Presents various viewpoints on dual language acquisition by children. These include native language foundation, first-language monolinguals' vocabulary development, second-language learning, simultaneous acquisition strategies, television as a source of language learning, functions of language in discourse, analysis of conversation, syntax and…

Describes how a principled ESP approach has been applied to computer-assisted language learning (CALL). A case study illustrates the job-seeking skills package. The needs analysis process is detailed; a synthesis of the language-centered, learning-centered approach to course design is outlined; and the exploitation of an authoring program is…

Describes and analyzes the perceptions and reactions of a well-qualified, positively oriented primary-school English teacher to Hong Kong's target-oriented curriculum (TOC) initiative, a major government-sponsored innovation. The analysis encompasses teacher attitudes, teacher training and support, teachers' understanding of an innovation, teacher…

Equal educational opportunity for all students has long been a goal of public education in the United States. Realizing equality of educational opportunity for English language learners (ELLs), however, has proven to be a difficult task. This article examines 1 high school community's perception of educational opportunity and its approach to…

This article reports on a 5-year study of a technology-enhanced educational reform initiative at a university in eastern China. A faculty team attempted pedagogical and curricular reform to better prepare English majors to use new technologies for international communication, collaboration, and research. The team developed several project-based…

A bilingual model has been applied to educating deaf students who are learning American Sign Language (ASL) as their first language and written English as a second. Although Cummins's (1984) theory of second language learning articulates how learners draw on one language to acquire another, implementing teaching practices based on this theory,…

This paper examines variables such as linguistic ability in the target language, schemata, and psychological factors affecting the English language reading success or failure of a 31-year-old Thai graduate student in the information system program at a U.S. university. The subject's self-assessment of reading, speaking, and listening in Thai was…

A study examining the classroom English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) learning experience of six language-minority children from kindergarten through fourth grade is reported in a case study of one child, a native speaker of Punjabi, in her kindergarten class. Data were gathered, using ethnographic methods, in classroom observation, some videotaped…

A study explored the relevance of acculturation theory to language fossilization in the advanced stages of second language learning. Case studies of two native Japanese speakers with long experience living in an English-speaking environment are examined. First, the model of acculturation is outlined: it proposes that socio-psychological factors,…

The following papers on acquisition of reading skills are included: (1) "Miscue Analysis and Future Research Directions" (Goodman); (2) "Reading in Spanish: Insights from Children's Miscues" (Barrera); (3) "An Investigation of the Oral Reading Behaviors of Native Spanish Speakers Reading in Spanish" (Hudelson); (4) "A Study of Oral Reading in…

This 1999 observational study provided a school district with clear information about the experience of immigrant students in two elementary English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) models, giving administrators, teachers, and school board members a window into the daily classroom life of ESL students. This program evaluation involving observational…

Defends the full transfer/full access (FT/FA) model, which hypothesizes that the initial state of second-language (L2) acquisition is the final state of L1 acquisition (full transfer) and failure to assign a representation to input data will force subsequent restructuring. The article considers two other competing hypotheses as well as several…

The action research case study of the introduction of a Somali refugee child to a London (England) primary school illustrates the importance of finding ways to communicate with the child, who spoke no English, and preparing the other students to accept cultural and linguistic difference. (SLD)

Describes an investigation into the type of listening test that might serve as an assessment instrument of English language teachers as part of a teacher certification test--the Hong Kong English Language Benchmark Test. Highlights a case study where groups of preservice and inservice English language teachers were administered audio and video…

Examines peer and teacher feedback offered to individual writers, using data from a qualitative study into the effects of feedback on English-as-Second-Language writers. Focuses on two cases of two students whose use of feedback and interactions with their teachers raise questions relating to the ownership of their writing and revision processes.…