Describes cognitive restructuring, a refined and systematic method for treating anxieties such as communication apprehension. Contrasts cognitive restructuring with systematic desensitization, traces the development and research in support of this method, and details the procedures involved in its implementation. (JMF)

Discusses focusing, the manner in which speakers center attention on a particular element of discourse, and describes a process model of focusing that specifies what syntactic, semantic, and world knowledge constraints are needed for a hearer to track a speaker's focus in a discourse. (FL)

The objective of this activity is to help beginning students learn numbers and practice vocabulary and verbs in an interesting and meaningful way. In addition, the game is used to improve their listening comprehension and speaking ability. (Author/CK)

Asserts that students have difficulty presenting convincing arguments because they have little experience with well-reasoned argumentation. Outlines the parts of an argument and how to practice oral and written argumentation. States that students need specific criteria with which to analyze/evaluate writing and a gradual move from teacher-led work…

Examines the cognitive processes associated with speech and writing. (HOD)

Reviews evidence against theories about preschool childrens' egocentricity and cognitive ineptness in the areas of classification, communication, number and order concepts, memory skills, and capacity for reasoning about causal relationships. Holds that preschoolers have been misunderstood because researchers tend to approach them with tasks…

To help students organize and integrate new information with past knowledge, college reading teachers can offer students cognitive schemata that sort information into general and specific concepts. Without this ability, students will be unable to comprehend, analyze, synthesize, interpret, or transfer information. In addition, they will be unable…

Argues that literacy development should focus on thinking and speaking skills so that students can critically evaluate the oral and written rhetoric in their daily lives and become more articulate and lucid communicators. (HOD)

In response to Sawyer (EC 602 748), this article provides evidence from cognitive neuropsychological case reports that does not support the strong metalinguistic hypothesis, which contends that explicit, conscious mastery of the relationship between phonology and orthography is a necessary (and perhaps sufficient) precondition for the development…

Examines characteristics of the mental processes required for writing, compares and contrasts the nature of processing required for other cognitive activities, and reviews recent research on children's writing that reveals the advantages as well as disadvantages of superimposing writing skills over well-developed language skills. (HOD)

The eight articles in this focused journal issue are concerned with integrating reading, writing, and thinking, with varying attention to other language processes such as listening and speaking. The titles and authors of the articles are (1) "Does What You Read Influence How You Write?" by Dennis Adams; (2) "Dictation: Building…