Cultural influences and the particular language needs of Eskimo children are considered, along with implications for curriculum and instruction. The Eskimos are of a culture and environment where there is little experience with the purpose of literacy and little exposure to reading and writing behavior, linguistic concepts, or language usage.…

The Structure of Intellect (SOI) learning abilities test and curriculum emphasize teaching that promotes individualized learning and divergent thinking and recognize special problems in identifying underachievers, minority gifted students, and differing abilities in boys and girls. The model addresses these variations by taking the view that…

Four elements are essential for efficient, effective, and rewarding teaching of beginning reading. The first is the use of children's key vocabulary. Children are asked, in a prescribed fashion, what their very best word is of the moment. The teacher prints it in a prescribed fashion and uses it to help children acquire one-to-one correspondence…

Examines teacher attitudes that inhibit experimentation and stifle the development of beginning writers. Illustrates the drawbacks of insisting on (1) using only one approach to learning to write, (2) keeping a quiet classroom, (3) fitting letters between the lines of ruled paper, (4) using primary pencils for all writing activities, and (5)…

Summarizes and updates original study done on reading and writing development of a preschool child. (SRT)

Described are the essential elements of memos; suggested are a basic format for organization, and two problems to which technical specialists' memos seem particularly susceptible. Included is a memo assignment used in senior design classes and professional development seminars. (MVL)

This article reviews the literature on the role of first-hand experiences, language, reading aloud, and scribbling on the preliteracy development of normal and visually impaired children. It describes a specific program developed by the American Printing House for the Blind which includes a handbook and 27 tactile-visual read-aloud story books.…

Public policy in France concerning the articulation of preschool education and primary education, particularly in the area of writing readiness and writing instruction, is discussed. A 1989 law expected to define, for the first time, the expected competencies at each educational level, was met with disappointment by early elementary school…

Writing to Read (WTR) is a computer-based instructional system designed to develop writing and reading skills of students in the primary grades. Evaluation of the WTR program in West Virginia was conducted with kindergarten students only. Thirty-one kindergartens in five counties were involved in the evaluation study as the treatment group,…

A study was conducted in which word processing and voice synthesis were used to teach beginning writing skills to kindergarten and first grade students. Subjects, 46 children from two elementary schools enrolled in an early education summer school class in writing, were randomly divided into three groups. One group was taught writing using a…

The elicitation procedures currently used by E. Sulzby in studies of emergent storybook reading were developed by addressing (1) how the wording of the elicitation request given sets up expectations on the child's part regarding language and behavior, (2) how the role that the investigator takes during the session affects the child/investigator…

A study investigated the writing behavior of young children in a home setting by collecting and analyzing writing samples of three children--Avaleigh, Adam, and Heather (aged four, five, and six years)--and interviewing them about the features, content, reasons, form, and other details of writing done at home. Parents kept a journal detailing…

Based on a seminal classroom research project directed by Dr. Donald Graves, as well as on the experiences of numerous children, teachers, parents, and researchers around the world, this book shows what can happen when teachers and parents realize that every child can write. Although the book is the result of a collaboration, the two authors have…

A study was conducted to examine writing development in first grade children. The writings from an entire classroom were collected. From these, six children's writings were chosen for cross-sectional analysis. Two children from this group were then selected for further in-depth case studies. Interviews, parent surveys, and observations were used…

To see what effects practice--frequent writing without teacher correction--would have on the writing of students in grades one and two in one small elementary school, writing samples were collected from all pupils at each grade level in October and May. Five factors were examined: general impression, length, vocabulary, spelling, and syntactic…