This digest discusses Language Across the Curriculum (LAC), an approach to teaching language that works with faculty in other content areas to identify the specific vocabulary and genres that students need in order to function effectively in another language in their respective disciplines. LAC also draws from the content-based approach to…

The Freirean approach to adult literacy education bases the content of language lessons on learners' cultures and personal experiences. This approach has been used in the developing world in successful native and second language literacy projects sponsored by governments and voluntary organizations in both urban and rural settings. The two most…

This digest focuses on foreign language instruction at the middle school level. In general, middle school foreign language programs have received relatively little attention. However, the increased emphasis within the field on longer sequences of instruction, combined with the conversion of junior high schools to middle schools has necessitated a…

This document reviews the history of compensatory education programs under the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act (Chapter 1), assesses the programs' current status, and speculates on their future paths. Part 1 is a historical review of compensatory education, identifying strategies, programs and services provided, ways it has been…

Given the global significance of Soviet-U.S. relations, elementary and secondary school students should learn about the Soviet Union, but most students graduate from high school with little knowledge and many misconceptions about this country. It is important to teach about the Soviet Union because of: (1) its emphasis in the U.S. media; (2) its…

Students of foreign language are being encouraged to learn and use a broad range of language learning strategies that can be tapped throughout the learning process. This approach is based on the belief that learning will be facilitated by making students aware of the range of strategies from which they can choose during language learning and use.…

At mid-twentieth century, the dominant framework for lesson design--the programmed instruction format--was derived from efforts to apply operant conditioning to human learning. Cognitive psychology soon offered an alternative view, represented by Robert Gagne's Events of Instruction, which became the dominant framework through the end of the…

This Digest focuses on the method of teaching foreign languages in Kindergarten through Grade 8 using content-based instruction. In this approach, the foreign language is used as the medium for teaching subject content, such as mathematics or social studies. In content-based instruction, students become proficient in the language because the focus…

To help teachers and administrators of American Sign Language (ASL) design and implement effective ASL programs, this Digest answers questions about ASL and the essential components of an ASL program, including ASL course design, methods and approaches for teaching ASL as a second language, and ASL instructional materials. (nine references) (VWL)

This digest addresses issues that should be considered in proposing technological solutions to the problems of public education. Although the potential benefits of the widespread application of media to instruction are supported, emphasis is on the need to define technology as a technique of designing instruction, rather than the more common…

Learning science through design offers students the opportunity to engage in real-life problems from an interdisciplinary perspective. This ERIC Digest explains the power of "design" as a teaching tool, what it brings to teaching, and what learning through design entails. (YDS)

Summarizes some of the conclusions of certain chapters in the recently published "Handbook of Reading Research" in which research on instructional practice was synthesized and critiqued. (HOD)

Curiosity is a heightened state of interest resulting in exploration, and its importance in motivating scholarship cannot be ignored. It is also a critical component of creativity, and fostering curiosity and creativity in today's learners is a challenge faced by educators and instructional designers alike. Following a background on the definition…

This book highlights information from a project that focused on where and how content-based English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction has been implemented in pre-K through Grade 12 classrooms in public schools across the United States. A database was constructed of 3,000 public schools that have content-ESL programs. Descriptions of the…

With the purpose of highlighting the lessons to be learned from immersion programs, this digest presents selected findings from research carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of immersion programs in Canada and the United States. These lessons are related to the importance of: (1) integrating language with content instruction (when second…