Observation and interviews of the children in two third grade classrooms--one in which children write frequently and learn punctuation skills in context, and one in which children learn punctuation in isolation--suggest that punctuation skills are learned more effectively in context. In interviews the "writers" could explain an average of 8.66…

College basic writing teachers involved in student/teacher conferences should be aware of the negative effects that result from premature reassurance, assuring students of success too quickly and/or beyond reasonable expectations. The attitudes of basic writers can be divided into three general categories: (1) those who have always had trouble in…

This paper describes an instructional improvement approach which aims to assist educational systems to enhance their capabilities to plan and implement effective improvements in their basic skills programs, and illustrates how research on implementation and dissemination is used in the design and development of the approach. Four elements of the…

An overview of adult learning disabilities is presented with an emphasis on the most recent developments in the field. Areas discussed are definition, characteristics, current literature, and program design. Various definitions of a learning disabled adult are identified and the problems associated with these definitions are considered. The…

The Title II Basic Skills legislation, which is part of the Educational Amendments of 1978, requires coordination of basic skills improvement among related federally-supported programs. Coordination, while essential, is made difficult by the proliferation of agencies and bureaus concerned with basic skills and by the need for autonomy among…

As part of a study of basic skills of secondary education students, a study was conducted at Pennsylvania State University of the speaking ability of 43 prospective secondary level teachers. A rating instrument was developed based on a list of criteria considered important to teachers by speech communication experts and teacher educators alike.…

A semester-long faculty seminar at Hunter College involved teachers from 14 disciplines in weekly meetings regarding writing in the subject areas. Although the teachers read literature on writing and heard from outside writing experts, they spent most of the time working together on designing and criticizing writing assignments for their classes…

The purpose of this study was to survey alternative schools to determine what their English programs are like, what kinds of problems and successes have been encountered by their English teachers, and what suggestions they have for others who encounter similar problems. Questionnaires were sent to administrators and English teachers in a number of…

The Learning Skills Center (LSC) at Los Angeles City College is an individualized learning laboratory which offers assistance to students in communication skills and quantitative skills, and provides tutoring in all college-level courses. ISC's programs are diagnostic and prescriptive, and services are available to students on both voluntary and…

This paper discusses learning skills centers in Kansas connected with area vocational-technical schools and community junior colleges. These centers are designed to offer basic skills instruction in reading, composition, math, and study skills areas to students who cannot succeed in a vocational program because of deficiencies in one or all of…

Even though linguistics has freed us from misconceptions, we have continued to seek answers to usage problems primarily by looking to linguistics. The myth of the verbal authority of standard speakers has given way to the evaluation of statistical frequency of forms. No matter how extensive or accurate the statistics, they must still be followed…

Previous studies have reported that disadvantaged children tend to loose the skills and abilities they had acquired in special and/or intervention programs when they are placed in education settings which do not support their needs. Since the 1970 census data tended to indicate that the pupil composition of the schools had changed, it became…

Confluent education holds that any learning involves the affective as well as the cognitive domain. Affective components are present in the student, in the subject matter, and in the relationship between the two. Affect and cognition can be brought into meaningful relationship or "confluence" in classroom lessons which teach reading and writing.…

The back-to-basics movement cannot realize its full potential until the characteristics of the effective teacher are identified. Future research should identify these characteristics through comparisons of students' actual reading growth with their expected reading growth and should focus on the variables of the instructional process employed by…

Commonwealth Ministries of Education were asked to report on how they are undertaking the improvement of the quality of basic education in their respective countries. The papers in this volume focus on: (1) Nigeria; (2) St. Lucia; (3) Tanzania; and (4) Zimbabwe. Charts and statistical data support each country's report. (EH)