Showing papers in "Hispania in 1990"

Lexical Leveling in four New York City Spanish Dialects: Linguistic and Social Factors.

Abstract: Five useful collections of articles on the varieties of Spanish spoken in the U.S. (Elias-Olivares, ed. 1978, Amastae and Elias-Olivares, eds. 1981, Duran, ed. 1981, Fishman and Keller, eds. 1982, Elias-Olivares, Leone, Cisneros, and Gutierrez, eds. 1985) have appeared since the publication of the landmark annotated bibliography by Teschner, Bills, and Craddock (1975), but there are still many lacunae in our knowledge of the linguistic diversity in U.S. Latino populations. Only five articles in these volumes report on varieties other than Chicano or Puerto Rican Spanish. The need for linguistic research on other dialects becomes more urgent as the Latino population climbs toward the 25 million mark by the 1990 census, with increasing migrations from diverse Spanish-speaking nations. In New York City there are approximately two million Latinos from all parts of the Spanishspeaking world; they constitute 20% of the city's total population. The presence of diverse groups of speakers of one language offers an invaluable opportunity to study the linguistic and socio-cultural effects of extensive contact among diverse dialects. This study analyzes inter-dialectal contact at the lexical level among the four largest Hispanic groups in New York CityPuerto Ricans, Dominicans, Colombians, and Cubans. Specifically, we sought to investigate whether each group maintained its country's regional lexicon, assimilated that of the largest Spanish

The Development and Validation of the Portuguese Speaking Test.

Abstract: During the past decade, thanks primarily to the efforts of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), the Educational Testing Service (ETS), and with the assistance of several government language training agencies under the auspices of the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR), a major theoretical and practical development in the field of foreign language assessment has taken place. This development is the application of a "proficiency" orientation in the testing of foreign language competence. This movement has also brought about the adoption of a proficiency approach to language instruction in many quarters. Two standards lie at the heart of the oral proficiency testing movement: the Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) and the ACTFL/ILR speaking proficiency guidelines. The OPI is a direct face-to-face evaluation of the learner's second language competence conducted by trained interviewers and raters. [For information on the direct oral proficiency interview used by the government the reader is referred to Wilds (1975) and Sollenberger (1978). For information on the ACTFL oral interview see Higgs (1984), and Stansfield and Harmon (1987)]. The ACTFL proficiency guidelines (ACTFL 1986), based on the earlier developed ILR guidelines, provide the criteria against which language proficiency is rated. Between 1980 and 1988, ACTFL trained approximately 1,600 oral proficiency interviewers and raters in the major foreign languages taught in the United States: Spanish, French, German, and Russian. As a result, oral proficiency testing is widely available to examinees in need of a rating of their competency in these languages. However for less commonly taught languages such as Portuguese, the scarce number of trained interviewers makes it difficult if not impractical to connect an interviewer in one part of the country with an examinee in another part of the country. This situation impedes the availability of an oral proficiency interview to an individual who may have need for such a rating. The Portuguese Speaking Test (PST), a semi-direct test of oral proficiency, was developed in response to this need. Semi-direct testing (using recorded and printed stimuli and recording examinee responses) is the most efficient and feasible approach to proficiency measurement in the less commonly taught languages. This approach eliminates the need to sustain a costly and labor intensive face-to-face (direct) Oral Proficiency Interview program for low-volume languages whose enrollment figures may be unstable from year to year. However, semidirect testing does provide the benefits derived from a continual assessment program, and it can serve as the impetus for competency-based learning on the part of students of these languages. There have been several efforts to develop semi-direct tests of oral proficiency in foreign languages. One of the earliest was the Recorded Oral Proficiency Examination (ROPE), designed and described by Lowe and Clifford (1980). In the ROPE, the examinee hears a series of tape-recorded questions in the target

Muslims Under Latin Rule, 1100-1300

Abstract: Covering Portugal and Castile in the West to the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in the East, this collection focuses on Muslim minorities living in Christian lands during the high Middle Ages, and examines to what extent notions of religious tolerance influenced Muslim-Christian relations. The authors call into question the applicability of modern ideas of toleration to medieval social relations, investigating the situation instead from the standpoint of human experience within the two religious cultures. Whereas this study offers no evidence of an evolution of coherent policy concerning treatment of minorities in these Christian domains, it does reveal how religious ideas and communitarian traditions worked together to blunt the harsh realities of the relations between victors and vanquished.The chapters in this volume include "The Mudejars of Castile and Portugal in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries" by Joseph F. O'Callaghan, "Muslims in the Thirteenth-Century Realms of Aragon: Interactions and Reaction" by Robert I. Burns, S.J., "The End of Muslim Sicily" by David S. H. Abulafia, "The Subjected Muslims of the Frankish Levant" by Benjamin Z. Kedar, and "The Papacy and the Muslim Frontier" by James M. Powell.

