is generally not affected by grammatical constraints, except for determiners in prevocalic environments. However, deletion of /s/, according to Terrell, is correlated with morphological classes and grammatical function, and is constrained by functional…

In order to determine whether differences in choice of ethnic self-referent by Mexican-Americans reflect differences in ethnic identity and attitudes toward their culture, questionnaires were distributed among Mexican-Americans living in San Antonio. The measurable cultural attitude was that toward language, since to the Mexican-American Spanish…

Language switching (language alternation, code switching), the rapid alternation from one language to another, may or may not convey more than the cognitive significance of the message. Linguists have demonstrated the metaphorical or connotative significance of switching, but have not fully discussed the various forms switching takes. The present…

A study investigated the hypothesis that children learning Spanish as a first language learn rules for assigning stress, as opposed to simply memorizing stress for individual words. The subjects were 50 Spanish-speaking preschool children. In one portion of the experiment, they imitated sets of 2, 3, or 4 Spanish nonsense words that were…

Because of the pressures of modernization and other cultural factors, freshmen students at the University of the Sacred Heart in Puerto Rico lack basic communication skills in both Spanish and English. At present, there is no composition course in Spanish at the college, and the basic Spanish textbook currently in use reflects attitudes on…

In discussion of assessment and its applicability to the needs of the Spanish-speaking student population, four types of assessments are presented in the context of the educationally significant testing needed in this area. The focus of this paper is on the use of comprehensive assessment to measure the repertoire of language resources that the…