Participation in dinner table conversations offers children opportunities to acquire vocabulary, practice producing and understanding stories and explanations, acquire general knowledge, and learn how to talk in culturally appropriate ways. (Contains 1 table.)

A trend is emerging to open enrollment for honors and AP classes to all students who wish to take them. Teachers of these open enrollment classes may be facing several dilemmas. How can the high standards and academic rigor of the course be maintained? How can students who struggle to learn be supported in their endeavors to keep up with the…

The Association for Educational Communication & Technology held its International Convention in Orlando, Florida, October 18-22, 2005. The convention theme was "Exploring the Vision". Division report highlights include: (1) Reflections on a Convention: A Vision Explored (Wes Miller); (2) Definition and Terminology Committee (Al…

This article draws on work done in educational psychology to propose a new approach to generating a psychometrically-based measure of second language learners' strategic learning, operationalized as their "self-regulatory capacity," as an alternative to the scales traditionally used to quantify language learning strategy use. The self-regulation…

We examine the influence of inferring interlocutors' referential intentions from their body movements at the early stage of lexical acquisition. By testing human participants and comparing their performances in different learning conditions, we find that those embodied intentions facilitate both word discovery and word-meaning association. In…

This study describes the vocal development of infants born with very low birth weights (VLBW). Samples of vocalizations were recorded from three groups of infants when they were 8, 12 and 18 months of age: preterm VLBW infants with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), preterm VLBW infants without BPD, and healthy full-term infants. Infants with BPD…

Background: Although a number of studies have been conducted on normal acquisition in French, systematic methods for analysis of French and normative group data have been lacking. Aims: To develop a systematic method for the analysis of language samples in Quebec French, and to provide preliminary normative data on early lexical and syntactic…

This article addresses word study for upper elementary and middle school classrooms. Word study is often neglected in classrooms due to misconceptions and fears of classroom teachers, especially teachers of older students. Conclusions from a research project conducted with teachers reveal both positive and negative understandings of implementing…

The author asserts that "Children benefit when teachers and parents reinforce the same concepts and ideas. For this to happen, teachers and parents must have some knowledge of what happens in the classroom and what happens at home that support reading acquisition." In this article, the author describes several strategies that teachers can share…

Children sometimes seem to expect words to have mutually exclusive meanings in certain contexts of early word learning. In 2 studies, 12- to 24-month-old children and their parents were videotaped as they engaged in conversations while playing with sets of toys (sea creatures, vehicles, doll clothing) in free-play, storytelling, and categorization…

Assuming readers' emotional responses can inform literary analysis, this study of poetry readers featured an instructional intervention that involved modeling both cognitive and affective reading processes through a think-and-feel-aloud pedagogy. Eleventh-grade students in 2 conditions participated in a 4-week unit on reading poetry. Control group…

Individual differences in nonword repetition (NWR) show a particularly strong association with vocabulary acquisition for both first- (L1) and second-language (L2) learners, and they serve as a behavioral marker for specific language impairment (SLI) in children (Gathercole, 2006). However, this association is susceptible to alternative…

English language learners (ELLs)--one of the lowest-achieving and fastest growing middle-school subpopulations--are challenged in the classroom by language components which could potentially jumpstart real mathematical growth for these and, eventually, all other students as well. Going beyond traditional word problems, this study documented and…

Many teachers find themselves working with ELLs in content-area classes without the arsenal of tools and training that will help them help their students. This is a recounting of how one teacher, with the help of thoughtful observers and a commitment to teaching all of her students, worked to create strategies that improved language learners'…

Language and vocabulary represent the very foundation of learning to read and write. Children who do not develop strong oral language skills and vocabulary in these early years will find it difficult to keep pace with their peers. Children use the natural medium of language for thinking. Those who acquire a substantial vocabulary are often able to…