Presents findings from the first phase of a longitudinal study examining the development of articulation quality and specific phoneme awareness during the fourth year of life. Articulation and phoneme awareness of /r/ and a control phoneme were assessed for 80 3-year-old children. (Author/JL)

In this longitudinal study, reading acquisition was related to phonological sensitivity and rapid naming in young children. Phonological assessment consisted of rhyme and initial consonant discrimination, whereas rapid naming tasks were made up of pictures, letters, and numbers. Subjects were 95 children from two grade levels, primary and grade…

Investigated effects of first language processing on second language morphological awareness. Preliminary cross-linguistic comparisons indicated that morphological awareness in two typologically distinct languages, Chinese and English, differs in several major ways. Tested hypotheses from the study with two groups of English-as-a-Second-Language…

Reports on a study that examined the extent to which learners can make explicit first language rules that appear to influence their second language performance. The learners were 11- and 12-year-old francophone students learning English in intensive communicative English-as-a-Second-Language classes in Quebec. (Author/VWL)

In this paper, the authors explore a methodology for assessing learners' meta-pragmatic awareness of variation in French language use. "Meta-pragmatic awareness" is defined as knowledge of the social meaning of variable second language forms and awareness of the ways in which these forms mark different aspects of social contexts, and is therefore…

The development of pragmatic and sociolinguistic rules of language use is important for language learners. It is necessary to understand and create language that is appropriate to the situations in which one is functioning, because failure to do so may cause users to miss key points that are being communicated or to have their messages…

The multifaceted ways in which English Language Learners (ELLs) engage in "acts of identity" (Le Page & Tabouret-Keller, 1985) through their language use have created new challenges for ESL pedagogy. Heterogeneous identities have called into question the native speaker construct and the assumed links between ethnicity and language expertise.…

This paper provides an introduction to teacher language awareness (TLA) and a personal reconceptualisation of the relationship between TLA and other dimensions of teacher knowledge, revisiting issues discussed in Andrews (2001). In the first part of the paper, knowledge of subject matter is identified as the core of TLA. Given the increased…

Understanding a text requires more than the ability to read individual words: it depends greatly on vocabulary knowledge. This important book brings together leading literacy scholars to synthesize cutting-edge research on vocabulary development and its connections to reading comprehension. The volume also reviews an array of approaches to…

This paper reviews the role of black experience in worldwide literature, focusing primarily on particular texts from the viewpoint of colonial whites in South Africa. Black people were represented as savages, comic buffoons, or faithful servants and slaves; all three representations dehumanized, rationalized, and justified the oppression of black…

This report describes a project that used children's literature to introduce 6- and 7-year-old children (n=25) in the United States to other languages to arouse their interest in finding out more about language. Most of the children were monolingual and spoke English; two boys spoke some Spanish. The study was conducted to see if young children's…

It is argued that teaching and learning a second language for communicative competence should not lead to neglect of students' understanding of the way the language works, but rather should include constant development of language awareness. While use of the language in a variety of communicative activities is the central goal of instruction,…

Chapter titles in this book include the following: "Attitude and Access: Building a New Teaching/Learning Community in TESOL" (Julian Edge); "Here It Is, Rough Though It May Be: Basic Computer for ESL" (Alison Perkins); "An 'It's Not Action Research Yet, but I'm Getting There' Approach to Teaching Writing" (Neil Cowie); "Early Reflections:…

This paper traces the development of Language Awareness and Critical Language Awareness from their development in the United Kingdom to the Canadian school context and beyond. The term "Language Awareness" (LA), a feature of the British educational system since the 1972 establishment of national study of literacy in classrooms in the…

This book provides comprehensive resources for the critical discussion of major issues in learning to read Chinese from a child acquisition perspective. It is divided into 4 parts and 11 chapters. Part 1, "Theoretical Perspectives on Learning to Read" includes "Current Issues in Learning To Read Chinese" (Ovid J.L. Tzeng),…