This qualitative study examined the perspectives and experiences of seven focal families from Mexican immigrant backgrounds that participated in collaborative project-based learning in their children's bilingual classroom. Projects centered on children's experiential knowledge, and were created bilingually. Findings indicate that parents perceived…

First grade rural Mexican American children were tested to determine whether the use of a bilingual interpreter would significantly influence their Verbal, Performance, and Total IQ scores. Results indicate no significant differences. (Author)

Examines the phenomenon of code switching (when bilingual speakers use languages interchangeably) in Mexican-American first graders. Cites several reasons for code switching, and discusses implications for reading instruction. (MM)

Fifty poverty-level Mexican American bilingual children in first and fourth grade were tested for verbal facility in both English and Spanish to determine which language was dominant at the initial grade level and an advanced grade level. An East Los Angeles almost all of its students lived in the same Federal Housing project, thus ensuring low…

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENTAL (SUBCULTURAL) FACTORS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTELLECTUAL ABILITIES OF MEXICAN-AMERICANS WAS STUDIED. THE SAMPLE CONSISTED OF 80 FIRST-GRADERS AND THEIR FAMILIES. ASSIGNMENTS WERE MADE FOR COMPARISON OF THE SUBJECTS INTO EITHER A HIGH POTENTIAL GROUP OR A LOW POTENTIAL GROUP. ASSIGNMENTS WERE…

Based on a sample of 95 first- and second-grade children with a Spanish language orientation (SPLO), psychometric information is provided for a newly constructed auditory perception test designed for children who are attempting to acquire basic reading, writing, and oral skills in standard American English. (Author/CTM)

A STUDY TO DEVELOP INSTRUMENTS TO MEASURE CHILD BILINGUALISM AND BICULTURAL SOCIALIZATION WAS CONDUCTED IN DEL RIO, TEXAS, A MEXICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY IN WHICH SCHOOL IS TAUGHT IN BOTH SPANISH AND ENGLISH. THREE INSTRUMENTS WERE DEVELOPED--(1) A SERIES OF 6 TESTS FOR MEASURING LINGUISTIC COMPETENCE IN ENGLISH, (2) A SIMILAR SERIES OF 6 TESTS FOR…

Addressing the needs of Hispanic bilingual children with learning problems, the manual is arranged to help teach beginning students vowels and the concepts of shapes in a step-by-step manner based on Englemann's principles of direct instruction. Equivalent Spanish/English chapters are designed to teach pronunciation and identification of vowels…

The Armijo Bilingual Bicultural Demonstration Center has just completed its second year of operation. The program, which offers bilingual and bicultural instruction in an open classroom for 154 first and second graders, is funded chiefly through Elementary Secondary Education Act Title III funds. Students are taught reading skills, mathematical…

Evaluation of a bilingual-bicultural education program indicates that significant progress was made in enabling all students to function equally well in both Spanish and English, in providing basic coping skills, and in developing the basis for a pluralistic society. The program included 210 kindergarten and first-grade children consisting of…

A study to determine the effects of oral-aural teaching (intensive language instruction) techniques on pupils' gains in reading proficiency involved 1418 pupils. A sample of first graders and a sample of second graders were each subdivided into four groups. Group one was exposed to oral-aural teaching methods in English for the presentation of…

Conducted by doctoral students, the study analyzed 3-minute tapes of conversation between 16 Title VII first grade Mexican American students and teacher aides in the Weslaco Independent School District, Texas, to determine the percentage of standard vs. non-standard language, measure the percentage of code switching by aide, show the percentage of…

A controlled experiment was conducted in 1980 with 117 first graders in two Southwestern schools near the Mexican border to determine the effects of direct instruction in teaching bilingual Hispanic children to read. Direct instruction has been defined as using modeling, reinforcement, prompting, discrimination learning, and correction/feedback…

The degree to which Anglo- and Mexican-American first-grade teachers can accurately decode nonverbal indicants of comprehension and noncomprehension was examined. Teachers perceived boys as understanding more than girls. Slight cultural differences were found in children's behavior, but it did not affect teachers' interpretation. (JAZ)