Mac Avoy, James; Sidles, Craig (1987). Navajo Adolescents Scores on a Primary Language Questionnaire, the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM) and the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS): A Correlational Study. Educational and Psychological Measurement, v47 n3 p703-09 Fall. Bilingual Navajo adolescents aged 14-16 were administered the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM) and Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS). Correlations were moderate and were higher for females than for males. Norms were established for adolescent Navajos on the RSPM, a nonverbal test of intelligence and visual reasoning. (Author/GDC)…

Brutten, Sheila R.; Perkins, Kyle (1983). The Effects of Word Frequency and Contextual Richness on ESL Students' Word Identification Abilities. Journal of Research in Reading, v6 n2 p119-28 Sep. Concludes that a significantly higher proportion of a word was needed by all adult ESL students to identify low-frequency words than high-frequency words, and a significant difference existed in the proportion of a word needed by all subjects for identification in poor, moderate, and rich contexts. (FL)…

(2004). Teaching English Language Arts to Francophone Program Students: Grades 3 to 9: Pedagogical Considerations. Online Submission This document provides a new perspective on teaching English language arts in a francophone school, a perspective that takes into account the aspirations of the francophone community within the following contexts: the federal and provincial legal provisions governing French first-language education in Alberta, the linguistic reality of Alberta's francophone students and lastly, our current knowledge regarding language learning in a minority milieu. This document is a part of a series entitled Teaching English Language Arts to Francophone Program Students (Grades 3 to 9). Two documents from this series have already been published: A Guide to Transfers and Interference (Alberta Learning, 2001) (ED456639) and Bridging the Francais and English Language Arts Programs of Study (Alberta Learning, 2001) (ED471059) Teaching English Language Arts to Francophone Program Students: Pedagogical Considerations is the third and last document of this series…. [PDF]

Cheung, Alan; Slavin, Robert E. (2004). A Synthesis of Research on Language of Reading Instruction for English Language Learners. Success for All Foundation This paper reviews experimental studies of reading programs for English language learners, focusing on comparisons of various bilingual and English-only programs. The review method is best-evidence synthesis, which uses a systematic literature search, quantification of outcomes as effect sizes, and extensive discussion of individual studies that meet inclusion standards. A total of 18 studies met the inclusion standards. Among 13 studies focusing on elementary reading for Spanish-dominant students, 9 favored bilingual approaches on English reading measures, and 4 found no differences, for a median effect size of +0.52 (based on 8 studies with sufficient data for computation of ES). Two of three studies of heritage languages (French, Choctaw, and Cherokee) and two secondary studies favored bilingual approaches. The review concludes that while the number of high-quality studies is small, existing evidence favors bilingual approaches, especially paired bilingual strategies that teach… [PDF] [Direct]

Andersson, Theodore (1973). Children's Learning of a Second Language: Another View. Modern Language Journal, 57, 5-6, 254-9, Sep-Oct 73. Critical review and discussion of John Macnamara's \Nurseries, Streets and Classrooms,\ Modern Language Journal, v57 n5-6 p250-4 Sep-Oct 1973. (RL)…

Mueser, Anne Marie (1973). A Mini-Course in Black English, Part Two: Implications for Reading and Language Arts Instruction. Education for the Disadvantaged Child, 1, 3, 24-28, Sum 73. Deals with some of the difficult questions that arise when one attempts to handle Black English in the context of helping children learn to read and write. (Author/JM)…

Huntsman, Beverly (1972). Some Sociological Factors in Bilingual Schooling. TESOL Quarterly, 6, 3, 255-261, Sep 72. Paper presented at the TESOL Convention, March 1, 1972, in Washington, D.C. (VM)…

Zobel, Jan (1970). The Mexican-American School Child. Illinois Schools Journal, 50, 2, 103-113, Sum '70. …

Wagner, Stephen T. (1981). America's Non-English Heritage. Society, v19 n1 p37-44 Nov-Dec. Traces the historical development of state and federal law, policy, and practice concerning language. Suggests that, in the future, languages other than English may play prominent roles in American culture and government. (MJL)…

Garcia, Eugene E.; Trujillo, Alex (1979). A Developmental Study of Spanish-English Production in Bilingual Children. Journal of Educational Psychology, v71 n2 p161-68 Apr. Spanish-English bilingual and English monolingual children imitated Spanish and English lexical and syntactic constructions. Lexical items contained \high risks\ phonemes. Sentence constructions emphasized plurality, possessiveness, and adjective-noun word order. Monolingual and bilingual children did not differ on English imitations; bilinguals scored higher than monolinguals on all Spanish tasks. (Author/RD)…

Lindenfeld, Jacqueline (1980). Pratiques langagieres et bilinguisme des Chicanos de Californie (Language Usage and Bilingualism of the Chicanos in California). Etudes de Linguistique Appliquee, n37 p118-24 Jan-Mar. An element seen to be lacking in the development of bilingual programs in California is a sensitivity to the sociolinguistic and psychological influences in Chicano language usage. These include the mixing in of American slang. (MSE)…

