Literacy educators are often unequipped to help young children contend with the world we inhabit, where linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism are not always valued or sustained. In fact, educators are routinely bombarded by programs that position literacy as a simple, one-size-fits-all practice. This resource will help pre-K-3 teachers…

The author calls for incorporating into English classes what he calls museum-based pedagogy, arguing that it enables the teaching of multiple literacies: verbal, visual, technological, social, and critical. In part, this pedagogy consists of classroom instruction that enables students to understand the persuasive nature of museum displays--the…

Kindergarten children were observed in a classroom situation to discover communicative competence in the sociolinguistic area. These children demonstrated competency in awareness of regularities in use of language in the classroom, ability to publicize confusions, and variations in ways of speaking. (DF)

Discussed is how strange words frequently reveal their meanings through contextual use, similarity to known vocabulary, by their sounds, or by analysis of their parts. Twelve words from the discipline of biology are analyzed using analysis of their parts. (KR)

This software product teaches vocabulary development to 8- to 14-year-old students. The software may be used without the printed teaching guide, but educators will appreciate the added dimension and greater convenience that the lesson plans provide. Along with the 12 lesson plans are worksheets, templates, and other materials needed to complete…

Twenty language-delayed children (age three to six) viewed a presentation incorporating object, action, attribute, and affective state words into a narrative script. In pre- and postviewing word comprehension measurements, subjects scored lower than children matched for chronological age and children matched for mean length of utterance.…

This article offers a framework for language intervention focusing on conversational interaction, suggests some parallels between oral conversations and the development of literacy, and offers guidelines for facilitating the development of language and literacy. Implications for a model of written language are discussed. (PB)

This paper discusses ideas which contribute to better understanding of the writing portions of Reading Recovery lessons, emphasizing the importance of helping the student monitor meaning during the composing and recoding process. Topics addressed in the paper are: (1) differences between composing and transcribing; (2) sources from which children…

Two mentally retarded boys with autism and one girl with Down syndrome were successfully taught to initiate and play a ball game with an adult. The program targeted both nonverbal responses (such as ball contact and cooperative play) and verbal responses for play initiation and compliment delivery. (Author/JDD)

This article discusses how the processing, form, and content requirements of written language pose challenges to professionals trying to design and implement regular or remedial educational programs. Differences between oral and written language; influences of culture, value systems, and world knowledge; and structure and content interactions are…

Stories were read daily at school and home to 32 children, aged 3-10, with severe learning difficulties. After eight months, almost all of the children showed improvements in verbal comprehension greater than gains of a comparison group, and the older children showed improvements in verbal expression. (Author/JDD)

A model for developing instructional analogies was used to produce experimental treatments that included text from a high school biology textbook to which was added extended verbal analogies written by the researcher linking each of two biology concepts to analogous familiar concepts. The control treatment was text from the biology textbook…

Parents of four nonverbal and four echolalic autistic children, aged five-nine, were trained to increase their children's speech by using the Natural Language Paradigm. Following training, parents increased the frequency with which they required their children to speak, and children increased the frequency of their verbalizations in three…

To determine the relationship between oral and written language conventions at the macro and micro levels, a study analyzed various elements of stories generated by children. Subjects, nine above average readers between grades 4 and 9, were asked to tell a story and then to write a story. Sources of stories, overall plot organization, and number…

The strong relationship between knowledge of vocabulary and reading achievement leads to the conclusion that knowing the meaning of words in a passage enables the reader to answer questions about the passage. The goal of vocabulary instruction is the acquisition of the concepts represented by words as well as the ability to recognize and analyze…