From Learning to Acquisition? Monitoring in the Classroom and Abroad

Abstract: During the 1970's we witnessed an explosion of research on second language acquisition, first mainly concerning immigrants to the United States, later also many studies among migrant workers in Western Europe. This research developed largely independently from the classroom 'method' studies that drew so much attention in the late 60's and early 70's. While the latter took their design from existing paradigms in educational psychology, the former benefited from the progress made in the study of child language acquisition. Studies on 'naturalistic' language acquisition, as it came to be called, quickly outnumbered those on classroom variables, and the debates on language teaching methods became increasingly devoid of empirical support. Throughout the 60's and 70's, researchers failed to link classroom studies with research in the native-speaking environment. The early 80's were characterized by a methodological convergence. An increasing number of studies began to describe language development in the classroom with the methodology and terminology of research on 'naturalistic' acquisition, but there are still very few empirical studies that purport to be a direct comparison of the psycholinguistic processes characterizing foreign or second language learning in the classroom and in the native-speaking environment, either with the same learners in consecutive stages of their experience with the new language, or with comparable (groups of) learners.

Variable Uses of the Direct-Object Marker "A"

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to demonstrate that variability with regard to the use of the so-called "personal a" can in some measure be explained by the importance of the role that marked nouns play in discourse.' Role importance will be defined indirectly in terms of the semantic category of "individuation" as developed by Hopper and Thompson (1980). After describing the notion of "individuation," I will demonstrate through statistical sampling that it is a valid concept in the description of marked object nouns in Spanish at the phrase level. By referring to how the preposition is used with inanimate direct objects, I will show how the concept of individuation functions at the sentence level. Finally, I will apply the notion to a case study from Hispanic literature. By demonstrating that the use of the preposition a with some object nouns can be associated with thematic literary importance, I will suggest that individuation also functions intersententially. As such, individuation provides a single, unified principle which explains the relationship of stylistics to meaning on the one hand, while maintaining a principle for categorical phrase and sentence-level uses of the preposition on the other.

Collaborative and Interactive Writing for Increasing Communication Skills

Abstract: F eign language instruction has long benefited from access to audio-video devices aimed at facilitating and promoting listening skill development in the target language. During the last decade, computers have provided additional opportunities to practice structures and vocabulary in a written extension of the exercises once only found in audio labs or textbook drills and exercises.' Now, computers have the capacity to offer highly creative and interactive environments for learning, thus opening the way for an educational revolution that promotes individuality, creativity, and originality. This study shows that computerbased lessons can promote reading and writing proficiency through on line activities that encourage critical thinking, decision making, and imaginative expression of personal ideas. The Zork series, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe, and The Mist are just a few examples of the type of computer games that promote reading, writing, and decision making skills. These interactive literature programs captivate users by requiring them to role play, solve puzzles, and write clear directions in order to stay alive, progress through a maze, or collect treasure. In addition, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and its U.S.A. and Europe versions teach geography, currency, travel skills, and more, while students focus on pursuing the elusive Carmen and her gang of thieves. Games such as these can be used in ESL classes in their commercial form to provide computer-based, interactive work that promotes thoughtful use of the target language. Unfortunately, foreign language-specific, versions of these interactive materials are not yet on the market. However, teachers can encourage programmers working in foreign language CAI to learn from the success of interactive materials and turn their efforts toward programs that accept a variety of solutions and accordingly guide students to use the language for communication and problem solving purposes. Still, until such imaginative and interactive foreign language packages become widely available, it is possible for teachers to fill the creative void by utilizing commercial computer conferences, bulletin boards, and writing packages such as Word Perfect to generate interactive and collaborative skill development environments. This paper examines potential applications of computer-based communication tools, i.e., commercial computer conferences, bulletin boards, word processors, outline processors, and electronic dictionaries, to proficiency development in second language students.