Sattler, Jerome M.; And Others (1980). Performance of Bilingual Mexican-American Children on Spanish and English Versions of the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, v48 n6 p782-84 Dec. Performance was better for children above six years of age and better in Spanish than English. It is suggested that the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test never be used to assess the general intelligence of Mexican American children, because it likely underestimates their ability. (Author)…

Titone, Renzo (1978). Some Psychological Aspects of Multilingual Education. International Review of Education, v24 n3 p283-93. This paper presents a summary of recent investigations on cognitive development through the first and second language in a bilingual program. The "Glossodynamic Model" of language learning is presented as a basis for explaining how the child's cognitive and affective development are enhanced by bilingual stimulation. (Author/SJL)…

Whang, Woo-Hyung (1996). The Influence of English-Korean Bilingualism in Solving Mathematics Word Problems. Educational Studies in Mathematics, v30 n3 p289-312 Apr. Purposeful sampling was used to select six English-Korean bilingual students to investigate language difficulties and cognitive processes in solving mathematics word problems. These six case studies revealed distinct patterns of difficulties in solving problems written in English and Korean, especially for students in transition stage. (Author/KMC)…

Villanueva, Irene (1996). Change in the Educational Life of Chicano Families across Three Generations. Education and Urban Society, v29 n1 p13-34 Nov. Presents research on seven Chicano families who have experienced cultural and academic success, to determine successive generational influence on child development and academic success. Findings reveal the importance of cultural traditions, generational support and communication, and parents as mediators in guiding their children to higher education. Educational implications involving the Latino community are addressed. (GR)…

Bedore, Lisa M.; Pena, Elizabeth; Rappazzo, Christina (2003). Comparison of Spanish, English, and Bilingual Children's Performance across Semantic Tasks. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, v34 n1 p5-16 Jan. A study compared 47 Spanish-speaking, predominantly English-speaking, and Spanish-English bilingual children's performance on a battery of semantic tasks. Children in all three groups achieved similar average levels of performance. The profiles of bilingual children in each language were somewhat different from those of the other children. (Contains references.) (CR)…

Estes, Thomas H.; Richards, Herbert C. (2002). Knowledge of Orthographic Features in Spanish among Bilingual Children. Bilingual Research Journal, v26 n2 p295-307 Sum. A Test of Spanish Word Features was developed to determine if Spanish orthography contains graphophonemic features similar to English. Test administrations to bilingual children in grades 1-5 found that spelling features in Spanish were internally consistent (reliable) but varied little in complexity compared to English. There was little evidence that children mastered Spanish spelling features in any particular order. (SV)…

Figueroa, Richard A. (1989). Psychological Testing of Linguistic-Minority Students: Knowledge Gaps and Regulations. Exceptional Children, v56 n2 p145-52 Oct. The literature on testing has documented the existence of persistent anomalies in test scores of bilingual students. School psychology, which is test-dependent and test-defined, has an inadequate technology and knowledge base to deal with the testing of bilingual students, leading to error and misdiagnosis exacerbated by lack of viable testing regulations. (Author/MSE)…

Ortiz, Alba A.; Wilkinson, Cheryl Y. (1989). Adapting IEPs for Limited English Proficient Students. Academic Therapy, v24 n5 p555-68 May. The study of Individualized Education Programs developed for 203 limited English proficient Hispanic elementary students found that a student's bilingualism and level of English proficiency exerted little influence on selection of instructional goals. Native language or English-as-a-Second-Language instruction was infrequently incorporated into special education services. (DB)…

Gonzalez, Virginia (1994). A Model of Cognitive, Cultural, and Linguistic Variables Affecting Bilingual Hispanic Children's Development of Concepts and Language. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, v16 n4 p396-421 Nov. Verbal and nonverbal classification tasks were administered in Spanish and English to 30 bilingual children, aged 6-7. Results indicate the positive influence of bilingualism on cognitive development and support a model in which bilingual children construct two representational systems–one, nonverbal and universal across languages; and a second, verbal and influenced by culture and language. (Author/SV)…

Padron, Yolanda N. (1992). The Effect of Strategy Instruction on Bilingual Students' Cognitive Strategy Use in Reading. Bilingual Research Journal, v16 n3-4 p35-51 Sum-Fall. Two teaching methods were used to enhance the use of cognitive reading strategies among 89 Hispanic bilingual students in grades 3 through 5. Although there were differences in the use of cognitive reading strategies by grade and treatment group, instruction in cognitive strategy use decreased the use of weak reading strategies and was more beneficial than additional reading instruction. (TD)…

Pearson, Barbara Z. (1993). Predictive Validity of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) for Hispanic Bilingual Students. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, v15 n3 p342-56 Aug. College grade point averages after 4 semesters and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores were compared for 200 Hispanic (predominantly Cuban American) and 892 non-Hispanic White students at the University of Miami. Mean SATs were significantly lower for Hispanic students (about 45 points on average, both verbal and math), despite equivalent college grades. (KS)…

