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…

The purpose of this study was to test the effects of bilingual and monolingual school on the production of Spanish syntactic structures. The main hypothesis to be tested was that there was no significant difference in the development of Spanish syntactic structures between those children schooled bilingually and those children schooled…

Of the 47,000 bilingual pupils enrolled in the Chicago public schools, 39,000 were Spanish speaking. Many of these Spanish speaking students were in special bilingual programs. The success of one of these bilingual programs was evaluated by comparing two groups of Mexican American elementary pupils in the same school. One group was comprised of 14…

Study of 122 9th- and 10th-grade Latino high school students examined the relationship of language brokering (informal interpreting for immigrant parents) to academic performance, biculturalism, academic self-efficacy, and social self-efficacy. Results showed positive relationships, with academic self-efficacy being the strongest predictor of…

This study describes rules of code-switching (choice between languages) in four six-year-old Spanish/English bilinguals in a school setting, to show that bilingualism is a sociolinguistic competency. Data included 306 episodes of situational code-switches and 64 episodes of conversational code-switches. The children consistently applied the…

A number of issues related to the production of literacy materials for the Chicano children of New Mexico are discussed. First, a historical survey gives some idea of the way in which instructional materials available for use with Spanish-speaking children have contributed to cultural estrangement and alienation from their own particular home and…

This report on the use of the Spanish language in the United States discusses the Spanish-speaking population, the language itself, and bilingual education in the United States. The background about the Spanish-speaking population includes the following topics: (1) "A Nations of Immigrants," (2) "The Population of the…

INCLUDED IN THIS DOCUMENT ARE THE RATIONALE AND OUTLINE OF THE "LINGUA PLAN," A BILINGUAL EDUCATION PROGRAM DEVELOPED BY THE STAFF OF THE GALTON INSTITUTE TO IMPROVE THE PRIMARY EDUCATION OF MEXICAN AMERICAN CHILDREN WHO ENTER KINDERGARTEN WITH LITTLE OR NO KNOWLEDGE OF ENGLISH. THE MAJOR PURPOSE OF PROJECT LINGUA IS TO DETERMINE WHETHER (1)…

The study prepared reading tests in the children's first language, Spanish, that initially considered their comprehension of the language and subsequently evaluated their skill in drawing inferences or pertinent information from the material read. Two reading comprehension tests (Forms A and B) were constructed, using two different excerpts from…

Bilingual schooling in the U.S. is meant to equalize educational opportunity for children of limited English-speaking ability. Despite the proliferation of bilingual programs in many parts of the country, only very modest progress is being made toward the goal of equal educational achievement. We are coming to realize that limited English-speaking…

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of initial consonants, especially /s/, on the pluralization of English nouns by both native English- and native Spanish-speaking first grade pupils. A test instrument consisting of nonsense syllable trigrams was constructed based on linguistic descriptions of English noun pluralization.…

Educational needs of Mexican-Americans in the Fresno City Unified School District are assessed as part of PROJECT DESIGN, funded under ESEA Title III. Representative cross-sections of both the Mexican-American and non-Mexican-American populations of Fresno were contacted. Individuals interviewed in groups and individually totalled 153. The sample…

This paper attempts to place bilingual schooling in a sociolinguistic context by relating language use in school to language use in the community. The city treated here, Redwood City, California, has a growing Mexican American population and was one of the 23 California cities selected for bilingual schooling through Title VII; programs were…

Presents the personal narrative of a Mexican immigrant mother who reports her dilemma and frustration when attempting to assist in her child's classroom. Highlights the obstacles mothers face when they seek to become actively involved in their children's classrooms, and challenges educators to seriously consider what is meant by parent…

A study investigated the effectiveness of a Cooperative Integrated Reading and Composition (CIRC) program in an elementary school bilingual classroom with exclusively Mexican-American students (n=35). Because cooperative learning strategies are based on peer interaction and participants contributing to the common goal, the videotaped interactions…