Why do children from some minority groups and children living in poverty do poorly in school when compared to white middle-class children? Researchers have offered a large number of different answers to this question. One of the most popular answers has been based on the notion of "decontextualized language." This article argues that…

Halliday's view of all learning as a form of language development is supported as a first step, but an argument is made for a view of learning as induction into discourses as ways of being, not just ways of using words. (Contains 19 references.) (LB)

Articulates general principles of learning based on research of the earliest periods of language acquisition in childhood. The principles are meant to be suggestive and to contribute to the development of a first language acquisition-based theory of learning. (78 references) (MDM)

Examines the narrative story structure of a short American Sign Language narrative using stylistic analysis plus the structure of pausing in the narrative. (FL)

Argues that the focus of literacy studies or applied linguistics should not be language, or literacy, but social practices. Introduces a concept of language usage called "Discourse," incorporating words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions, and clothes. (FMW)

Proposes that literacy must be judged against social background. Analyzes the racial and social differences in the interpretations of a story by a working-class Black student, a working-class White student, and an upper-class White student. (FMW)

Considers the acquisition of language by deaf children of deaf parents and by deaf children of hearing parents in the light of such linguistic theories as Andersen's "nativization-denativization" and Bickerton's "bioprograms." Findings both support the theories and bring to light complexities that the theories do not exactly explain. (SED)

Defines literacy as the control of secondary uses of language. Differentiates between the natural process of language acquisition and the formal process of language learning. Discusses the social conflict involved for the minority group student in the formal classroom setting. (FMW)