Teaching reading successfully requires deep knowledge of the reading process and development, as well as the implementation of impactful reading instruction and differentiation. This book aligns Montessori didactic materials and pedagogy, developed over a century ago, with current research on reading development. Readers will gain a solid overview…

Describes a study in which drama and sign language were used in a multisensory approach to language learning to tap the physical, kinesthetic, and visual abilities of four-year-old Head Start children. Finds that the teacher-directed activities resulted in significantly higher scores for children in the treatment group. (PRA)

We examine the influence of inferring interlocutors' referential intentions from their body movements at the early stage of lexical acquisition. By testing human participants and comparing their performances in different learning conditions, we find that those embodied intentions facilitate both word discovery and word-meaning association. In…

Language learning and language teaching are discussed in terms of H.E. Palmer's theory that language can be divided into primary matter (units learned by heart integrally) and secondary matter (units built up or derived by the pupil from primary matter). Excerpts from the "Nuffield German Teaching Materials" are used to illustrate how…

This summary report to the families of the subject children involved in the Pre-School Project outlines in a non-technical manner the methods and category systems used to examine the information gathered and to interpret the findings drawn from the data. The two major interests of the Pre-School Project were: (1) the moment-to-moment experience of…

This book treats the skills of language which are basic to all learning. Chapter 1 begins with an explanation of language and its stages of development. It also describes the kinds of interaction the child experiences with people and the impact of this interaction/on the child's self-image. Other sections of this chapter discuss children as poets,…