This article reviews recent research on children's knowledge and acquisition of derivational morphology across studies of listening, speaking, reading, and spelling. The paper concludes that this dimension of language organization deserves more attention than it now receives in language instruction. (Author/JDD)

A theory of learning based on recent insights from sociology and semiotics is explicated. Building on the work of Vygotsky, Dewey, Halliday, Barnes, Deely, Eisner, and others, this sociosemiotic model of learning is used as a frame of reference for thinking about the process by which texts are created from sensation. It is argued that the process…

Presents evidence revealing the complexity of young children's language understandings with regard to spelling patterns, parts of speech, and vocabulary; points out that teachers must build upon the language knowledge that children bring to school. (GT)