Children who are learning English as an additional language (EAL) need opportunities to learn English in playful, engaging ways. Nursery rhymes offer an effective forum to explore a wide range of vocabulary and grammar knowledge in a manner that is comprehensible to EAL pupils by using gestures, visuals, and props to support oral language…

Despite a wealth of scholarship documenting its linguistic complexity, students in the United States are rarely encouraged to speak or write in African American Language (AAL) in their primary classrooms. The authors documented how one teacher and his highly diverse second-grade class examined, explored, and experimented with AAL in an…

The International Literacy Association is a global advocacy organization, and literacy is viewed as a human right worldwide. This department highlights research and research-to-practice at the international level to bring global best teaching practices to the forefront. Topics may include best practices for literacy instruction in Europe or other…

The reemergence of grammar instruction in the Common Core State Standards has likely left teachers confused. On the one hand, they have been told repeatedly that grammar instruction does not improve student outcomes, and can, in fact, be "harmful" to students. However, on the other hand, many Anglophone countries, including the United…

The primary focus of this piece is the fundamental need to read to children to set the scene for their literacy development. It is asserted, reading to all children should happen daily for the first three years of their schooling. The reasons for this assertion are explored and explained: a vast vocabulary is gleaned, learned and used; the simple…

This article makes use of Perfetti's Lexical Quality Hypothesis as a perspective for thinking about vocabulary instruction in terms of semantics (meaning), phonology (pronunciation), orthography (spelling), morphology (meaningful word parts), and syntax (how words function in sentences). Examples are presented of how these aspects of vocabulary…

Analyzes the order in which selected structures of English are acquired by young speakers of English vs speakers of Cantonese, Spanish, Tagalog, and Ilokano and draws implications for instruction. (MKM)

Many approaches to literacy instruction treat language as an object of study. The curricular assumptions that inform such instruction are that language is located outside the person, extracted from context, neutral, and explicable through defined rules. An underlying assumption in many language arts classrooms is that children will not pay…

Presents instructional strategies that integrate syntax instruction with literacy instruction, while maintaining the integrity of language and the literacy process. Discusses using authentic texts and keeping the literacy process whole, manipulating sentence structures in context, and revising linguistic priorities. (SR)

Presents examples of syntactic structures that may confuse children when reading. Suggests ways in which teachers can help overcome problems presented by these structures. (FL)

Offers suggestions from six contributors regarding a variety of classroom activities, including the use of high interest-low vocabulary books with gifted and average readers, an exercise in sequencing, a Halloween project to improve students' grammar, a technique to improve students' dictionary skills, and methods for helping students write books.…

Analyzes the oral reading performance of four Navajo children and notes that they believed the purpose of reading was to produce acceptable English grammar. (MKM)