Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has repeatedly mentioned that immigrants to the United States should do what he did to acquire English: Avoid using their first languages and speak, listen to, and read a vast amount of materials in English--a combination he referred to as "immersion." Yet, Schwarzenegger's real path to successful English…

A new urban legend claims, "As a result of the state dropping bilingual education, test scores in California skyrocketed." Krashen disputes this theory, pointing out that other factors offer more logical explanations of California's recent improvements in SAT-9 scores. He discusses research on the effects of California's Proposition 227,…

Providing rich supply of high-interest story books is more feasible policy for literacy education than urgent exhortations to improve teacher quality. Free reading profoundly improves students' reading and writing ability, spelling, grammar, and vocabulary. The quality of a country s or state's school libraries significantly predicts its reading…

Responds to Richard Innes's criticism of his June 2002 "Kappan" article. (PKP)

Examines why the whole-language approach to literacy development has failed, presenting several definitions of whole language, discussing some of the research on whole language and whether it works, and providing information about the impact of whole language in California (which suggests that California's reading-performance problems are not…

Notes the California's Reading Task Force's heavy emphasis on phonemic awareness (PA) evaluation and training. Argues that although evidence shows that phonemic awareness will emerge by simply reading, California's school libraries--ranked near last in the nation--would require a massive commitment to rise to the task. Argues (in an ironic tone)…

An expert on second language acquisition examines and refutes five commonly offered arguments against bilingual education: (1) it is responsible for the high Hispanic dropout rate; (2) most immigrants succeed without bilingual education; (3) the United States is the only nation that has bilingual education; (4) bilingual education failed in…

A survey of 794 teachers from six school districts in central California found that although teachers strongly endorsed the principles of bilingual education, they indicated minimal support for actual participation by students in bilingual programs. Teachers with supplementary training in English as a Second Language and bilingual education were…

Elementary and middle school children in California who speak Vietnamese as a first language reported high levels of oral competence in Vietnamese and a desire to maintain Vietnamese language and culture. There was no evidence that the development of the first language was a barrier to second language acquisition. (Author/VWL)

Provides background on and discusses the significance of Proposition 227, the California ballot initiative designed to reform the state's bilingual-education program that was approved by voters in 1998. Reactions to its approval by California voters are provided by Ron Unz, Stephen Krashen, and Mauro Mujica. (Author/VWL)

This collection reflects the stance that a truly balanced approach to reading instruction will focus not only on reading but on literacy; integrate language and literacy across disciplines; attend to reading, writing, and other skills and strategies in context; and reflect a coherent integration of as broad a research base as possible. Following a…