This paper discusses the central theoretical aspects of the "Languaging in the Content Areas" (LICA) thesis, intended to provide postelementary reading with a sense of definition and purpose compatible with contemporary needs and conditions. The objective of the LICA thesis is not merely to teach students how to read critically what has been…

An Ontario program providing sets of problem-solving activities for native French speakers helps students in grades 7-12 enrich their language proficiency in both French and English. The guides developed as part of the program emphasize language as a tool for thought, social interaction, and artistic expression, and focus on the integration of…

This paper provides some examples of American English that have been borrowed from other cultures and languages, and proposes that teachers develop students' lifelong reading interests through the study of folklore and dialect materials. Language development and appreciation relate to personal identity development insofar as individuals express…

Reading teachers should choose activities and experiences for the classroom that are central to reading. Although a sense of security surrounds the teaching of testable finite reading skills, it is necessary to choose language arts experiences that are not so readily evaluated but still are basic to reading. Listening instruction can facilitate…

The study of literature in the secondary schools should not be based merely on affective and aesthetic grounds, but on cognitive and linguistic grounds as well. The facilitation of linguistic and cognitive growth can occur only in an environment that allows adolescents to experience literature on their own terms. The carefully structured,…

Elementary teachers should focus attention on language activities that involve naturally the reciprocal relationships among listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Teachers need to value, use, and make useful the background and language of all students, through a Language Experience Approach (LEA) in which students dictate and write about…

Research indicates the importance of the relationship between music, adult/child interaction, language practice, rhythm, repetition, familiarity of content, and story time, and a child's oral language development. Folk songs that have been illustrated and put into book form--"stories that sing"--can be used by parents and teachers to…

Research findings indicate that role play can contribute to children's language growth through furthering: (a) growth in imaging, (b) increased recall, (c) discriminative listening, (d) development of novel forms of communication, (e) learning of socially appropriate communication, and (f) motoric actions. Teachers can facilitate role-playing by…

Because the style and language of the black folk tradition have contributed significantly to the development of the English language, an analysis of black persuasive techniques and black communication systems can enhance the teaching of composition, rhetoric, and literature for both black and white students. Some of the persuasive techniques of…

This two-part paper emphasizes the importance of language enrichment and active listening skills as a basis for reading pleasure. While acknowledging the need for developing fundamental decoding skills, the first section advocates that adults read aloud to children from books reflecting the adult's reading interests, containing creative language,…

Literary instruction as a central element of language instruction for non-language majors at the secondary and college level is advocated to remotivate American students to learn languages. This approach is not directed at those who need oral skills, such as prospective language teachers, interpreters, and translators. It is suggested that more…

This review of research with children aged two to six on their reading, writing, and oral language development speaks of five roots of a tree of literate life that require nourishment in the soil of a written language environment. The roots discussed are the development of print awareness in situational contexts, the development of print awareness…

This document discusses the role of parents and the role of the community at large in the reading development and improvement of children. One way parents can assist in reading improvement is by surrounding their children with language from their earliest years. Nancy Larrick, in her "Parent's Guide to Children's Reading," suggests that parents…

The many ways in which children use language are examined in this paper, and classroom implications are outlined. The first part of the paper discusses such topics as young children's focus on meaning in language, teachers' tendency to examine language in terms of form rather than meaning, and the importance of the student/teacher interaction…

What has been called bilingual education in this country presently has as its sole concern the linguistic performance of the student, thereby neglecting the implementation of a coherent conceptual system which takes into consideration the ways in which the student comes to understand the world around him. Furthermore, bilingual education has not…