In this article, we examine the construction of word meaning by students during collaborative activities in a multicultural classroom at a Dutch primary school. The analysis is based on recordings of student talk in small groups of four or five students during mathematics lessons. Difficulties with specific terms and expressions frequently arose…

This study involved fourth grade children as co-researchers of their engaged, aesthetic reading experience. As members of the "Readers as Researchers Club," they documented their engagement with text--how they create, enter, and sustain the story world. The children, who self-identified as avid readers, explored the activities central to their…

This article summarizes the basic concepts of multiplication and provides some evidence that the traditional third-grade curriculum and instruction emphasizing memorization of multiplication facts produces much less understanding of the basic concepts of multiplication than a standards-based curriculum and instruction emphasizing construction of…

This publication is one of a series designed to inform and assist those responsible for foreign language instruction, including teachers, administrators, supervisors, and those engaged in teacher education. The complete series serves as a curriculum guide. The format of the series is such that it can be revised so as to keep materials current.…

The second semester course intended to follow "Getting It Done in French" is presented here. In line with the comprehensive goals of the program as presented in the first volume, the primary objectives of this second course are directed toward achievement of communication skills needed for daily living. Specifically, these objectives are: to…

The purpose of the study was to examine how reader response journals followed by classroom discussion ("Reader Response Plus") contributed to students' reading comprehension and to their attitudes toward reading. The study was conducted in a rural school in upstate New York. The twelfth grade class that participated in the study…

This study aims at understanding how the use of different reading activities affects readers' comprehension of short stories. Forty-seven students with an advanced level of English proficiency participated in the study where a quasi-experimental research design was pursued. The experimental and control groups of students completed different sets…

Within an evidentiary framework for operationally defining academic English language proficiency (AELP), linguistic analyses of standards, classroom discourse, and textbooks have led to specifications for assessment of AELP. The test development process described here is novel due to the emphasis on using linguistic profiles to inform the …

For many years (1995-2002), the Department of English of the University of Blida witnessed low rates of academic achievement of students preparing an English Degree. An analysis of the second year students' course grades in academic years 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 and data from a preliminary survey with some teachers reflected signs that the…

The problem is that with each passing year it becomes increasingly harder to maintain student motivation to read and improve reading comprehension. The purpose of this project was to increase reading motivation in elementary and middle school students through the use of multiple intelligences. This project was conducted by four teacher researchers…

To provide the first interstate quasi-experimental assessment on the power of content integration in building reading skills, the authors studied the effects on reading comprehension of GeoLiteracy--a K-8 package of 85 lessons that teaches geography in the context of practicing reading and writing skills. Ninety-six third through eighth grade…

This article outlines certain problems and challenges facing the qualitative researcher who enters fields that are either extremely difficult to access or potentially hostile towards outsiders. Problems and dilemmas in such contexts are highlighted by reference to fieldwork research among PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party) guerrillas in North…

This article revisits a question posed by Hyland [(1997). Is EAP necessary? A survey of Hong Kong undergraduates. "Asian Journal of English Language Teaching, 7," 77-99] in the Hong Kong higher education context: Is EAP necessary? The article presents the overall findings of a large-scale, multi-faceted investigation into the language…

Recently arrived English as a second language (ESL) students were compared to their unilingual and multilingual Canadian-born peers on measures of French proficiency. All of the participants were enrolled in secondary core French (CF)--the ESL students were studying introductory French, whereas the Canadian-born students were in Grade 9 CF, their…

Using an extant database, we examined three grade 1 criteria for identifying response to intervention (RTI) in English language learners (ELLs): (a) set benchmark criteria with a standard score above 95 (37th %ile) on both decoding and comprehension measures and a raw score of 40 or more correct words per minute (CWPM) on oral reading fluency; (b)…