Originating from a study group at the Dartmouth Seminar entitled "How Does a Child Learn English?" these four papers agree that all psychologically normal children come to school already highly proficient in operating a wide range of language structure. The first paper synthesizes some theories regarding language acquisition and discusses the role of the teacher in fostering the child's growth in language. The second paper concerns itself with the role of reading, especially in the secondary school curriculum where it is urged that all language activities be seen as reinforcing each other. The third paper voices a concern for the misunderstanding of language observed in the educational process and suggests that the vicious circle can only be broken by introducing into initial and inservice teacher training a strong component of corpus-based linguistic study of a fundamental kind. The fourth paper discusses the role of the school in building upon the preschool language experience of children. (HOD)