The second edition of this book provides the theoretical and practical foundation for a language development program in which all students become actively involved in communicating their high-level thoughts with exceptional competence. Preservice teachers vicariously enter 13 language arts classrooms in which they learn how the language arts are expanded from preschool through middle school. Inservice teachers can improve results in their own classrooms by comparing them with those of the award-winning educators described in the book. New features in the second edition include: (1) a new chapter and discussions within chapters on multicultural learners; (2) scenarios of how language develops from preschool through middle school in the lives of children from four distinct cultural backgrounds; (3) specific information in every chapter about addressing unique learning aptitudes of special needs students; and (4) thirteen thematic units that are provided as examples of how specific principles in each chapter would translate to preschool through eighth-grade classrooms. Each chapter in the book is divided into 3 sections: theoretical foundations, putting theory into practice, and the teacher as continuous learner. Chapters are: (1) Learning Language and the Language Arts; (2) Teaching the Language Arts; (3) Oral Communication; (4) Listening Development: A Student Centered Approach; (5) Increasing Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing Vocabularies and Word Recognition; (6) The Reading and Writing Connection: Comprehending and Composing; (7) Writing to Communicate and Think; (8) Revising to Clarify Meaning; (9) Spelling and Handwriting Instruction in the Language Arts Program; (10) Integrating Language Arts across the Curriculum; (11) Increasing Creative Expression and Viewing Ability through Poetry and Drama; (12) Increasing Thinking and Problem-Solving Abilities through the Language Arts; (13) Language and Cultural Diversity in the Language Arts Classroom; and (14) Assessment and Grading Options in the Language Arts Classroom. Contains approximately 600 references. (RS)