This study uses miscue analysis to provide a window of insight on the literacy capabilities of children with autistic disorder. The participants are 9 children with autistic disorder functioning in the middle of the autism spectrum (not Asperger's Syndrome) and includes miscue analysis of 17 readings. The study sets out to identify and/or reveal…

This interpretive qualitative study explores the role of religion and/or spirituality in the work of secular educators. The experience of 18 K-12 and university educators--none of whom teach religion or work in religious institutions, all of whom claim their religion and/or spirituality influence their work--forms the data base for this study. …

Lexical use seems to represent one of the major problems Korean learners face in learning English. One of the factors attributable to the learners' lexical problems may be in large part due to the use of the Korean language as a medium of instruction in teaching English. Fifty native Korean students took part in this research. They were of 20 male…

Over the last decade, teacher preparation programs at colleges and universities across the United States have attempted to respond to the challenges of preparing teachers for the increasing diversity that is represented in public schools today. Teacher programs have responded to these challenges by altering courses, curriculum, fieldwork…

This study examined the effects of students' characteristics (gender, age, and first-language spoken at home) on their perceptions about problem-based learning (PBL). The study revealed that students from the fifth, sixth and seventh grades perceived PBL in a positive way but there were significant differences between the grades. The resources…

This paper describes how adolescent students responded to a poetry workshop in an English classroom where the content was derived from their knowledge from their various life experiences and understanding of world events. Informed by theories of New Literacy Studies, ethnographic methods of participant-observation were used to document an eighth…

This study examines the racial discourses of six and seven year old Puerto Rican children participating in small group literature circles over one academic year. The main research question is "How do Puerto Rican young children in a multiage classroom construct race through dialogue within the figured worlds of literature circles?" This study…

This dissertation describes an ethnographic case study of an elementary school in a border city in Southern Arizona. Its purpose is to explore teachers' professional lives at Cactus Elementary School (CES; pseudonym) through classroom observations, interviews and informal conversations. The majority of the fieldwork was conducted in the 2004-2005…

This paper presents the results of a small-scale exploratory investigation of code-switching (CS) between English and Farsi by 4 Iranian English foreign language (EFL) teachers in elementary level EFL classrooms in a language school in Isfahan, Iran. Specifically, the present study aimed at exploring the syntactical identification of switches and…

This paper reports on a study that investigated the beliefs about language learning of 120 Iranian EFL students and 16 EFL teachers. The primary aim of the study was to reveal whether there was any difference between the beliefs of Iranian students and teachers regarding different aspects of language learning such as grammar teaching, error…

This comprehensive exploration of theoretical and practical aspects of out-of-class teaching and learning, from a variety of perspectives and in various settings around the world, includes a theoretical overview of the field, 11 data-based case studies, and practical advice on materials development for independent learning. Contents of this book…

Equal educational opportunity for English language learners (ELLs) has been a goal of the public educational system in the United States. Language policy reforms have increased accountability in order for schools to improve student achievement and measure the progress of ELLs. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) requires assessment and…

In "True to the Language Game", Keith Gilyard, one of the major African American figures to emerge in language and cultural studies, makes his most seminal work available in one volume. This collection of new and previously published essays contains Gilyard's most relevant scholarly contributions to deliberations about linguistic diversity,…

The theme of this year's conference was "Check Your Vision for the Future" with papers highlighting emerging changes in language use and literature, as well as suggestions for improving language teaching and maintenance in the future. The plenary speech was given by Dr. Katie Drager, followed by student presentations. Following a preface…

This inquiry applied Bakhtin's dialogic process to the pretend play of preschool children using an interpretive approach. It used vignettes from videotaped data and Bakhtin's theories of dialogism and heteroglossia to provide an understanding of how children appropriate social roles and rules in pretend play and use a variety of "voices"…