Linguistics research, including studies of classroom discourse and social patterns of language, seeks to identify the functions of language in learning situations. Future educational researchers need grounding in linguistics and other disciplines related to understanding the context of language use. (Author/SK)

F. Schrag is preoccupied with enhancing education, but who decides what enhancement is? He has confused positivism with empiricism. Positivism is a specific philosophical movement that is associated with logical positivism. The empiricism that Schrag labels positivism preceded the philosophic traditions. (SLD)

Responds to "Identity, Metamorphosis, and Ethnographic Research: What Kind of Story Is Ways with Words?" by Suzanne deCastell and Tom Walker (1991). Describes the author's reaction to "Ways with Words--Language, Life and Work in Communities and Classrooms" by Shirley Brice Heath (1983). (SLD)

Analyzing word frequency in six complete texts, a study investigated how vocabulary can be used to define texts. The texts included three stories from 5th and 6th grade readers, selections from literature anthologies for 8th grade and 12th grade students, and a magazine essay for adults. Results indicated that if particular words occur frequently…

Discusses various responses to the author's book "Ways with Words--Language, Life and Work in Communities and Classrooms" (1983). Describes how these reactions have led the author to see things in the work that she had not seen before. Strengths and weaknesses of the book she identifies have implications for the conduct of future ethnographic…

A paper drafted nearly 30 years ago defines distinctions between theoretical and ideological inquiry, between curricular and noncurricular events, and between instructional and agential kinds of curricular events. (31 references) (MLF)

An analysis of Korean language textbooks currently used by Korean children and of nationally-administered reading comprehension test items for high school graduates reveals a text-oriented reading comprehension approach in South Korea. Text orientation--seeing individual words, phrases, and sentences as semantically unified into a meaningful…

Incorporating an understanding of different varieties of English (particularly Cajun English) and the appropriateness of their use into the language arts curriculum can help speakers of dialects understand the origins of their language and the significance it plays in their lives. Educators who work with students who use Cajun English need to be…

Readability estimates are usually based on measures of word difficulty and measures of sentence difficulty. Word difficulty is measured in two ways: by the structural size and complexity of words or by reference to phonomena of language use, such as word-list frequency or the regularity of spelling patterns. Sentence difficulty is measured only in…

Investigates current generic referent usage among 1529 public school children in grades 3-12. Indicates that there was an overall relationship between referent usage and gender role orientation, with more use of nontraditional referents among students who projected themselves in nontraditional occupational roles. (JK)

Papers included in this volume are: "The Muted Voice of Immigrant Workers;""The Situation of Foreign Workers in Sweden"; "Situation of Foreign Workers in the Federal Republic of Germany"; "Teaching German to Immigrant Children"; "Using Language Typology in Contrastive Studies"; "On Determining…

Errors in second language learning are viewed as evidence of the learner's hypotheses and strategies about the new data. Error observation and analysis are important to the formulation of theories about language learning and the preparation of teaching materials. Learning a second language proceeds by a series of approximative reorganizations…

This study examines the effect upon comprehension, as measured by cloze scores, of material in mathematics that is rewritten on the basis of elementary and junior high school subjects' oral language patterns. Syntactic structures were identified which appeared to inhibit or facilitate comprehension for the subjects involved. The mean number of…