Villas-Boas, Adelina (1998). The Effects of Parental Involvement in Homework on Student Achievement in Portugal and Luxembourg. Childhood Education, v74 n6 p367-71. Details a study investigating the effect of well-designed homework activities on 6-7 and 11-12 year-old students' second-language acquisition and literacy skills in Portugal and Luxembourg, and whether parental involvement in these homework activities enhances students' learning. Highlights findings that strongly suggest this is so. Includes examples of homework activities assigned and descriptions of the second-language acquisition projects. (JPB)…

Irvin, Judith L.; VanNess, Jill (1997). Linguistic Minority Students in Middle Schools. What Research Says. Middle School Journal, v29 n1 p57-58 Sep. Explains the linguistic stages through which young adolescents progress as they acquire a second language and describes the differences between academic and social language. Considers implications for middle level educators developing appropriate programs and lessons for linguistic minority students. (JPB)…

Crandall, Margaret (1998). Two-Way Talk. American School Board Journal, v185 n1 p23-25 Jan. Describes the instructional strategies used by teachers in two-way bilingual immersion programs. Also describes benefits of the programs. Sidebars include guidelines to implement an effective two-way bilingual immersion program and a discussion of English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) programs. (LMI)…

Kruth, Kirsten; Restrepo, Maria Adelaida (2000). Grammatical Characteristics of a Spanish-English Bilingual Child with Specific Language Impairment. Communication Disorders Quarterly, v21 n2 p66-76 Win. These case studies describe and compare the language characteristics of two bilingual children (age 7), one with specific language impairment (SLI). Results found the child with SLI produced significantly more morphosyntactic errors and less variety of grammatical forms and sentence types in both languages, and demonstrated significant first-language loss. (Contains extensive references.) (Author/CR)…

Pennington, Martha C. (1999). Bringing Off-Stage "Noise" to Centre Stage: A Lesson in Developing Bilingual Classroom Data. Language Teaching Research, v3 n2 p85-116 May. Explores different ways of transcribing a fragment of classroom discourse, showing how these ways determine the resulting analysis and what emerges from it. Identifies three distinct "frames" of classroom interaction, which are referred to as lesson, lesson-support, and commentary. (Author/VWL)…

Fetissoff, Kira; Kry, Jeannie; Skilling, Aryn (2008). Improving Social Skills In Elementary Students Through Classroom Meetings. Online Submission In the action research project report the teacher researchers targeted 70 elementary students in third- and fifth-grade classrooms that demonstrated a lack of social skills necessary to work cooperatively in a classroom. The purpose of the project was to improve the social skills in children. The three teacher researchers who conducted this action research project taught at two different schools. One was a fifth-grade teacher and one was an art teacher at Site A, while the third teacher taught third grade in a bilingual program at Site B. The study was conducted February 11, 2008 through May 16, 2008. In order to document poor social skills, the teacher researchers utilized three data collection tools: a parent survey, a teacher survey, and a student survey. The surveys were distributed, completed, and returned between the dates of February 11, 2008 and February 18, 2008. Data was also collected through the use of an observation checklist. The data revealed that students demonstrated… [PDF]

Lo Bianco, Joseph (2000). One Literacy…Or Double Power?. This paper argues against Australia's "One Literacy" (English only) movement, explaining that in recent years, there have been efforts to clear the curriculum of non-literacy subjects and activities, and noting the difficulty of determining what is and is not a curriculum distraction. It also notes that elementary students' English language reading and writing performance on standardized tests is unacceptably low and that some people feel that literacy performance is not being measured in ways sensitive to social factors. The paper suggests that to track the effect on languages and literacy of this literacy crisis, it is necessary to consider what fits under the terms "languages" and "literacies" and then trace which kinds of languages and literacies have not done well under the crisis. It examines problems for "One Literacy" (e.g., community languages in which the maintenance of linguistic and cultural heritage, and uninterrupted conceptual… [PDF]

Barnhardt, Ray; Kawagley, Angayuqaq Oscar (1999). A Long Journey: Alaska Onward to Excellence in Yupiit/Tuluksak Schools. Case Study. As part of a larger study of systemic education reform in rural Alaska, this case study examines the school improvement process undertaken in Yupiit School District (YSD). YSD consists of three Yupiaq villages in southwest Alaska that joined together in 1984 to form the Yupiit Nation and to run their own schools. In 1992 a district-level leadership team, trained in the Alaska Onward to Excellence school improvement process, called the first community-wide meetings to discuss the values and beliefs that should be passed on to the next generation. The district team then compiled community values and beliefs, drew up a draft mission statement, and listed tentative student goals. After extensive community feedback, the YSD school board adopted the following student goals: knowledge of Yup'ik values, culture, and subsistence skills; preparation for work and further education; respect and positive attitudes toward life, learning, and community; development as law-abiding citizens; and… [PDF]