A group of college-level Spanish students received metacognitive awareness raising--a single session that, by means of brainstorming, involved students in developing a general awareness of language learning strategies. Final course grades were compared across control and experimental groups, revealing significantly higher scores for the latter.…

Presents the sources and solutions of listening-comprehension anxiety as reported by foreign-language students and discusses the pedagogical implications that relate to the results. (Author/VWL)

Presents the successful efforts of an English-as-a-Second-Language teacher to teach English to students in Puerto Rico. The article describes strategies to deal with the students' defensive feelings of nationalism and hostility towards the dominant white culture. These strategies focused on breaking down cultural barriers and validating the local…

Investigated British university students who worked as English monitors in an "Enjoy English" program in Spain. Assessed the monitors attitudes toward Spain, the Spanish people, motivation to learn Spanish, adjustment to Spanish culture, self-ratings of Spanish proficiency, and supervisors ratings of their personalities and success as…

A study examined how 50 bilingual fourth-graders utilized cognitive reading strategies to enhance comprehension of expository texts in Spanish and transfer strategic reading behaviors to English reading. Results indicate that strategic behaviors in the native language undergirded second-language reading behaviors and were more important in that…

Based on the construct of "language-related episodes" (Swain & Lapkin, 1998) and Vygotsky's (1934/1986) notions of scaffolding and private speech, this investigation explores student interaction during a formalized assessment task. The purpose of this qualitative study was twofold: first, to analyze the small-group quiz interaction that took place…

Efforts at improving fieldwork supervision during internship have largely focused on the role of university supervisors and intern teachers. Thus students' perceptions of the instructional practices are not systematically collected, analyzed and discussed in such a way that insights from students' perceptions can inform fieldwork supervision. This…

This study investigated the effects of two types of bilingual programs (two-way and transitional) on the academic performance and attitudes of fifth-grade students who entered kindergarten or first grade with different levels of English proficiency. A mixed methods design with both quantitative and qualitative data collection and analyses phases…

Based on the premise that teachers gain useful insights by considering what students notice when evaluating a written text, this pilot project reports on the implementation of an evaluative activity with one group of students and considers the implications of the results for classroom practice. Thirteen students in a university-level Spanish…

The three issues of this newsletter published during 1990 contain the following articles: "You Can't Run before You Learn To Walk" (Jose Manuel Ventura); "The Truth about Police Torture" (J. Maya R.); "A Student's Testimony"; "Voices from the Community" (Gabriel Ramirez and Others); "Books and Authors" (Jose Hunter); "You and Your Health" (Arnaldo…

This article describes how second language learners become more autonomous in the language learning process, how the cooperative learning strategy helps improve the learning outcome, and how second language learners apply learning strategies to learning tasks both in the classroom and outside of the classroom. Three activities were offered:…

This study investigated the beliefs about language learning held by secondary school students of French, German, Latin, and Spanish at five levels of instruction. Subjects were 447 students aged 11-18 years. Survey questions concerned language learning strategies and patterns, personal motivation for language learning, language aptitude, and the…

With some imagination, songs can be used to teach all aspects of foreign language. The language teacher can take advantage of the cultural content of songs by playing holiday music during the appropriate season; explaining the traditions and history of songs; discussing songs with cultural flavor; presenting a variety of music types; and…

This report evaluates the first year of a project implemented in the Dallas (Texas) Independent School District for the purpose of improving English language skills of limited English speakers (LEPs) through the use of their native language (Spanish) and computer-assisted instruction. The achievement scores and gains of LEP and non LEP seventh and…

The study identified the barriers which prevent application, matriculation, and/or completion of allied health postsecondary education programs by blacks, Spanish-surnamed Americans, and Native Americans and recommended means of reducing or eliminating the barriers. Only those barriers which could be resolved or reduced through programs of public…