Teachers spend a lot of time finding 'just right' picture books for their students. However, much of what is known about a book's difficulty level was developed with native English speakers. More needs to be developed with the distinctive characteristics of English Learners (ELs). This study reports on the selection of picture books to teach in an…

There is resounding evidence of the existence of direct precursors of written language, most specifically phonological awareness, letter knowledge, vocabulary, and oral comprehension. The initial differences identified in the development of written language precursors are directly related to subsequent students' academic trajectories.…

Alternative approaches to assessment in education (many of which are linked to inclusive and antiracist pedagogies) are gaining in popularity across the board, from PK--12 to higher education (Esquivel, 2021; St. Amour, 2020). One such antiracist assessment strategy is using labor-based grading contracts (LBGCs), popularized by Inoue (2019; see…

Despite the increased use of integrated tasks in high-stakes academic writing assessment, research on rating criteria which reflect the unique construct of integrated summary writing skills is comparatively rare. Using a mixed-method approach of expert judgement, text analysis, and statistical analysis, this study examines writing features that…

This article reports on part of an ethnographic research project undertaken over a period of 20 months in Leeds, UK, with a youth spoken word (YSW) poetry organisation. The research focused on the fluid practices in which the youth engage that span spoken, written, visual, gestural, digital, musical and spatial modes, and across times and places.…

This study examined the effect of a principle of social influence--authority--on the informational elements in an investigative interview. Community participants told the truth or lied about a mock crime in a high or low authority context. Informational elements were coded from their oral responses in the interviews and written responses in a…

Many bilingual preservice teachers in Texas are not able to get certified because of language limitations. Although they have grown up listening and speaking their native language at home, with family and friends, many face challenges when using academic language in a formal setting. There is a mismatch between their language level and their…

Purpose: The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to examine the effects of a multitiered system of language support (MTSLS) on kindergarteners' narrative retelling, personal stories, writing, and expository language. Method: Participants were 686 kindergarten students from four school districts in the United States. Twenty-eight…

Purpose: In spite of improvements in language outcomes for children with hearing loss (HL) arising from cochlear implants (CIs), these children can falter when it comes to academic achievement, especially in higher grades. Given that writing becomes increasingly relevant to educational pursuits as children progress through school, this study…

Makassar language (bM) is a language of ethnic groups which is taught as local content subjects in schools, both in oral and written literary traditions. This study aimed to examine the behavior of affixes and clitic morphosyntactics in the passivation of Makassar sentences. Field research methods were used by applying the conversational…

Despite longitudinal studies conducted along written and oral codeswitching linguistic prevalence considering ESL context, none of the ensuing studies has attempted to propose a theory delineating the preceding occurrence committed by L2 interlocutors which add to the novelty aspect of this paper. The quantitative analysis redounds to the…

It has been well documented that oral language skills are precursors of the development of written abilities, meaning that improving oral language skills, e.g. vocabulary, listening comprehension, could have positive effects reading comprehension. The main aim of the present study was to analyze the effect of a training program focused on four…

While it is common for deaf children to be bilingual in a spoken and signed language, studies often attribute any delays in language acquisition to language deprivation, rather than as a result of cross-linguistic interaction. This study compares the production of simple sentences in three languages (Palestinian Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, and…

It is well known that English speakers produce fewer pronouns when discourse contexts include more than one entity that matches the gender of the pronoun, i.e., gender effect. It is controversial, however, what causes the gender effect. Some suggest that it results from speakers' avoidance of linguistic ambiguity, while others suggest that it…

There is a disconnect between what most curricular documents suggest about connecting classroom pedagogy with learners' language and everyday context, and what the language of mathematics textbooks and the language of mathematics classroom practices present. Attempting to bridge this gap is often a design challenge for classroom teaching practices…