The evidence gathered in the present study supports the use of the simultaneous development of test items for different languages. The simultaneous approach used in the present study involved writing an item in one language (e.g., French) and, before moving to the development of a second item, translating the item into the second language (e.g.,…

Background/Context: In September 2007, the Arizona State Board of Education adopted the Structured English Immersion (SEI) model proposed by the Arizona English Language Learner (ELL) Task Force.During the 2008-2009 academic year, it required all school districts to implement the SEI model.The SEI program, best known as the 4-hour English Language…

This study examines the social construction of proficiency and the discursive practices prevalent in linguistically diverse schools that afford or constrain participation in language learning communities. Drawing from discourse studies, positioning theory and a sociocultural framework, this study analyzed data from audio recordings and…

This discussion emphasizes the importance of collaborative learning methods to compensate for the legal restrictions placed on school districts by Arizona's anti-bilingual education law, Proposition 203. Grounded in Vygotsky's sociocultural theory of learning, peerlingual education is described as an invaluable resource based on the linguistic…

Chapter 3: This study investigated the effects of a new, Spanish two-way immersion program on first through third grade students' English and Spanish proficiency. All students were from an urban, high-poverty community in the Midwest that is English dominant, in a predominantly Anglo state. English-speakers in the two-way immersion program score…

A new program for core French teacher candidates called FLAGS (French Language and Global Studies) was established at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 2007. The program is intended for those who are keen to teach core French and possess rudimentary proficiency in the language but may not necessarily have the same proficiency or prior…

It is generally believed that study abroad (SA) is the most efficient and successful way to acquire proficiency in a second language (L2). SA is a crucial component of students' second language acquisition (SLA) process, for it puts them in situations in which they can use the language on a daily basis and interact with native speakers. More than…

This study explores No Child Left Behind's required timetable for English language learners (ELLs) to reach English language proficiency within five years, as outlined in the Annual Measurable Achievement Outcomes (AMAOs), despite the lack of research evidence to support this as a reasonable expectation. Analysis was conducted on the archived data…

Bilingual education is introduced in many Chinese colleges today. A number of studies on bilingual education have been done, but few has significant outcome. From a completely new perspective, the author suggests that there are several major obstacles limiting the development of the new trend, i.e., the limited competent faculty, limited…

This study reports on the measured proficiency-referenced learning outcomes during study abroad of a large, multi-institutional cohort (N=1,881) of U.S. students of Russian who have undertaken intensive language study on ACTR-administered formal language study programs at Russian universities for periods of 2, 4, and 9 months over the course of…

In this study, I investigate how French immersion students in two junior high schools in Alberta see themselves in Canadian society. The data come from three years of ethnographic research that included classroom observations and 94 interviews with students, teachers, administrators, and parents. This study shows how French immersion students do…

This research study evaluates the effectiveness of a Spanish-English dual language immersion (DLI) program. Many researchers have found that high-quality and long-term DLI programs promote academic achievement and high levels of language proficiency for both language groups. Despite the evidence, leaders from the field of bilingual education have…

In a Grade 9 core French class, the teacher designed a multi-stage project in which students composed original children's stories in French; illustrated their stories to produce picture books; then, in groups, adapted one group member's story into a play script; and, finally, dramatized the scripts for children from the local French immersion…

As classrooms across the U.S. are becoming increasingly more multilingual and multicultural, there is a need for research that provides insight into literacy instruction that builds on students' linguistic knowledge. The qualitative study of a fourth-grade dual-language classroom examined the ways that peer mediation in Spanish and English…

Purpose: To examine how age of immersion and proficiency in a 2nd language influence speech movement variability and speaking rate in both a 1st language and a 2nd language. Method: A group of 21 Bengali-English bilingual speakers participated. Lip and jaw movements were recorded. For all 21 speakers, lip movement variability was assessed based on…