This true longitudinal study explored the lexical development of L2 university English major students in Thailand using two learner corpora. This study analyzed the natural learners' English language writing assignments from two writing courses and tracked their lexical development over a relatively long period (three years with five batches of…

Since written assignments often constitute the main form of assessment in tertiary education, academic writing skills are of paramount importance to university students. The role of academic writing in turn emphasises two aspects vital for successful written production at universities: genre awareness as students are assessed on the production of…

How do teachers identify the potential for greater depth writing and encourage children to meet their full potential? This book was created by people who are not only passionate about primary education, but who are also leading experts in their own particular areas. They have made use of their wide experience to offer practical guidance on greater…

The author was invited as a teaching artist into a first-grade classroom in New York City to teach a 14-session poetry residency culminating in an anthology of student writing. They began by sitting together on a carpet by the interactive whiteboard and read aloud several examples of "I wish" poems from Kenneth Koch's (1970) wonderful…

Understanding academic vocabulary is essential to student success in school. Use of academic vocabulary words in writing is considered one of the strongest measures of how well a reader understands a given word. In theory, willingness to use academic vocabulary in writing indicates the complexity of acquiring representations of the word's…

This study examined the effectiveness of teaching methods used with a second language reading and writing unit. This investigation addressed discrepancies between assessment scores in the four communicative language skill areas of students in beginning-level Spanish classes at a suburban middle school. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to…

Describes a weekly vocabulary assignment for college students with poor reading skills and shows how it provides incidental reading and writing benefits. (RL)

Designed for elementary and secondary English and language arts teachers, this book provides 74 lists for developing instructional materials and planning lessons. The book also includes 89 practical activities and reproducible line master worksheets that motivate students to simultaneously improve writing skills, word usage, and vocabulary. For…

Describes a writing strategy that teaches students how to write a first person narrative and revise for more exact and fresh vocabulary words. (MG)

This paper focuses on ways to include collaborative learning experiences in reading/writing courses as a method of addressing the demands for improving the communication skills of college students. It includes suggestions drawn from methods used in a college developmental reading class (which can, however, be modified for other types of classes),…

Based on Erich Maria Remarque's novel "All Quiet on the Western Front" and other war literature, this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand that works of art about war can call up strong emotions in readers; and that the writing process can be applied to writing poems. The main activity of the lesson involves…

Based on Charles Dickens' novel "Great Expectations," this lesson plan presents activities designed to help students understand the differences between totalitarianism and democracy; and a that a writer of a story considers theme, plot, characters, setting, and point of view. The main activity of the lesson involves students working in groups to…

Intended specifically for tutors who want to use proven teaching techniques but who have limited time and resources, this book offers dozens of teaching ideas as well as useful information on curriculum development, instruction, and appropriate reading materials. The teaching strategies in the book were adapted from articles published in the…

The 31 articles presented in this book illustrate the success of initiating structure in English classrooms, at both the secondary and the college levels. Reflecting the notion that clear guidelines and explicit expectations--greater structure--will help both teacher and student work toward common educational goals, the articles are arranged in…

Ideas and guidelines for the organization of effective homework assignments, based on the principle that homework should offer opportunities for learning outside the classroom, are offered. The examples given are for English second language instruction as practiced in public secondary schools in Cyprus, but the principles outlined could be applied…