In this study, it was searched for the extent to which proverbs and idioms were included in the children's books that were taught to elementary school students. Children's books which are taught at the stage of children's vocabulary enriched rapidly and significantly, present the vocabulary of the mother tongue and its universe of meaning to a…

According to the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (1996), "... learning cannot occur in college classrooms divorced from schools" (p. 31). University coursework that is paired with carefully coordinated field experiences as well as being supported by university faculty that are skilled in helping the teacher candidate…

Writing verse is a learning experience. Arranging words, sounds and syllables can turn everyday language into metered language (language that can be measured), and metered language is the definition of verse. This article discusses the use of meter in helping students establish sets of syllables and lines that can be counted, enabling them to…

The study focused on describing four autistic children's verbal performance regarding pragmatic ability of encoding new versus old information. Results revealed that the Ss did encode new information through lexicalization in single-word utterances and through contrastive stress in multiword utterances. However, they encoded old information almost…

A teacher of five hearing impaired children (9- 11 years old) with severe language acquisition problems analyzed the students' utterances according to the psycholinguistic theories of R. Brown. (CL)

Ways in which to use "picture talk" (proverbs, similes, idioms, and witcracks) in language arts activities for elementary school students are described, including: writing and illustrating expressions; changing expressions; and interpreting expressions. (CB)

A multilevel analysis of verbal and nonverbal factors, response latency, and intonation, in four autistic boys (4 to 9 years old) revealed that immediate echolalia is far more than a meaningless behavior. Seven functional categories of echolalia were discovered and are discussed in reference to behavioral and linguistic features of each category.…

A source-based approach to teaching vocabulary means starting with basic concepts that have been in human languages since their beginnings and then working with lexical and metaphorical extensions of these basic words. The purpose is not so much to teach children history, as it is to find groups of words. When words are taught in related groups,…

The article summarized findings on the oral output of 40 gifted elementary school children who voluntarily attended language workshop sessions. Students were offered a wide range of oral expression, yet they exhibited haphazard and inconsistent oral abilities. Recommendations are made to improve the linguistic abilities of gifted children. (CL)

The study compared semantic relationships expressed in the word meanings of 56 profoundly hearing-impaired subjects divided into children older than and younger than 9 years. Although there were significant differences between the groups on the number of semantic relationships produced, the groups did not differ significantly on the types or…

To make a spelling program more effective, use the children's spelling tests to analyse their errors and indicate spelling patterns. (JH)

Argues that elementary reading materials should reflect the advanced syntax already evident in the language patterns of most youngsters. (RB)

Describes a technique for getting students acquainted which involves having them coin words based on each other's first names. (DD)