"Research Informing Practice--Practice Informing Research: Innovative Teaching Methodologies for World Language Educators" is an edited volume that focuses on innovative, nontraditional methods of teaching and learning world languages. Using teacher-research projects, each author in the volume guides readers through their own personal…

Presents an ethnographic study of a first-grade whole-language classroom. Focuses on the teacher's philosophical evolution and the pivotal classroom interactions that served to translate her beliefs into practice. Notes that, even for a master teacher, the temptation to retain control was formidable. (RS)

Reports on research that investigated students' perceptions of the purpose of certain whole-language strategy lessons. Concludes that, even in whole-language lessons, authenticity may be missing. Helps educators think more deeply about what literacy lessons should be like for students and how instruction can help develop students' strategies while…

Investigates whether teachers behave in ways consistent with their theoretical orientation to reading during reading instruction. Finds that a majority of the teachers did not teach reading in a manner consistent with their self-reported theoretical orientation. (RS)

A study examined the degree to which teachers employ or perceive that they employ writing/reading strategies in their classrooms, and their perceptions regarding the degree to which their school system should support that effort. A pilot sample of 15 practicing teachers was drawn from a demonstration school in southwest Louisiana. Subjects, 71 K-8…

This book, which focuses on the language arts teacher/researcher, is offered as a testament to teachers' expanding participation in collecting data and building theories about teaching, learning, curriculum, and assessment. The book's 24 chapters are grouped into four parts. The first part addresses general issues about teacher research: its…

A study was conducted to determine the appropriateness of a particular whole language program, entitled "Project Victory," designed specifically for a group of high-risk, seventh-grade students in a predominately urban intermediate public school. Subjects were 20 students identified as high-risk by their school district on the basis of…

A study investigated how a teacher managed her whole-language instructional approach within the constraints of the district skills-based evaluation program. Data gathering and analysis took place over a 5-month period in a first-grade urban midwestern classroom. Data included field notes, interviews, artifacts, and classroom observations. The…

Summarizes key characteristics of whole language. Theoretical views of learners, teachers, language, and curriculum are explicated. The strong research base for whole language is considered. Potential research on whole language classrooms is discussed. (BB)

A study examined how one sixth-grade teacher's theoretical beliefs about literacy and biliteracy were reflected in her instructional practices. The subject taught in an English-Spanish bilingual classroom in a public school located in a neighborhood of low- to middle-class families in a large, southwestern city. Data included field notes…

This Yearbook begins with a foreword by Janice F. Almasi that outlines some of the steps that the state of Maryland is taking as a leader in literacy education and literacy assessment, and the eight articles in this edition reflect many of these steps. The articles are: "Three Dialogues about Reading Engagement" (John T. Guthrie);…

Four issues of the newsletter of the Elementary Education Interest Section (EEIS) of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) are presented in this document. Issue number 1 of volume 15, focussed on defining "who we are," describes the nature and purposes of EEIS and contains brief accounts by parents, students, and…