The behavior of psych verbs is hard to explain. They show variation inconsistent with a fixed assignment to distinct structures. A more integrated theory of syntax and semantics is needed to improve upon the usual pedagogical explanation of "'gustar' verbs." (30 references) (Author/CK)

Describes the development and validation of the Portuguese Speaking Test, a simulated oral proficiency interview that uses a semidirect approach to examine proficiency in personal conversation, direction-giving, description, narration, topical discourse, and real-life situations. (CB)

Describes the University of Texas at El Paso's use of a Spanish placement system that seeks to appropriately place both native and non-native speakers of Spanish in the correct track and level of Spanish courses. (CB)

Describes the University of Maryland at Baltimore County's one-week foreign language exploratory program for fourth through sixth grade students, and details methods and strategies used to conduct "Spanish Day," where students learned about Spanish language and culture through songs, games, and stories. (CB)

A review of the status and activities of foreign language instruction in Florida elementary schools discusses languages taught (primarily Spanish); state funding and school district programs; teacher certification; and preservice teacher education and methods courses. (CB)

Describes several activities designed as part of La Salle University's Writing across the Curriculum project to improve advanced Spanish composition skills. Activities involved both formal and informal writing assignments such as notetaking, job application letters, and thesis support essays. (CB)

A review of studies on children's syntactic development in Spanish focused on their use of subordinate clauses within complex sentences. Results suggested that, although they made some developmental gains from 2 years of age, 10-year-olds had not acquired the full range of semantic and syntactic expression characteristic of adult use of…

Suggests four methods to help students make intelligent guesses and expand their Spanish vocabulary through induction of cognate patterns, including making students consciously aware of cognate patterns; emphasizing general patterns of English abstract words and their corresponding Spanish cognates; enhancing inductive learning strategies through…

Relates language acquisition theories regarding comprehension, early speech, and speech emergence within the Natural Approach, which returns language learning to the living context and maintains the isolated fragments of language as a whole, to those theories expressed in a comparison between the experience of an apprentice singer of tales to that…

An assessment of the substantive progress made regarding the study of language contact and bilingualism in the Hispanic world explores research concerning language contact and grammars, the bilingual speech community and linguistic structure, and bilingual discourse. (45 references) (CB)

Describes some of the current research on Brazilian Portuguese phonology. Various techniques are discussed that analysts utilize to investigate Brazilian Portuguese nasality. (49 references) (CB)

Reviews some features of the vernacular variety of Brazilian Portuguese that occur in the colloquial speech of educated persons, focusing on pronominal complements, reflexives, verb forms, verb tenses, and noun/modifier agreement. (CB)

Reviews the current use of Portuguese loanwords in Konkani, 28 years after the absence of Portuguese rule over Goa, India, considering grammatical, phonological, and semantic aspects. Although Goans predictably integrated Portuguese lexicon into Konkani, many of the loanwords are no longer used, especially among younger generations. (CB)

Describes the development, content, ancillary materials, goals, and testing and evaluation procedure of the AMIGOS educational television project. The aim of the project is to teach Spanish to students in kindergarten through second grade in schools without a qualified foreign-language teacher2 (CB)

Describes a teacher exchange program between the University of Cincinnati and a high school where the high school Spanish teacher observed the university foreign-language-methods instructor teaching the Spanish class. Idea sharing was encouraged between the two teachers. (CB)