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Language ability can be a determining factor in deciding a defendant's legal guilt or innocence. This was the case for Chinese immigrant, LK, a licensed gun dealer who was criminally charged with selling weapons to ineligible buyers. In his defense, LK claimed that, as an English language learner, he did not possess the sufficient language skills required to adequately complete the complex administrative forms that accompany gun purchases. This study explores whether the defendant's English language abilities were sufficient to understand the government's requisite weapon sales report forms.Data collection comes from three sources: audio body bug (wiretap) tapes, written court transcripts, and the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms' sales transaction forms. Using these sources as a basis for analysis, this study examines key linguistic features of the defendant's speech to evaluate his English language proficiency. Additionally, the language used by the defendant will be compared with the language found in the weapons purchase application report.Drawing upon theories on communicative competence (Bachman, 1990; Bachman & Palmer, 1996; Canale & Swain, 1980; Canale, 1983; Savignon, 1997), LK's functional, linguistic, discourse, sociolinguistic, and strategic competencies will first be evaluated. The second phase of the analysis uses the insight gained from examining LK's competencies in order to determine his level of proficiency. The Speaking Proficiency English Assessment Kit (1996, SPEAK®) test and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Proficiency Guidelines (2000) will be used. The third stage of the analysis turns to readability studies in order to determine the level of difficulty in the ATF form. Chall et al.'s (1996) rubric and Flesch's readability formula (1946, 1949, 1972, 1979) serve as the foundation for the readability assessment. And last, additional areas for a forensic linguistic investigation into this case are considered. These include thematic (topical) tracking, sociolinguistic practices, and speech accommodation.This research serves those interested in second language issues as well as members of the judicial system. It builds on and supports other work in linguistics, language acquisition, sociolinguistcs, as well as the more specialized field of forensic linguistics.

The purpose of this research study is to compare two yearlong program models designed specifically to educate secondary-level newcomer immigrant youth within one large, urban school district in Southern California. The two divergent secondary-level programs that are compared in this study, a self-contained newcomer program and a beginning level English as a Second Language program (ESL 1/2), are explored to determine which program more successfully prepares secondary-level Latino immigrant youth to gain the language proficiency, academic skills, and academic self-concept necessary to exit after the requisite year. The research for this study is informed by scholarly literature that concerns the education of immigrant youth. The literature review is driven by the following four central concepts: an analysis of significant federal and California state language policy, mitigating factors in the education of immigrant youth, existing specialized program models, and guiding theories in the schooling of linguistically and culturally diverse students. The data for this study was collected utilizing a mixed-methods multiple case study approach. Three classrooms within each of the two programs were observed over a month-long period as simultaneous stakeholder interviews and focus groups were carried out to illuminate emergent themes and tensions. Additionally, both current and former students from the two programs were surveyed to determine their academic, social, and personal self-concept levels. The qualitative and quantitative data gathered through this study was analyzed and triangulated to determine the effectiveness of each program and answer the guiding research questions. The results of this study demonstrated mixed findings between the two programs under study. The students gained greater academic skill levels and a higher academic self-concept level as a result of the more supportive environment offered within the newcomer program, yet the ESL 1/2 students made greater gains linguistically, as was evidenced by higher redesignation rates. In addition, after their second year, the students from the newcomer program reported far lower academic self-concept levels than those who had exited the ESL program. Therefore, due to the mixed results, this study incorporated an action plan to assist districts in creating and implementing effective programs for newcomer youth.

This study investigated the role of vocabulary size in assessing learners from various L1 backgrounds and for institutional placement. Participants included native speakers of Spanish, Korean, Japanese, and Mandarin, who took a test that estimated the size of their productive English vocabulary. First, the vocabulary size of students from each language group was compared and the relationship between vocabulary size and institutional placement level was examined. Then, scores were analyzed to determine how cognates and loan words influenced the participants' performance on the vocabulary test. Further, students' vocabulary size scores were correlated with their placement scores that evaluated reading, writing, speaking, listening, and grammar. Finally, the vocabulary size of new students was compared to returning students within the same institutional placement level. Within the same institutional placement levels, speakers of Spanish and Korean had larger English vocabularies than speakers of Japanese and Chinese. It was also found that there is a clear distinction between students at varying institutional placement levels in terms of their vocabulary size. The cognate analysis revealed that students learn cognates faster than non-cognates. The correlation analysis revealed that vocabulary size correlated most with speaking, and listening, followed by grammar, then reading and writing. Finally, the cross-sectional analysis indicated that the vocabulary size of newly placed students was generally larger than that of continuing students.

Följande kunskapsöversikt ämnar att undersöka effekten serietidningsliknande läsmaterial har på läsförståelsen hos andraspråksinlärare av Engelska. För att undersöka detta formulerades följande forskningsfråga: I vilken mån kan serietidningsliknande material påverka läsförståelsen hon andraspråksinlärare av Engelska? En prototypisk definition av serietidningar (Mayer, 2007) användes för att tillåta denna kunskapsöversikt att använda både studier som använde serietidningar och studier som använde seriestrippar som läsmaterial. I denna kunskapsöversikt kommer därför termen serietidningsliknande läsmaterial (Comic reading materials) användas som en paraplyterm för de två mediumen. För att granska om serietidningsliknande material kan påverka läsförståelsen för andraspråksinlärare i engelska har nio vetenskapliga artiklar som behandlar ämnet valts ut. Studierna I denna kunskapsöversikt har delats upp beroende på om de använder seriestrippar eller serietidningar/grafiska noveller då dessa två material bör åkalla effekten av de kognitiva teorier som presenteras i studien. Studierna gav inte ett tyligt svar på huruvida läsmaterialen påverkade läsförståelsen bland deras deltagare. Studierna hade även olika definitioner av nyckelord så som läsförståelse, skilda metoder för att mäta läsförståelse samt variation i hur de utförde texter tester. De olika resultaten från studierna har lett till följande slutsatser. Serieliknande läsmaterial har en potential som läromedel då de kan främja läsförståelse trots att det i fallet av de valda studierna inte alltid gör det. Det behövs vidare forskning i ämnet, då definitioner av nyckelbegrepp samt tester varierar i hög grad och detta gör det svårt att dra en tydlig slutsats.