The personal-growth model of the language arts, based on views expressed at the 1966 Dartmouth Seminar, emphasizes creative drama as important in contributing to children's language development. However, any increase in creative drama within language arts programs is jeopardized by current conditions, which include limited economic resources,…

Ninety-three third and 78 fifth grade students participated in this study of the effectiveness of four methods of teaching word meanings: association method, category method, context method, and dictionary practice. Students were taught twelve words a week for eight weeks, with the performance score on weekly evaluation tasks as the dependent…

One method of evaluating comprehension and language growth consists of analyzing the oral or written answers to questions about stories read to or by students and about visual representations. The method is applicable to various content areas at all levels of instruction. The T-unit or communication unit, the linguistic unit that cannot be further…

Several suggestions for interesting students in poetry and word play in the language arts classroom are presented in this paper. Activities recommended to establish a climate in which language play is a natural activity and to help students make connections between their own word play and that engaged in by poets include: expanding concrete…

This paper stresses the essential role of concrete play experiences in the early childhood curriculum. The paper examines the value of play, shows how to facilitate language arts development through planned play activities, notes that play provides the early sensory experiences that are the foundations for language arts development, points out the…

The purpose of this study was to develop a foundation for reliable and effective measurement of significant parameters in the development of written language skills in school age children. The subjects for the study were 25 nine-year-old children, 12 boys and 13 girls, who were randomly selected from among 1,559 participants. The findings…

A case is presented for a major overhaul in the language arts curriculum, based on the idea that traditional teaching methods, especially in reading and writing, that do not take into account children's natural tendency to make sense of their world and to base new learning on what they already know, are ineffective or even inhibitive of literacy…

Using children's books that reflect the cultural heritage of the American Southwest, this paper offers suggestions for integrating the language arts through reading, writing, and listening activities. Activities are arranged into two sections: (1) integrated language arts approaches to writing springing from Southwest picture books by Byrd Baylor,…

In selecting materials for English education (both preservice and inservice), it must be remembered that, although materials alone do not make the difference, selection of resources must be informed and careful. This paper presents guidelines for material selection in the areas of language acquisition, composition, methods for teaching the…

Language research over the past two decades has revealed that language is not something children "acquire," but rather a system they build. A key factor in this linguistic construction is children's interaction with parents or other caregivers. The studies reveal further that children's repeated interactions with books and stories and…

To ascertain what type of environment exists in elementary classrooms in the United States to stimulate oral language, questionnaires were mailed to 500 classroom teachers. Data from the 412 respondents indicated that 83% believed their college courses in language arts had not prepared them to encourage the development of children's language, and…

An approach to teaching reading and writing through the use of children's books, poetry, and songs are described. It is suggested that reading be taught by presenting in chart form the words that already have been remembered orally in song, rhyme, or story, such as "Polly Put the Kettle On" or sections from the "Little Red…

Mainstreaming students means moving them out of segregated learning environments in special education classes and integrating them into regular classes with "normal" children. Mainstreaming also has relevance to gifted children. Both gifted and handicapped students are searching for meaning, for which the primary source is language. The main…

Lev Vygotsky, in his book "Thought and Language," explores the relationship between thought and language. In school, children discover that there is a code (writing) that represents words. Writing is often difficult for students because it is an abstraction in which words are replaced by images of words, it is speech without an…

Since the time of E. B. Huey (1908), there have been clear indicators that oral language as a reflection of a child's linguistic ability has been clearly related to his or her reading achievement or comprehension. P. McKee (1937) and W. S. Gray (1937) both speculated that reading difficulties might parallel language deficiencies. G. Hildreth…