Describes several successful lessons that provide students with new awareness of the English language. Includes lessons focusing on language change, onomatopoeia, slang, word origin, dialect, and language functions. (MM)

Describes one teacher's attitudes concerning the disappearance of the use of apostrophes for possessives not only in student writing but also professional media. Provides numerous examples of both. (HB)

This article looks at the competing language ideologies that preschool children negotiate in "Mi Clase Magica" (MCM), a Spanish-English bilingual/bicultural after-school program in San Diego. It examines children's language choice in interactions with peers and adults taking place at computer and "tareas" (homework) activities.…

How do students who do not identify as gay interrupt the institutionalized silence pervading the issue of heterosexism in public schools? Drawing on data from practitioner research conducted with high school students, I illustrate one such journey where students with situated privilege chose to challenge heterosexism. Analysis of field notes,…

Writing is difficult for students who are learning English, as they often struggle to express what they really want to say. Writing is difficult for their teachers, too, who often struggle to respond in ways that are helpful. In this article, the authors offer an approach that looks at students' writing from a functional linguistics perspective,…

Based on empirical research and qualitative analysis, this paper aims to explore the effects of L1 use on L2 vocabulary teaching. The results show that, during L2 vocabulary teaching process, the proper application of L1 can effectively facilitate the memorization of new words, and the bilingual method (both English explanation and Chinese…

A discussion of approaches for teaching foreign language vocabulary is based on the distinction between "declarative knowledge" of the meanings of words and the procedures used for achieving this declarative knowledge. These procedures form part of individuals' knowledge of how to negotiate meaning. It is proposed that a communicative view of the…

The language journal can be an effective aid for teaching students to be aware of and sensitive to language. Students write down any observations that interest them about the language they hear or read in everyday life, together with their speculations on the causes of such language. The journal is devoted specifically to language because an…

Describes a study to determine whether instruction in general semantics would reduce ethnic prejudice in high school students and to create a course of study in general semantics which would cause a reduction of ethnic prejudice. (TO)

Full reading comprehension is dependent on a knowledge of language usage, specifically, how syntactic constructions function in relation to pragmatic knowledge. To avoid some of the problems which might arise concerning the pragmatic aspects of reading comprehension, the following steps may be taken: teach children very early the relationship…

A justification is offered of a professor's belief in the importance of teaching the art of being articulate and the contention that a person who cannot express himself clearly in speech or writing cannot think clearly. The difference between good and bad writing is objectively demonstrable and not dependent upon sociology, morality, or relevance.…

A model for teaching writing, which takes into account different kinds of school writing and a combination of oral and writing skills, is suggested. (Author/AM)

Language learning is not maximally efficient without intentional practice following tests that evaluate student achievement of an instructional objective. Post-evaluation practice must be at increasing intervals to maximize student retention, and must sometimes be unscheduled, to achieve automatic language usage. A distribution schedule and types…

Uses Grimm's fairy tales to teach students how to read critically for appropriate quotations and proper stylistics for including them in writing. (HTH)

Discusses the origins of the language across the curriculum movement and its current status in various countries. Includes a bibliography intended to help shift focus from writing across the curriculum to language across the curriculum. (HTH)