Presents conversations of a group of fifth graders collaborating on a social studies task to illustrate how childen use language to learn. Focuses on one student whose oral language was rapid and chaotic but who demonstrated extremely sophisticated and complex structuring of knowledge to understand a particular social studies concept. (HTH)

Illustrates how children constantly solve communication puzzles in the course of language acquisition and offers suggestions for teachers and parents to assist children in their understanding of language. (HTH)

Presents case studies of two first-grade children, examining their writing as a linguistic and social process that involves the child in an exploration of both oral and written language within the social context of the classroom. (HTH)

Touches on the cognitive and self-discovery processes and imagination and creativity children experience before their verbal skills are fully developed. (HTH)

Examines the reading and writing processes and their interdependence and urges the language arts instructor to be an audience for children's writing and to help them become aware that what they read is someone else's writing. (HTH)

Explores a five-year-old's writing about his liking for spiders to learn about the relationship between children's investigations of the world as information (content) and their use of language to do so. Discusses implications for teachers of children's ability to deal with concepts and vocabulary associated with content materials. (HTH)

Examines four different levels of development constituting writing as a technology for thinking. Discusses evolution (what speech affords thinkers), history (how text changed the collective construction of knowledge), ontogeny (how literacy affects the development of mind), and microgenesis (how writing facilitates thinking from moment to moment).…

Examines materials in the ERIC database that deal with the use of creative drama as a language arts teaching tool. Discusses the nature of creative drama and activities for the classroom. (HTH)

To determine student readiness in any academic subject, teachers must determine individual levels of cognitive competencies children possess.

Discusses research with children with learning problems to discover, through their narratives, in what ways they were disabled and what ways they were competent with language and to test the narrative mind theory to see if their stories could be interpretive metaphors for their lives. (HTH)

Explains new research findings about how children learn letter-sound correspondences, relates the findings to whole-language reading instruction, and outlines a theory for how children acquire the letter-sound system without direct instruction in phonics. Describes recent findings on phonological processes involved in learning letter-sound…

Considers how textual and digital visual worlds come together to create new ways of thinking about text and the nature of representation. Compares the graphic space of the printed page and the digital space of screen displays. Argues that each of these two mediums supports a distinctive yet vital way of thinking and that neither can be dispensed…

Claims that the way people symbolize their experiences in speaking, listening, and writing can help them to understand literature and, ultimately, their personal life experiences. Claims that making meaning is fundamental to all language learning and that reading literature is analogous to other language learning experiences. (JD)

Writing behaviors such as pacing, crumpling paper, and cutting and pasting are signs of growth requiring nurturance. (DD)

Discusses the value of reflective thought in classroom drama. Examines three levels of reflection in drama, discussing how integration of reflection and drama can become a medium for learning. (HTH)