Contains representative selections from issues of "Elementary English," a precursor to "Language Arts," from its fourth decade of publication. Includes articles, editorials, and ads reflecting contemporary concerns of English education still relevant today, such as censorship, criticism of reading instruction, and the evolution…

When task-related variables are carefully controlled, the referential communication paradigm provides a useful assessment tool for focusing on characteristics of the speaker in a communicative setting. It serves as a useful instructional tool by providing negative listener feedback for inadequate descriptions. (Author)

Designed for publishers and producers, this document initiates the annual subject area(s) adoption of basic instructional materials for California schools, kindergarten through eighth grade. The document presents an overview of the total instructional materials adoption-distribution process, specific instructions relating to initial submissions…

Sentence combining can act as a corrective for the large number of language arts lessons and activities that emphasize errors. Based on familiar sentence patterns, sentence combining provides models of effective language use and encourages students to examine and try more expressive and interesting styles of speaking and writing. Sentence…

THE EXPRESSED DESIRE OF NEWARK LANGUAGE ARTS TEACHERS FOR PERSONAL INVOLVEMENT IN CURRICULUM ASSESSMENT AND SHAPING LED TO THE FRAMING OF A QUESTIONNAIRE TO GIVE TEACHERS A MEANS OF EVALUATING LANGUAGE ARTS PROGRAMS AND OF SUGGESTING IMPROVEMENTS. AN ANALYSIS OF THEIR RESPONSES IDENTIFIED "CLEARLY EMERGING NEEDS" FOR--(1) A SOUND PHILOSOPHY ON…

Part of the Oregon Elementary English Project, this unit focuses on variation in language. Consisting of fourteen individual lessons, the unit begins with a series of lessons whose purpose is to develop students' ability to recognize ways in which objects belonging to the same set may differ. These lessons serve as preparation for observing the…

Articles written by members of the Commission on Composition which define how and why to teach composition at all school levels are contained in this publication of the National Council of Teachers of English. Each article is on a major topic and is not a committee report, but is based on the author's own philosophy and experience. Among the…

Describes the objectives and background of a project designed to implement change in a school district's written communication program and analyzes the data obtained from writing evaluation forms. (HOD)

Responds to an article published in an earlier issue of this journal that outlined a way to create an "autobiography club" for new teachers in which they might share within a group their experiences and problems. Suggests a series of studies that might be conducted to complement and parallel those initiated by the first author. (HB)

Considers the role of story and narrative genres in early years classrooms. Studies the reading, writing, and role-playing activities of students. Argues that the children observed developed an understanding of the nature of genre, genre differentiation, and power relationships in a sophisticated and integrated manner. (HB)

Describes a program that teaches reading and thinking strategies through a student-centered, literature-based curriculum designed to increase students' cognitive strategy use, reading achievement, self-esteem, and critical-thinking abilities. An experiment demonstrated that 178 elementary school students in the program outperformed 174 control…

Curriculum leaders, program specialists, and teachers can intentionally arouse the activation of one hemisphere of the brain over the other through the use of right brain strategies in language learning. While most functions of the left hemisphere are concerned with convergent production (getting the right answer), functions of the right…

Research concerning the applied educational potential of Richard Atkinson's mnemonic "keyword method" is reported in this paper. Included are possibilities for stretching the limits of the keyword method by combining it with other mnemonic and prose-learning strategies. The first half of the paper provides an overview of mnemonics--the…

In conjunction with the New Mexico State Department of Education's Writing Appraisal Program for high school students, a project was designed whose central goal was to identify and clearly delineate writing competencies for students in the younger grades. A pilot project first collected student writing samples and descriptive data from third and…