Trends in the Teaching of Grammar in Spanish Language Textbooks.

Abstract: teaching of a foreign language.1 With this focus on communication as a route for language learning has come a reevaluation of the role of grammar instruction. Most new textbooks now offer communication-focused activities as well as traditional giammar-focused exercises. Communication activities ask the student to convey information, ideas, opinions, to participate in a game, to role-play, or to hear and discuss information about the speakers of the target language. Grammar exercises offer the opportunity to hear and produce specific forms and structures of the target language. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a framework for describing methodological trends in current beginning level Spanish texts for colleges and universities.2 The framework consists of five parameters:

Americans Viewed by the Spanish: Using Stereotypes to Teach Culture'

Abstract: Who has blond hair and blue eyes, is as muscular as Rambo, rides a horse for transportation, and drinks beer with his morning pancakes and peanut butter? According to a group of young Spaniards studying English in Madrid, the person who fits this description is none other than the typical American male. Stereotypes like these-inaccurate characterizations of Americans by foreigners- can be used in the classroom to help our students evaluate their own preconceived ideas about

Interpreting in Miami's Federal Courts: Code-Switching and Spanglish

Abstract: The historical development of interpreting precedes that of recorded history. In a sense interpretation has always existed, for with the evolution of human speech and with the differentiation of regional dialects and linguistic stocks, there came the need for intermediaries able to communicate across linguistic and cultural barriers. Formal court interpreting, however, is a relatively young profession; its genesis can be traced to the Nuremberg and Japan War Crimes Trials of 1945. In the United States official recognition of the profession was conferred on October 28, 1978, when the Court Interpreters Act, Public Law 95-539, was signed into law by President Carter. With this Act, which provides for interpretation services in all criminal and civil actions in the Federal district courts where the United States is plaintiff, the Congress of the United States acknowledged that court interpreting is a highly specialized profession and not simply a function that any bilingual person can perform. Sponsors of a bill to amend the Court Interpreters Act of 1978-presented in the U.S. Senate on November 14, 1985write that failure to provide competent interpretation services to non-English speaking persons and the hearing-impaired in Federal judiciary proceeding:

A Look Back...A Look Ahead.

Abstract: The pendulum has swung! Elementary foreign language programs are gaining in popularity throughout the country. Again! Instead of only one type of program called FLES we now have three distinct programs, with different goals and different expected outcomes. But have we really changed that much? Let us take a look at the elementary programs of the sixties and seventies, for a moment. There was much enthusiasm for elementary school foreign languages at the time, by parents, school principals, administrators and members of school boards of education. It

The Role of Cognitive Style in Improving Computer/Assisted Language Learning.

Abstract: One of the strongest points in favor of using computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is that it can provide self-paced, individualized instruction. With almost any CALL material, students can learn at their own pace if we allow them sufficient time to study by themselves at the computer. To insure that computer-assisted exercises are truly individualized, however, we must pay careful attention to software design and the way content is presented. Unfortunately, CALL has not yet lived up to many of our expectations. Before we fault computers, however, we must recognize that "it isn't what's wrong with the computer, but rather the way we are using the new medium.. ." (Quinn). Specifically, we must remember that computers are merely a delivery medium. They are, therefore, only as effective as the exercises they present. The exercises, in turn, are only as strong as the methodology upon which they are based and the appropriateness with which they are presented. The full potential of computer-assisted learning, I contend, will be realized only after software authors begin providing material that is both self-paced and tailored to our students' individual needs. To help software developers begin producing more effective CALL materials, appropriate research must be carried out to identify the effects the computer has on students, particularly with regard to how they process information due to their individual learning styles. Simply stated, we need to understand our students and know their learning strategies before we can reach them better. In this article, I will first describe the design and limitations of an experiment carried out to foster such understanding. Next, I will discuss how data from the qualitative component of the study can provide insights to help software developers produce more effective CALL material. Then I will explain how information gathered in the qualitative portion can positively influence decisions about the content, instructional methodology, and features to be used in CALL tutorials for Spanish. This experiment, however, is an initial investigation of the role cognitive style can play in improving computer-assisted language learning. Because more precisely designed empirical studies must be conducted before we will really be able to individualize software, I will conclude by discussing three directions that should be explored in order to provide CALL lessons tailored to our students' individual learning styles. Since empirical research suggests that it may be best to adapt instructional delivery and content to accommodate differences in the ways our students learn, we should be able to use the computer as a new means to suit variations in learning style (Hansen; Hansen and Stansfield). Before investing substantial amounts of time and money in producing CALL programs, it would be well worth our while, therefore, to determine the best strategies to employ in addressing processing differences among learners (Raschio). Although the relationship between how learners process information and how well they do in foreign language study has already been investigated, no clear and consistent results have yet been found (Hansen; Naiman et al; Hamayan and Genesee). The traditional "process-product" model of research, however, may not be the most appropriate tool by which to identify relationships between how individuals process information and specific features of the medium which delivered that information. On the other hand, an investigative approach that includes learner-generated information may allow us to identify features of the medium which best serve the learning style used by the majority of students. Until we design and begin using software that takes advantage of the features unique to computerssuch as presenting interactive exercises in a variety of formats, branching to

