Background: A significant number of pupils in UK schools learn English as an additional language (EAL). Relative differences between the educational attainment of this group and monolingual, English-speaking pupils call for an exploration of the literacy needs of EAL learners. Aims: This study explores the developmental progression of reading and…

Definitions by elementary students were scored for conformity with Aristotelian form and information quality. School exposure to English was correlated with quality and quantity of formal definitions given. Results of this and a similar French-as-a-Foreign-Language exercise indicate that definitional ability depends on opportunity to practice…

Finds the test useful but criticizes its lack of generalizability of norms and the absence of reliability, validity, or normative information for the Spanish version. (FL)

This study examined the receptive vocabulary of 102 first-, third-, and sixth-grade Spanish/English bilingual students of Hispanic origin. It found that, although students in all three grade levels functioned comparably well on the Spanish instruments, performance on the English instruments increased with grade level. (41 references) (MDM)

Investigation of fourth-, sixth-, and eighth-graders' knowledge of derivational morphology and the relationship between that knowledge and their ability to spell derived words, found that, while there was a strong developmental trend in both the mastery of derivational morphology and the spelling of derived words, spelling performances lagged…

Presents ways adults in Montessori 6-to-9 classrooms can help students expand their vocabularies. Suggestions for building vocabulary and understanding include using Command Cards to teach a variety of verbs, providing opportunities to play with words and memorize poetry, and making classical literature available. Maintains that lack of concern…

This article examines the linguistic benefits of Latin in light of recent research which seems to document the relevance of Latin in building English vocabulary and reading skills. Evidence is cited from eight educational projects in which an experimental group of students taking Latin, and a control group not taking Latin, were pretested,…