Reading ability is profoundly important, for individuals and for the societies of which they are a part. Research indicates that we should be successfully teaching 95% of children to read, yet, in reality, high rates of reading failure are common in western, industrialized nations. In large part, this reflects a failure to translate into practice…

Children's oral language skills typically begin to develop sooner than their written language skills; however, the four language systems (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) then develop concurrently as integrated strands that influence one another. This research explored relationships between students' errors in language comprehension of…

An emerging intervention for increasing reading comprehension in students with emotional and behavioral disorders is self-regulated strategy development (SRSD). The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the TWA (Think before reading, think While reading, and think After reading) SRSD reading strategy when used with students…

Now in its fourth edition and with extensive updated research, "Later Language Development" addresses the development of spoken and written language from Kindergarten through early adulthood. The information in this text is aligned to the Common Core State Standards and describes the critical connection between language development and…

Oral language and word reading skills have important effects on reading comprehension. The Wechsler Individual Achievement Test-Third Edition (WIAT-III) measures both skill sets, but little is known about their specific effects on reading comprehension within this battery. Path analysis was used to evaluate the collective effects of reading and…

Even a quick glance at international data reveals something troubling: There is an increasing economic and educational gap between Africa and the rest of the world. If we look just a bit deeper, we find that economic and educational stagnation may simply be the inevitable outcomes of broad educational failure for millions of rural African…

The authors explore the importance of talk and interaction for learning, particularly in relation to new K-12 standards and the prominent role of academic language in today's educational contexts. The article concludes with a detailed example of a Grade 6 teacher's use of content and language objectives to address the needs and strengths of all…

The transition from primary to secondary school is an area of concern across a range of curriculum subjects and this is no less so for foreign language learning. Indeed problems with transition have been identified in England as an important barrier to the introduction of language learning to the primary school curriculum, with implications for…

A key factor in providing quality education is the main language of instruction (M-LoI). This creates a challenging situation for education policymakers in post-colonial multilingual countries such as South Africa. Language-in-education policies must valorise indigenous languages and redress their exclusion in past education systems while ensuring…

In a climate of high stakes testing in education in America physical education is an oft-overlooked content area. As physical educators, however, we know the value that we have in the educational lives of our students. Instruction in our content area is engaging and immediately applicable to the "real world." The skills and concepts that…

Given the growing importance of English as a lingua franca, this study examines which context (classroom instruction in the students' home country vs. studying abroad in an English-speaking country) better facilitates the acquisition of English by learners of different ages: children, adolescents and adults. Participants (N = 197) completed…

The present study examined the impact of "diglossia", a characteristic of the Arabic language, on the development of phonological abilities in the spoken and the literary language forms. Participants were 571 children from 10 grade levels (1-7, 9, 11 and 12), which were recruited from 10 schools by taking into account two important…

Sequential regression was used to evaluate whether language-related working memory components uniquely predict reading and writing achievement beyond cognitive-linguistic translation for students in Grades 4 through 9 (N = 103) with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) in subword handwriting (dysgraphia, n = 25), word reading and spelling…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among oral language, decoding, and reading comprehension for children with autism. Participants included 13 English-speaking children with a diagnosis of high-functioning autism (IQ > 70) who were included in a typical classroom, and who had parents who spoke English. Parts of the…

Why assess? And what will I do with the results? This book examines classroom assessment (not standardized assessment) through the lenses of three ESL teachers from across the United States. The teachers face a number of challenges particular to their individual situations, and other challenges common to all U.S. public school teachers. Most…