Our Progress in Integrating Modern Methods and Computer-Controlled Learning for Successful Language Study

Abstract: During the past twenty years, great strides have been made in improving language teaching. As our methodology has evolved, several different approaches have been developed and tried with varying success (Omaggio, chapter 2); consequently, a much more eclectic atmosphere prevails. Even the hypotheses of the Proficiency Movement, the predominant approach today, have been challenged (Freed 146; Kramsch, "Proficiency"; Lee; Schulz). As a result, our pedagogy is constantly being improved by debate and revision. Within the last decade, a large number of thought-provoking articles, books, and reports have been written about new methods, how people learn languages, communicative testing, our textbooks, and numerous other aspects of language teaching (Losiewicz). Obvious progress has been made. Modern texts are not only more attractive in both appearance and personal interest; they are also much more practical. In the last few years, we have come to realize that customs and body language as well as grammar, vocabulary, syntax, and literature-are important, and we have incorporated them into our texts. At the same time, we are also learning to make better use of the various media now at our disposal. As we begin to understand media other than print and to improve the way we use them, interesting developments like computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and computer-controlled interactive video (IAV) promise to make language learning dramatically more successful. Nevertheless, we are just beginning to understand how students learn, how to write good computer-assisted exercises, and how to use technological advances to implement our pedagogical ideals. Fortunately, in this age of instantaneous contact via satellites, many people see language study not only as useful for commercial success overseas but also as the key to relaxing international tensions and improving life worldwide. More and more, governments and corporations are funding communications projects and investing in personnel with language skills. Add this renewed and increasing interest in foreign languages to the progress we are making, and one cannot help but feel that stimulating days are ahead for our profession.1 In the last few years, one innovation in particular has captured the imagination of many teachers: the use of the computer to facilitate learning. In fact, no other technological advance, including educational television, has ever enjoyed the sustained interest and growthor the fundingthat microcomputers have experienced during the past ten years (Robyler, 85). The excitement about computers is understandable, once you realize that they can, in addition to displaying instructional programs on their own screens, serve as the heart of a multimedia learning station and control a wide variety of audio, video, and communcations equipment. When teachers see students interact with computer-controlled video stations, like those at the Naval Academy, they begin almost spontaneously to speculate about the dramatic improvements computers will have on language learning. Actually, profound changes are already underway in education, and students at all levels are learning practical computer skills in preparation for college and for life in an information-oriented society.

Teaching Grammar in the Target Language.

