There has been a resurgence of deficit discourses that implicate deficiencies in the language and culture of poor students as the cause of their academic failures. An influential study by Betty Hart and Todd Risley concludes that high levels of academic failure among poor children can be linked to the quantity and quality of language interactions…

No language acquisition theory has yet proved to be the correct one.

Literacy centers are widely used by teachers seen as being effective in promoting literacy (Pressley, Rankin, & Yokoi, 2000); yet little research has been completed on how or why they are effective. Based on the social cultural constructivist theory posited by Vygotsky (1978), and research theories of Dyson (1993), the peer dialogue at the…

Explores ERIC materials on various theories of language development and their implications for vocabulary development in classroom settings. Provides suggestions for enriching the school language environment to promote vocabulary growth. (HTH)

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)

An organic approach to the teaching of reading emphasizes the selection of vocabulary from the experiential background of the child. (JH)