This case study explored Spanish-speaking educators' perceptions and experiences of dual-language immersion (DLI) professional learning (PL). The study aimed to understand how PL offerings could best support and meet the needs of DLI Spanish teachers' best practices in the target language. The perceptions and experiences of seven Spanish DLI…

As a Latina teaching educator in a global city where the majority of public school children come from Spanish-speaking homes (ECS, 2013), I push the boundaries of what is "possible, plausible and desirable" (Pickering, 2006), guided by the moral imperative that I can and must make a difference in the lives of children, through the adults…

For many reasons second language vocabulary learning and teaching continues to be a topic of interest for learners, instructors, and researchers. This article describes the implementation of personal glossaries in a community program offering English as second language classes to Latina/o Spanish speaking adults. Field notes, interviews, and…

The goal of this study was to compare the literacy skills of adult native English and native Spanish ABE speakers. Participants were 169 native English speakers and 124 native Spanish speakers recruited from five prior research projects. The results showed that the native Spanish speakers were less skilled on morphology and passage comprehension…

The Hispanic population has become the largest ethnic minority group in the United States. To successfully incorporate this population in adult vocational training, social service, and health programs, it is essential that programs design and implement materials at a reading level appropriate for the population served. This study determines the…

This study examines the effects of learning context and age on second language development by comparing the language gains, measured in terms of oral and written fluency, lexical and syntactic complexity, and accuracy, experienced by four groups of learners of English: children in a study abroad setting, children in their at-home school, adults in…

This study investigated the relationship of first language (L1) grammatical knowledge to English second language reading (ESLR), with the objective of understanding this relationship in the context of the transfer of L1 skills to second language (L2) academic processes. Fifty-five adult, native Spanish-speaking English-language learners were given…

In a study of adult speakers of Spanish learning English, English and Spanish stress assignment is examined. Results are discussed in terms of the proper domain for extrametricality and the transfer of first-language extrametricality markings. (17 references) (Author/LB)

Described in this paper is a writing strategy used in English-as-a-second-language (ESL) classes for Spanish-speaking adult immigrants in a Washington, D.C. center that goes beyond the standard ESL textbook reading/writing exercises to involve students in the writing process. The teacher wrote a brief text in the first person on a topic of…

A case study addressed (1) the relationship between language ability and the use of top-level organizational strategies that focus on the macrostructure of written text, and (2) the comparative use of these strategies when reading expository texts in native language (L1) and second language (L2). Subjects were five Hispanic English as a second…

A study examined whether written language in general and dialog journal writing in particular is the preferred vehicle for syntactic acquisition of some adult learners. Subjects were five adult English-as-second-language (ESL) students, all literate in their first language, which was Spanish. Subjects were observed over a period of 16 weeks.…

The results of two studies describing the strategies and attitudes of adult learners of English as a Second Language (ESL) are reported. The first study compared two groups of high/intermediate students (n=94) taking ESL in two settings, a traditional university and community extension classes. The second study examined intermediate and advanced…

Seven 1979 innovative programs in continuing education are described which won awards from the American College Testing Program and the National University Extension Association. Awards were granted according to programs' transferability, innovativeness, workability, and impact in one of four categories: instructional programs, student services…

Petra Rodriguez, a middle-aged Spanish-speaking migrant woman without reading skills, made it clear when interviewed about reading, that she felt it to be the responsibility of literate people to teach illiterate people how to read. The researcher, as part of another project, arranged for tutoring in the woman's home and discovered that the…