In this article, the authors propose a revised way of thinking about reading levels, one that promotes a wider and more flexible view of teacher decision making about the use of leveled texts in classrooms. They share five key principles to consider when looking at the use of instruction that involves matching leveled materials with readers.…

Five educational leaders--John Downing, Richard E. Hodges, Charlton Laird, Pose Lamb, and Roy C. O'Donnell--offer reflections on significant developments in research on language development during the 1970s and on their hopes for language research and instruction in the 1980s. (GT)

Presents examples of young children using written language. Shows teachers and parents what they can learn from children's developing sense of written language. Suggests activities by which parents and teachers can spur child language development. (RL)

Discusses the collaboration that developed among two classroom teachers and a university instructor while one of the teachers visited classrooms to investigate the question: How can classroom teachers promote children's language and language skills? (HTH)

A participant in a British teacher workshop that focused on student talk describes the progress of the group toward defining the types of language they wanted to focus on in the classroom and the group's publication of weekly progress reports. (HTH)

Discusses materials in the ERIC system that deal with the concept of scaffolding, building on children's natural language, and ways teachers have translated the concept into instructional strategies. (HTH)

Discusses the many ways in which conversation surfaces in a seventh-grade classroom and the significance that talk has for the students' linguistic and affective learning. Contains excerpts from student diaries and teacher responses to them. (HTH)

South American educator and author Freire discusses qualities important for the teacher, his vision of education and the growth of young children, and the role of language and reading in that vision. (HTH)

Argues that culture, ethnicity, and class place the Puerto Rican student in a position subordinate to the majority and that administrators, teachers, and staff, by their tacit transmission of unstated norms, values, and beliefs, reproduce relations of domination and power and provide for differential schooling. (SRT)

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)

Discusses ways in which the regular classroom teacher can design language development programs for limited-English-speaking children. (HTH)

Searches for some precision in the discourse of whole language with respect to the role of the teacher as expressed in words such as empowerment, control, predictability, and authenticity. Observes and interprets the practice of two successful whole language teachers to refine understandings of these concepts as they are enacted in classrooms. (MG)

Discusses how the concept of "scaffolding," adult support of children's attempts to achieve an intended language outcome, has been somewhat misused in the schools, resulting in the support of the teacher's intentions rather than those of the child. (HTH)

Explores children's spoken narratives and the quality and purpose of Sharing Time in the classroom. Considers the quality and effects of teacher responses to students' talk. (HTH)

Argues that the specialized knowledge that writing demands can only be acquired through a particular kind of reading. Illustrates how this kind of reading occurs and considers ways teachers can facilitate such learning. (JL)