Abstract: Conducting a class through sustained L2 use is a concept which provides for a major block of classroom time without oral L1 (first language) intervention. During this period, oral L2 is proposed for exclusive use to support goals for developing oral communicative skills. Frequent shifts by the teacher between L1 and L2 are seen to restrict opportunity for uninterrupted L2 listening,1 a phenomenon hypothesized to carry over to student oral production also, as it influences learners to disregard L2 when communicating in the classroom. The nature of grammar learning is complex and under considerable debate. It is not clear how much learners need to be told about grammar nor how much practice they require. If the grammar presentation is highly detailed, especially on the beginning level, Li is likely to be used, since its complexity defies comprehension in L2. It is likewise apt to be done in L1 if it requires students to verbalize rules, a questionable practice, since few students, according to Sharwood Smith, seem to be able to do it. If, on the other hand, the explanation is limited to a degree of explicitness which serves to introduce the grammar point, followed by induction-inducing practice, then communication might well be in L2. A problem encountered in literature on grammar teaching is the absence of clear identification of the level of students being taught. A specialized context involving advanced learners who have little or no difficulty communicating in L2 but who would profit by instruction on refining their grammar skill must not be confused with students in developmental stages of communication. Much of the literature assumes an audience of learners presumed proficient in communication; hence it need not address the question of which language, L1 or L2, will be the vehicle for explanation.2 In such a situation, an L1/L2 mixture may be acceptable, since the learners can receive and discuss information in either language. Such a scenario has no resemblance to that of schools in which massive numbers of students studying Spanish as a second language, including many in "advanced" courses, are struggling to learn to communicate in Spanish. It is this scenario in which one must decide which language, Li or L2, shall be the languag of instruction. In order to make this decision, one must attend to identifying instructional goals which, for many teachers, will be directed toward developing commonly sought after communication skills, with considerable emphasis on listening and speaking. In conjunction with goal setting, it is crucial to deliberate on instructional processes, vis-avis the language of instruction, to provide for congruence between goals and processes. A prime issue affecting these decisions is how much oral L2 use contributes to or interf res with goal attainment. Experimental evidence is minimal, especially in terms of L2 use in which caretaker speech and other psychological variables are built into the design. However, results of two studies by Seliger suggest a general guideline to the effect that "using the target language as a tool for social i t raction affects the rate of second language acquisition and the quality of second language acquisition" (262). Social interaction includes a variety of communicative situations in which genuine talk takes place. Information giving, a part of this process, could encompass grammar explanation. Teachers, through practical experience, know what works in including grammar explanation in L2. Commonly used techniques are reflected in the concept of comprehensible input which utilizes caretaker speech in the form of linguistic supports (e.g., short utterances, simple vocabulary and syntax, repetitions) and extralinguistic supports (e.g., motor activity, use of visuals) [Kalivoda]. Sharwood Smith (54), in his "Type C" gramar manifestations, refers to the need for "b ief, indirect 'clues"' as facilitating techniques. Rutherford (235) adds other possibilities such as the use of a "contrast with a related structure or with selected ungram-

History, Truth, and Dialogue: Fernández de Oviedo's "Historia general y natural de las Indias" (Bk XXIII, Ch LIV)

Abstract: Fernandez de Oviedo's concept of the making of history figures is one of the distinguishing characteristics of his Historia general y natural de las Indias (1535, 1547, 1557). Living in the geographical and chronological center of the Spanish Conquest of the New World, Oviedo, as Charles V's official Court Chronicler, recorded the momentous events of the Spanish encounter with the New World as they occurred.1 History was being made by the Spaniards, and Oviedo was responsible for gathering information and compiling reports for a history of the New World, which would preserve authentic evidence of the Conquest. Because he lived in the midst of the history about which he wrote, Oviedo's accounts often lack the breadth of information and the perspective time can lend to the writing of history. Writing over a period of thirty years, however, enabled the Court Chronicler to gather new information about incidents he had already recorded and this led him to engage in a process of continual correction, expansion, and revision of the history. Yet more significant to the understanding of Oviedo's concept of history than his own geographical and chronological situation is his preoccupation with writing a truthful representation of historical events. His dedication to the idea of a history that would mirror, as closely as possible, men's actions as they actually occurred, as the omnipresent God would have witnessed them, helps to explain his use of multiple reports of a single incident.2 In keeping with the biblical model of using multiple representations to indicate the author's desire for accuracy, if new information contradicted a previous report, Oviedo often revised the account or wrote another version of it in order to see again the events he had recorded; this methodology, he hoped, would reveal the true nature of the moral and natural history of the Indies.3 The Spanish historian's concept of a truthful history becomes clearer when viewed in light of the intellectual currents and political ideology that influenced him. For example, Oviedo's early exposure to Italian humanism and the classical historian's moralizing tendency;4 the author's belief in Spain's destiny to establish a universal Catholic empire and, therefore, his belief in the need to testify to the validity of the Spanish Conquest; and the author's recent conversion to Erasmian illuminism (about 1525) and its alternative to the novels of chivalry, "el libro de verdad" (Bataillon 247),5 are all influences that inform Oviedo's historical criteria, which he often elaborates in prologues and passages that correct his own earlier accounts of the same event. One of the most famous sections of the Historia general devoted to revising previous accounts about the Conquest of Mexico is the dialogue between Oviedo and Juan Cano. Included in the narration on the Conquest of Mexico (Bk XXXIII of the Second Part), the dialogue is one of the concluding chapters of the Book (Ch LIV).6 Situated among an assortment of information from various sources, which includes Cortes's Relaciones and Antonio de Mendoza's letters, the colloquy reflects Oviedo's data-collecting methods and his inclusion of multiple reports about the same event in his history.7 Given the frequency with which the Spanish chronicler employs multiple accounts, one is not surprised at his return in Chapter LIV to material treated earlier in Chapters XIV-XV. Rather, what does catch our attention is the historian's use of a new

