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The purpose of this study is to explore the beliefs of students, teachers and parents regarding new students’ experiences in a Sheltered Immersion/Newcomers Program in a K-8 school district to provide recommendations and implications for other schools who are or wish to develop similar programs. The participants were given opportunities to reflect and dialogue about their experiences in this type of bilingual program through the implementation of Participatory Action Research (PAR). The research questions inquire about how language learners make sense of their experience of becoming bilingual and the factors that encourage or inhibit their engagement.

Language sample analysis has come to be considered the “gold standard” approach for cross-cultural language assessment. Speech-language pathologists assessing individuals of multicultural or multilinguistic backgrounds have been recommended to utilize this approach in these evaluations (e.g., Pearson, Jackson, & Wu, 2014; Heilmann & Westerveld, 2013). Language samples can be elicited with a variety of different tasks, and selection of a specific method by SLPs is often a major part of the assessment process. The present study aims to facilitate the selection of sample elicitation methods by identifying the method that elicits a maximal performance of language abilities and variation in children’s oral language samples. Analyses were performed on Play, Tell, and Retell methods across 178 total samples and it was found that Retell elicited higher measures of syntactic complexity (i.e., TTR, SI, MLUw) than Play as well as a higher TTR (i.e., lexical diversity) and SI (i.e., clausal density) than Tell; however, no difference was found between Tell and Retell for MLUw (i.e., syntactic complexity/productivity), nor was there a difference found between Tell and Play for TTR. Additionally, it was found that the two narrative methods elicited higher DDM (i.e., frequency of dialectal variation) than the Play method. No significant difference was found between Tell and Retell for DDM. Implications for the continued use of language sample for assessment of speech and language are discussed. / Communication Sciences

In the field of second language acquisition (SLA), motivation of second language learners is of great importance to the research of the language, the learners and the learning situation. When "Chinese heritage students" (hereafter CHL students), and students learning Chinese as a foreign language (hereafter CFL students) study Chinese in the same classroom, their motivation of learning Chinese has drawn researchers’ attention. Drawing on theories on motivation of second language acquisition, this study explores how different factors influence Chinese language learners' motivation by qualitative case study. The results indicate that students' Chinese language and culture exposure explains their choice of learning Chinese in college and determines their basic learning goals (goal); that students' perceptions of their own language proficiency reflect the directions in which they would put more effort and their need for achievement (effort and want); and that the situational factors of the learning environment, such as the course, the teacher, and the groups, all influence students' learning motivation (attitude towards the activity). Based on the result that teachers can influence students' learning motivation through activities in the classroom, this study gives teachers and researchers some pedagogical implications about how to strengthen Chinese language learners' motivation in the learning environment.

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Researchers have intermittently treated the topic of the language in which reading comprehension test questions should be presented in, or language of assessment (LoA). The overall consensus has been that questions in L1 lead to better scores and that questions in L1 should be used for reading comprehension particularly at the beginning levels. However, minimal research has been conducted at the advanced level, and no research has been found where proficiency items, empirically validated, were utilized in testing instruments. Furthermore, explanatory data from qualitative analysis has been sparse. The present research endeavored to satisfy these areas of needed research. It was found that a group of advanced learners of Russian performed better when MC questions were presented in English. Student attitudes, as revealed by survey items, depicted questions in L2 as more difficult. It was additionally found that vocabulary was one of the major factors in difficulty. Matters pertaining to validity and face validity surfaced and were designated, along with gathering other qualitative data, as the recommended direction of future research.

This study examines the effectiveness of on-line video-assisted pronunciation exercises in beginning level classes of foreign-language learning. A review of the current literature on pronunciation is presented, followed by a description of a study used to test the effectiveness of computer-based exercises in improving pronunciation. The participants were a group of high school students that were members of a fourth year French class. As part of their regular class time, the students participated in two types of exercises, in-class group work and computer-lab self-directed exercises, in which the students watched videos with subtitles while repeating what they heard. Satisfaction with the program was determined by collecting feedback from the students using qualitative and quantitative surveys. The students found the videos interesting and appreciated the learning autonomy provided by the self-directed exercises. Improvement was assessed by comparing performance on pre- and post-tests measuring both free response and reading pronunciation. Significant improvements were observed in both categories, but the improvements in reading pronunciation were most striking. The results demonstrate that computer-based exercises can be engaging and effective in teaching French pronunciation, and can be readily incorporated into the high school classroom.

This study analyzes the effects of a Tier 2, small group intervention developed by the Exemplary Center for Reading Instruction (ECRI) that employs direct instruction strategies (including scripted sequenced lessons, teacher modeling, and repeated practice). The reading achievement of 15 English language learners (ELLs) in the ECRI intervention was compared to the reading achievement of 12 ELLs in a computer-based reading intervention. The reading achievement of 27 ELLs was also compared to the reading achievement of 48 non-ELLs in the interventions. Repeated measures ANOVAs and independent t-tests analyzed the results of the Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement-II Brief, pre- and post-tests. ELLs in grades 1-3 improved from pre- to post-test in the ECRI condition. In grades 1-3, both ELLs and non-ELLs in the ECRI condition significantly improved. ELLs in both conditions significantly improved in grades 4-6. In grades 4-6, there was a significant difference between ELLs and non-ELLs in the ECRI condition at pre-test but the difference was no longer significant at post-test. Implications and limitations of the findings are explored.

The impact student mobility has on academic achievement has been researched in the United States since the early 20th century (Goebel, 1978). Mobility for students is a risk factor often compounded by poverty, ELL students are at a higher risk of lower achievement. Educators face challenges in tracking records, monitoring, remediating, gap closing, and assisting students in transition periods. The data collected in this quantitative study was analyzed to determine the impact mobility has on English language learners and their attainment of a second language. This quantitative study examined the relationship between non-mobile and highly mobile ELL students in 1st through twelfth grade from one small school district. An analysis was utilized to identify the difference between male and female, mobile and non-mobile ELL students. The frequency of mobility was evaluated to identify the impact mobility has on language attainment. The findings propose that no significant relationship exists between mobility and language attainment.