Storytelling in the classroom has long been recognized for its many benefits, especially as a bridge from orality to literacy. With the changing demographic landscape present in current elementary classrooms across Canada and internationally, storytelling reaps additional benefits for promoting the goals of inclusion among diverse learner…

Metaphor-making is a universal human endeavor that manifests across cultures in various ways. Analyzing metaphors enables educators to gain a greater understanding of many social and cultural issues. Teaching children to write through metaphor based upon their emotional landscapes can reveal much of their inner worlds. Such texts can have a…

The authors examined inflectional and derivational morphological forms within narratives written by 247 3rd and 4th graders. Results indicate that children's control of morphological structures in their writing mirrors that in their speech: inflectional morphology is largely mastered by age 9 or 10, but skills with derivational morphology continue…

Research indicates that for students to perform well in speaking, reading, and writing they need to possess a rich vocabulary. Studies have consistently shown that "vocabulary size correlates with success in all areas of the curriculum" (Manning, 1999). This Topical Bibliography and Commentary reviews the recent research literature on the…

There are many ways and options available for children to publish their work, other than just writing for their teachers. This research summary discusses the benefits of publishing students' writing and ways that students go public with their writing: the author's chair, publishing individual authors, classbooks, classroom and school newspapers,…

This Topical Bibliography and Commentary reviews the recent research literature which focuses on writing--specifically, word choice in writing. The bibliography/commentary first lays a foundation that chronicles the importance of writing instruction in school. It then summarizes the importance of choosing quality words when writing, gives examples…

This review of the historical literature in language development focuses on the characteristics and development of written language, noting that since writing was considered a school function associated with prescribed sequential instruction, few investigations were conducted during the stages of initial growth in writing competency. Also noted is…

The purpose of this study is to show that children go through writing stages while learning to write. Understanding these stages can help children become more effective writers in expressing feelings, memories, and concerns to gain recognition with themselves and others. A literature review examined stages of writing and long-term results from…

This book explores the findings and beliefs researchers and teachers have shared about classroom practices and children's writing processes, highlighting representative studies with a focus on classroom application. The book examines subjects in a comprehensive review of recent research. It looks at past findings and presents challenging questions…

In the traditional alphabet, 26 letters represent 40 different and distinct sounds of the spoken English language in transcription. This prevents a one-to-one phoneme-grapheme correspondence since some of the written symbols represent more than one sound. These inconsistencies in the writing system, recognized as the source of difficulty in…

Analyzes the structural and thematic elements of three stories written by a sixth-grade Navajo girl to challenge the notion that a linear pattern of growth is followed by all children as they learn to write stories. The results question the assumption that certain kinds of narratives and their American Indian authors are less able or less…

Current middle-school standards require students to operate at levels of literacy never before expected of 10- to 14-year-olds. This monograph, written for teachers, addresses literacy development in middle-school students, stressing the crucial role of teachers. It suggests that teachers must change the core of educational practice and examine…