This study introduces the first Arabic Vocabulary Levels Test (Arabic-VLT), created for foreign learners of Arabic. We present compelling evidence to substantiate its validity and reliability. The Arabic-VLT was developed according to five levels, beginning with the most frequently used words (Level 1) to the least frequently used ones (Level 5),…

This article reviews methods for assessing vocabulary of young children with hearing impairments including naturalistic observation, parent report measures, and standardized vocabulary tests. It also describes procedures to assess word-learning processes. Cautions on the use of assessment tools with this population are reviewed and suggestions are…

The persistence of individual differences in phonological development of 10 normally developing children observed at age one and again at age three was studied. The children differed considerably in rate of vocabulary acquisition and relative phonological maturity and also in their general approach to learning. (Author/JDD)

Intended for elementary school teachers, researchers, and materials developers, this book presents a cluster approach to vocabulary instruction, in which words are taught in semantically related groups. Over 7,000 words from elementary school textbooks have been organized into 61 instructional clusters, each containing two levels of subclusters…

A correction procedure, including interruption, physical guidance, verbal instruction, and repetition, was used to train five students with severe/profound mental retardation to reject unmatching referents to their gesture mands. Trainers are urged to assess student response when items not matching the referent of a prior request are offered.…

This report details an exploratory study that employs qualitative methods to characterize the academic language used by teachers and students in 4th and 5th grade mainstream science classrooms. Teacher oral language, and to some degree student talk, was observed during content instruction. This type of data allows for a broad descriptive…

The three tests that make up this instrument are designed to assess the oral communication, grammatical fluency, and vocabulary development of students for whom English is a second language. The spoken English test comes in two versions: one with 90 items on a cassette tape, the other with 90 items to be read aloud by the examiner. Each version is…

This study with 12 2nd- and 3rd-grade students with mild disabilities compared memory for new reading words following instructional sessions in which either word meaning or phonic cues were emphasized. The phonic instruction resulted in a greater number of words remembered either within sentences or on word lists. (Author/DB)

This study conducted in a midwestern city, addressed problems experienced by learning disabled (LD) students in recalling specialized science and social studies vocabulary. This apparent problem was confirmed by a teacher questionnaire and analyses of types and frequency of test errors on recent exams. Students appeared unfamiliar with memory…

Describes a study in which elementary school children received different types of instruction about terminology used in explaining the water cycle. Results indicated that the group of students receiving hands-on instruction demonstrated a better understanding of the terms than did the other groups involved in the study. (TW)

Providing a foundation in which researchers may build future research and theory and in which teachers may design more effective classroom practice, this book presents 12 essays that bring together the contributions of researchers and teacher-scholars to present the significant theory and research related to the writing process. The book is…

This paper discusses some of the results of a study conducted in Papua New Guinea on students' comprehension of 45 non-technical words used in science classes. Four words, "component,""devise,""exert," and "random," are considered in detail. (CW)

This bibliography provides citations to studies of word/letter frequencies and vocabulary applications based on issues of word frequency. While the original intent was to gather information pertinent to developing communication board vocabularies for argumentative communication systems, these resources should be useful for a variety of word…

An alternating treatments design was used to evaluate and compare the instructional effectiveness of six treatment packages in teaching receptive picture vocabulary to 12 mildly handicapped children (ages 3-6 years). Independent variables in the treatment packages included: least-to-most prompting, correction, group instruction, and individual…

Examines teachers' differing uses of student-gathered data during science investigations. The results show that student language use and concept understanding differed between two different instructional approaches. Suggestions are provided for using student-gathered data in teaching elementary school science. (LZ)