Beyond the first several thousand most commonly used words in a language, direct vocabulary instruction is not efficient. Use of inferential skills then becomes the most effective way of learning new vocabulary; it is the way native speakers build their 60,000 word vocabularies. Because the skill is not automatically transferable, it must be…

Describes a teaching strategy--word sorting--that helps students to develop more accurate and automatized word recognition and spelling ability. Describes a series of word categorization activities in which students compare and contrast various word features or properties. (MG)

The second of three skill sequence manuals for special education students considers the development of language arts. Objectives are listed sequentially for the following major areas (sample subcategories in parentheses): classification (listening/speaking, sorting, grouping); comprehension (affective, factual recall, following directions,…