Spanish Speakers Semi- and Residually Native: After the Placement Test Is Over

Abstract: The sociolinguistic realities of a varyingly bilingual international metropolitan area such as El Paso, Texas/Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua are complex,1 and this complexity is inevitably reflected in the linguistic profiles of students enrolling in Spanish courses at a large (ca. 15,000), essentially open-admission and overwhelmingly commuter-student institution such as the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), whose enrollment patterns (ca. 55% Mexican-American or Mexican, 4% Black, about 37% U.S.-educated "other," and the rest variously non-hispanophone foreign) approach north-of-the-border population percentages (about two-thirds of El Paso's residents are Hispanic), and which actively recruits in Mexico. Since 1972, the UTEP Department of Languages and Linguistics' four lower-division (Frosh and Sophomore) Spanish courses have been divided into two tracks, one for "Native Speakers" and the other for "Non-Native Speakers." I encircle these designators in quotes to reflect the area's sociolinguistic realities, which can only be described in terms of a continuum ranging from total monolingualism in English to total monolingualism in Spanish and all points in between, though as is true of continuua, clusters can be found, the most noteworthy of which involve Mexican-Americans, typically prompted by circumstances to be bilingual in English and Spanish to a greater or lesser extent. In a best of all possible worlds, lower-division Spanish at UTEP would offer as many tracks as there were continuum clusters or archetypes of students.2 In the real world of scheduling problems, minimal textbook variety, ignorance or even hostility among staff and extra-departmental faculty, and widespread student antipathy or indifference toward a language requirement, even a twotrack system is a constant challenge to operate as conceived. While Klee and Rogers (1989) substantiate by surveying a wide variety of undergraduate programs across the nation what the profession has long intuited to be true, namely, that the placement problem "mentioned most frequently by the respondents was that of false beginners," at UTEP th central concern is the native or near-native spe ker who seeks to enroll in Spanish One for Non-Natives (4101). A month after I ass med direction of Spanish placement in 1978, I estimated that about 40% of the students in my own section of 4101 were native or quasinative hispanophones; requests that other instructors of 4101 come up with their own estimates produced identical results. It goes without saying that such mixed classes characteristically produce two sets of attitudes: cynicism among natives or near-natives, who correctly assume they need never crack a book to get at least a B (and who thus learn nothing from the course), and high anxiety among the non-native or largely so who, in addition to experiencing all the fears of foreign language so carefully catalogued by Horwitz 1989 and elsewhere, must also frequently suffer the barely-concealed mirth of hispanophone peers. Since 1979, our department has been perfecting a Spanish placement system which as of this writing (July 1989) represents, we feel, the best we can devise. It works like this: no student is to be allowed to register for the first time for a college-level Spanish course without taking the placement test (a 100-item multiple-choice machine-gradable local instrument) or signing what we call a waiver, i.e., one of two sternly-worded documents which allow students to affirm that they do not speak Spanish at home or in the neighborhood and did not recently study it for two consecutive years or more in high school,3 or to affirm that though they speak Spanish at home/in neighborhood they have not acquired literacy skills in the language. Without exception, any student not qualified to sign a waiverand any student requesting a waiver must answer a series of questions about which more later -must take the Spanish placement test. In