Alexander Graham Bell is often portrayed as either hero or villain of deaf individuals and the Deaf community. His writings, however, indicate that he was neither, and was not as clearly definite in his beliefs about language as is often supposed. The following two articles, reprinted from The Educator (1898), Vol. V, pp. 3?4 and pp. 38?44,…

This article critically reflects on the GUN CONTROL simulation (Salies, 1994a) by retaking ideas advanced by Salies (2002) and applying them to the context of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) writing classes in Brazil. It examines how controlled practice relates to learners' performance on the first draft in a simulation-based content unit…

This paper presents one example of moments of tension from a yearlong ethnographic study conducted in a college intermediate Japanese-as-a-foreign-language classroom (Kumagai, 2004). I define moments of tension as those moments when conflicts arise between an instructor's teaching agenda and students' learning agenda. Conducting critical discourse…

Preservice special education teacher candidates in higher education training programs are given little or no specific training in the use of basic native language or cultural academic instructional techniques to support the learning needs of students who have not reached a level of English proficiency. Preservice special education students are…

In June 2008, the Department of English at the University of Minnesota partnered with the Minnesota Spoken Word Association to inaugurate an outreach literacy program for local high-school students and teachers. The four-day institute, named "In Da Tradition," used spoken word and hip hop to teach academic and creative writing to core-city…

Recent research indicates that reading comprehension is the interaction of the reader's knowledge of the topic and the language with the writer's choice of content and use of the language. Classroom activities based on this research can lead to foreign language learners' successful construction of meaning from a written passage through oral and…

Instead of teaching three divisions (when-type clauses, conditional clauses, and wish-clauses), two units may be used (possible situations and contrary-to-fact situations). Suggestions are made for interesting class practice. (MSE)

By giving assignments to children in a field that inquires into the nature of language use, teachers can help enhance their total language development and sensitivity to language. To be most effective, such projects should involve children working interactively in groups; should require considerable time to complete and involve the solving of…

Creative writing is considered as a form of creative expression in which the child expresses his ideas, feelings, or reactions. This expression is original and spontaneous, and allows the child to organize his experiences so that they assume a personal meaning. With this experience, the child, through the process of symbolization, adds to his…

Dissects a student-written interview story to point out weaknesses resulting from the interviewer's failure to ask good questions and to evaluate and interpret the information given. (GT)

Describes three language-related assignments for advanced composition which focus on politics and the English language, symbols and dictionaries, and language as a combination of interpretive and manipulative devices using the techniques of new journalism. (HOD)

Notes that children often fail to interpret metaphors correctly and that instruction in basal readers is not always helpful. Offers a strategy that shows students how to figure out metaphors on their own. (FL)

Discusses examples in "Moby Dick" of Melvillean words symptomatic of the significance of Ishmael's rhetorical energy, in order to suggest that Ishmael's language reflects Melville's search for lexical and rhetorical forms that express the democratic impulse. (SRT)

Dispels teachers' notions that poetry is hard for the young child and suggests practical ways they can capitalize on most children's delight in language and extend that delight into the enjoyment of literature. (FL)