Oral language is foundational to literacy. Because their language is under construction, emergent bilingual students have unique needs related to literacy development regardless of the language of instruction. Knowledge teachers gain through formative assessment of student oral language can guide decisions about literacy instruction. The purpose…

The purpose of this case study was to explore first and second grade teachers' knowledge and perceptions of African American Language (AAL) and its speakers, as well as implementation of instructional practices for supporting African American students whose first language is AAL, a form of Ebonics, in acquiring proficiency in SAE and accessing the…

This action research study explored first and second grade classroom teachers' knowledge of oral language development and interventions for students at-risk of an oral language delay. This was accomplished through collaboration between a speech-language pathologist and classroom teachers. The data was aligned with assessments, the Response to…

The present study investigated the efficacy of early English immersion in the Shi Da Fu Elementary School in Xi'an, China. Three hundred and fifty one students were tested in Grades 1-6. There were two main purposes that motivated this longitudinal and cross-sectional study. The first goal was to compare the L1 and L2 language and literacy…

Many English language learners (ELLs) in schools experience reading difficulties, particularly Spanish-speaking students. This is a serious problem given the tendency for struggling readers to fall further behind as they advance in school. This issue becomes more pressing as the number of ELLs enrolled in schools rises and the availability of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ways second grade children signaled the meanings they made from pictures and print and to identify ways they signaled new meanings when transmediations between these two semiotic systems took place. The study was a mixed methods study using qualitative methods in a case study format for the first…

With budget cuts and the heavy emphasis placed in recent years on student achievement in language arts and mathematics, arts instruction has been greatly reduced in California elementary schools. Yet the research literature has shown arts instruction to be associated with improved literacy skills (Bransford & Schwartz, 1999). Podlozny (2002),…