Examines a number of ways in which the process of natural acquisition of American Sign Language (ASL) from competent adult and child users of the language might directly enhance the learning of English. The natural acquisition of ASL, contact signing, and fingerspelling may enhance English language literacy. (45 references) (MDM)

This publication is intended for parents, teachers, and anyone in the wider community who has an interest in language, language acquisition, and second language learning; bilingual and multilingual education; bilingualism; language, culture, and society; language and power; and literacy. Extensive long-term research was conducted on a number of…

Encouraging the appreciation and assessment of children's language and communication, from birth to the age of eight, is the focus of this volume. Following an introduction, chapter 2 elaborates on the interactionist framework, citing recent studies related to the acquisition of oral language and literacy, while the next two chapters describe…

The text presents an introduction to sociolinguistics for second language teachers, focusing on social dimensions of language likely to be of interest to this group. The first group of chapters addresses the manner in which the larger social and political context affects language broadly: "Language Attitudes, Motivation, and Standards" (Mary…