This dissertation draws on both qualitative and quantitative approaches to investigate the linguistic practices of teachers and children who are learning Mandarin Chinese as a Heritage Language (CHL) in two dual immersion preschools in California. CHL children have been interpreted as novice members in local speech communities who actively explore…

In three experimental studies of children aged 3 to 6, training was shown to improve both the mastery of grammatical rules and linguistic correctness. (MS)

THIS 10-MONTH STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO COMPARE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF (1) A HIGHLY STRUCTURED TEACHING PLAN FOR LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION AND (2) A DEVELOPMENTAL, FLEXIBLE INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACH IN CORRECTING LANGUAGE DEFICIENCIES. THE EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS WERE ESTABLISHED CONSISTENT WITH THE RECOGNITION OF THE NEED TO INTERVENE EARLY IN THE…

THE GOAL OF THE BEREITER-ENGELMANN PRESCHOOL PROGRAM IS TO GET DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN READY FOR THE LEARNING TASKS OF PUBLIC SCHOOL BY TEACHING A TEACHING LANGUAGE. THIS IS DONE BY MEANS OF A HIGHLY ORGANIZED AND STRUCTURED DIRECT LANGUAGE INSTRUCTION DESIGNED TO TEACH THAT A SENTENCE IS A SEQUENCE OF MEANINGFUL PARTS. THE CHILDREN BEGIN WITH…

The goal of instruction in mainstream dialect (MD) acquisition should be to expand students' oral communication skills to include skills needed for academic and economic success, thereby making alternate dialect speakers bidialectic. This implies recognizing students' home dialect as a valid linguistic system and a part of their identity. Although…