Proposes an alternative view to emergent literacy whereby it is a separate construct from oral language and metalinguistic skills. Also proposes that emergent literacy is composed of two distinct components: children's conceptual knowledge and children's early procedural knowledge of writing and reading. (Contains 60 references and 5 tables.) (GCP)

Traces the history of the British language-awareness (LA) movement from its grassroots origins, through its confrontation with the establishment, to its eventual academization. Provides an extended definition of LA, compares LA with the complementary and parallel enterprise of consciousness raising, and cites new developments in the fields of…

The problem of providing a systematic understanding of Language Awareness (LA) is reviewed. Topics covered include principles behind the various terms used to refer to LA and types of knowledge about language, intervention, and the value of studying genre awareness. (39 references) (Author/LB)

Examines cognates (lexical items from different languages that are identified by bilinguals as being the same thing), arguing that the Cohort Model effectively explains cognate properties and that cognates should be defined in terms of their structural representations and the processes that activate and select them. (79 references) (Author/CB)

Twenty years ago, Michael Halliday proposed a less isolationist approach to English teaching via "awareness of language." After debate, the idea won the support of two national committees on English teaching. The debate is reviewed and the question is asked: Will teachers of English and other languages learn to cooperate? (12 references)…

The ultimate goal of reading is to construct text meaning based on visually encoded information. Essentially, it entails converting print into language and then to the message intended by the author. It is hardly accidental, therefore, that, in all languages, reading builds on oral language competence and that learning to read uniformly requires…

Certain aspects of meta-linguistic awareness are known to be essential for bilingual children's literacy acquisition. Phonological awareness is one of these skills. Beginning with a discussion of a pivotal developmental research model of control & analysis of cognitive skills in bilinguals, this review will discuss several studies that explored…

Studies of the impact of formal instruction consistently show that more instruction results in modest increases in consciously-learned competence, a conclusion that is consistent with the claims of the monitor hypothesis. Reviews research in which the impact of direct instruction in grammar is measured directly, discusses individual studies…

This article explores some roles for conversation analysis (CA) as an approach to second and foreign language learning by examining the initial segment of a Gesprachsrunde, a dyadic conversation-for-learning conducted between a beginning learner of German as a foreign language and a native speaker of German. The analysis focuses on the situated…

Discusses four general areas of linguistics studies that are particularly relevant to literacy issues: (1) discourse analysis, including text analysis, spoken and written language, and home and school discourse; (2) relationships between speech and writing, the distance between dialects and written norms, and developmental writing; (3)…

Suggests a culture-independent analytical framework, based on natural semantic metalanguage developed by the author, to explore and analyze six Japanese culture-specific and culturally revealing concepts and show how the semantic metalanguage helps to make the concepts clear and facilitate better insight into Japanese culture and society. (102…

Two articles examine Ebonics and its relation to the teaching of English as a Second Language. The first suggests that teachers of English, literacy instructors, and educational policy makers need to take language differences into account. The second suggests that the issues around Ebonics are the issues vital to all language educators--language,…

A survey of textbooks and official Ministry of Education programs of study for the Province of Ontario, Canada, revealed three stages in the history of teaching English language in intermediate and secondary schools. Prior to the mid-1960s language study was fundamentally the study of formal grammar and standard usage. From the mid-1960s until the…

In its life-time, the profession of language teaching has undergone many changes. Early attempts at language teaching almost entirely lacked a theory base. In the 20th century, however, two sets of language teaching methods emerged; the first set borrowed theories from psychology, linguistics, and sociolinguistics whereas the second set was based…

Examines trends in second language (L2) communication strategy (CS) research. A comprehensive review is included of the relevant literature from the last two decades, with particular reference to the different ways in which CSs have been defined and to the corresponding influences on the organization of strategy taxonomies. (92 references)…