Discusses current research on how children understand the symbol system and its link to meaning; how they learn to write like authors, including editing and writing for different audiences; how they learn to become literary critics and to discover new worlds in books; and how different classroom contexts can encourage different types of literacy…

Articles in this yearbook cover a variety of topics in the field of language arts instruction, such as applying recent metacognition theory in reading instruction; using of journals, videotapes, and humor in the classroom; training reading teachers; and improving students' speaking and listening skills. Articles and their authors are as follows:…

Focusing on the not-yet-conventional ways in which young children write and read--their nature, contexts, and significance for continuing literacy development, this book presents the perspective that children's early reading and writing behaviors are not pre- anything, but are integral parts of an incipient language process. Following an…

The reports of research in this monograph reflect 18 years of observation of the behaviors of children learning to read in New Zealand schools. The first section of the monograph urges teachers to look more closely at language behaviors in their classrooms to see how children go about the tasks set before them. The second section reports on…

This paper focuses on the mechanism by which the successful learner acquires a second language. The author postulates a core language, the common core of the speaker's native and target languages, and states that the second language becomes an extension of this common core. Whatever language-specific features are added while acquiring the second…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 40 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) the effects of oral reading of literature by teachers on reading attitudes of fourth grade students; (2) two instructional programs for teaching first grade…

This collection of essays, most followed by comments, reflect some aspect of the general theme: reading is a multifacted, complex, interactive process that involves many subskills and many types of reader, as well as text, variables. Papers include: "The Eclectic Synergy of Methods of Reading Research" (Ulla Connor); "A View of…

A collection of papers focuses on research perspectives and educational policy and practice concerning language in Africa. Articles include: "Language Policy in Tanzania and the Hidden Agenda" (Rehema Rajabu, Deo Ngonyani); "The Post-Primary Swahilisation Scheme in Tanzania: From Debate to Struggle" (Hermas Mwansoko);…

Focusing on future directions for English and reading research, the papers presented in this book examine the complex interplay of skills, processes, and classroom conditions that influence the development of children's competence in reading, writing, and the language arts. The titles and authors of the essays are as follows: (1) "Reading and…

A selection of 27 papers presented at the 1977 TESOL convention is presented. Part one contains the four plenary-session papers which present: a comprehensive view of the teaching-learning process and related interdisciplinary research; the scope of research on language teaching; some of the larger issues in bilingual education; and a perspective…

Television is of limited value to hearing-impaired children, who cannot benefit from the soundtrack. Traditional caption writing techniques, which involve editing of the audio track, have been based primarily on the captioner's empirical knowledge and intuition and aim the captions at a presumed average language and reading ability of the target…

This document is a compilation of the four issues in the 24th volume of "Classroom Notes Plus." issue of "Classroom Notes Plus" contains descriptions of original, unpublished teaching practices, and of adapted ideas. The August 2006 issue (v24 n1) includes: More Choice Leads to More Reading (Amy Ishee); Book-of-the Month Reports (Patricia Crist);…

The problems encountered by native Japanese-speakers in reading English as a second language are examined. The available literature on the subject as well as firsthand experiences in teaching English, developing reading materials, and conducting research projects are discussed. The discussion focuses on five major areas: the reading process; the…

This paper discusses a framework for designing online tasks that capitalizes on the possibilities that the Internet and the Web offer for language learning. To present such a framework, we draw from constructivist theories (Brooks and Brooks, 1993) and their application to educational technology (Newby, Stepich, Lehman and Russell, 1996; Jonassen,…

Papers presented at the conference on applied linguistics include the following: "Speaking of Grammars: Is Big Beautiful?" (Jan Svartvik); "A Sociosemiotic View of the Grasp of Language at Reality: The Lexical Field 'Aesthetic Judgment'" (Wolfgang Kuhlwein); "Language as a Target and Instrument of the Educational Process…