Help adolescents learn and use the academic words that will assist them in school and beyond. The author argues that "words worth using" must matter to adolescents' authentic work in the disciplines and connect to their lived experiences. Rather than using a model of vocabulary instruction that positions students as passive recipients…

All students can benefit from a deeper understanding of how our language works. "Playing With Language" shows elementary school educators (K-6) how to think about, talk about, and manipulate language out of context. This cognitive skill set, known as metalinguistic awareness, is an important component of reading ability. This practical…

English language learners (ELLs) are the fastest growing population in the US schools (National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), 2011); these students are consistently outperformed by their White counterparts on the National Assessment of Educational Progress data (NCES, 2011). While traditional English as a second language (ESL) classes…

Describes how the author intentionally exploited students' strengths with linguistic play to allow them to use those strengths in processing their learning through literature and textual response in various content areas. Shows how informed teachers can use inventive language-play (especially limericks) as an important literacy-related strategy…

Notes that, although linguistics has had little influence on composition pedagogy, the study of functional grammar or linguistic performance (how language is actually used) is of direct value to composition theory. Offers an extended discussion of a functional approach to punctuation instruction, and proposes a functional approach in other areas…

Describes several successful lessons that provide students with new awareness of the English language. Includes lessons focusing on language change, onomatopoeia, slang, word origin, dialect, and language functions. (MM)

Contends that metalinguistic awareness can be used in a practical way to combat linguistic prejudice and bring about changes in attitudes. Describes two activities (developing a "greetings repertoire" and conducting an individual language profile) designed to assist children in understanding racism. (RS)

Pragmatic language awareness contributes to an integrated language arts curriculum for literacy acquisition. Teaching pragmatic awareness includes encouraging readers to devote conscious attention to metalinguistic aspects of text by thinking and talking about the message functions that the text uses. Lists seven approaches for teaching pragmatic…

This handbook offers a practical and comprehensive means of teaching and monitoring children's development of phonological awareness in the classroom. The handbook points out that studies have shown clearly that even informal phonological awareness activities, such as the natural and spontaneous word play found in stories, songs, and games, can…

A longitudinal study investigated the effects of an early intervention program with students who were identified as being at risk for developing reading disabilities. Intervention effects on reading comprehension and the developing relationship between reading comprehension and the linguistic processes of students were studied. The intervention…

This book addresses common questions to enable teachers to make informed decisions about the appropriateness of integrating phonological awareness activities into their language arts programs. The primary purpose is to call attention to recently published (mid to late 1990s) children's literature that can be used to foster children's…

Intended for teachers in Tasmania, this booklet focuses on guidelines for developing a language program for young children. Chapters are entitled: How Language Competence Grows; Language, Thought and Feelings Are Independent; The Child's Language Development Depends on Our Responses; and Growth of Understanding. The philosophy presented in the…

This report describes a project that used children's literature to introduce 6- and 7-year-old children (n=25) in the United States to other languages to arouse their interest in finding out more about language. Most of the children were monolingual and spoke English; two boys spoke some Spanish. The study was conducted to see if young children's…

This paper discusses ways to facilitate the emerging literacy of deaf children by encouraging bilingualism in American Sign Language and English within the context of what is known from research and practice about emerging literacy in hearing and deaf children. This approach focuses on enrichment by the addition of a second language (English)…

A discussion of communicative language teaching of children of about eight focuses on their unique communication capacities and needs, particularly in the school environment, on the importance of teaching communication strategies as a social and linguistic tool, on developing metalinguistic competence, and on the role of the imagination in…