This article describes features of the verbal and nonverbal environment of the early childhood classroom. Children's literature is used as a vehicle for understanding: (1) how teachers talk to children; (2) how teachers allow children to talk to each other; and (3) how teachers help children talk to themselves about their learning and…

Five types of social talk are identified as self-expression, recreating information, competition, expressions of curiosity, and entertainment; then, social talk is dismissed as insufficient to keep one truly alive. Spirit talk--comprised of emotional generosity, the search for solutions, and the pursuit of mystery--sharpens the sensibilities,…

A study implemented three different methods of presenting scientific graphs to 12 adults with visual impairments: audition, kinesthetics, or a combination of the two. Results indicate the combination of both audio and kinesthetic modalities can be a promising representation medium of common scientific graphs for people with visual impairments.…

A study examined the effect of a read aloud testing accommodation on 260 middle school students with and without learning disabilities in reading. Students with learning disabilities in reading, as well as those without, exhibited statistically significant gains with the read aloud test administration. Interaction effects were not significant.…

Explored teachers' verbal motivational strategies, applying a framework derived from expectancy-theory which addresses student motivation for academic tasks. Audio-taped math and literacy lessons of two exemplary second grade teachers showed a high number of comments related to experiences and relatively few related to valuing tasks. Teachers made…

Responds to Bowey's comments on an earlier article--"Rhyme, Language, and Children's Reading." Here, the statistical model used in the earlier analysis is clarified, and it is asserted that the new analysis presented by Bowey supports the hypothesis that children's sensitivity to rhyme/alliteration and reading is independent of general…

It is argued that the concept of genre-based language teaching is both useful in the first language and also in the second- and foreign language classroom. The theoretical basis for the concept of genre is also outlined. (60 references) (GLR)

This article describes basic applications of an adaptive telephone device for deaf-blind persons with speaking voices. The deaf-blind caller poses questions requiring one-word answers, and the device vibrates in response to touch-tone pulses from the other party. Specific suggestions for such uses as making appointments and emergency calls are…

Verbal interactions of 17 French mentally retarded adolescents in 4 different conversational situations were studied. Results showed that subjects differentiated between interlocutors, exhibited minimal control over conversation with nonhandicapped and unknown people, and more frequently took control of the conversation when talking with a known…

Four steps in facilitating pragmatic language development in young hearing-impaired students are discussed, including identifying communication behaviors, coding a child's conversation, putting the school environment to work, and charting progress. A pragmatic communication skills taxonomy and a grid of age-linked pragmatic communication skills…

Reviews 2 studies of verbal interactions of early childhood teachers from 30 preschools and their 4-year-old students. Linguistically advantaged children, particularly those from lower-class backgrounds, benefited from regular attendance at preschool. (RJC)

Presents alternative views on measuring progress in curriculum transformation involving diversity issues. In a response to Lynne Goodstein's article, "The Failure of Curriculum Transformation at a Major Public University: When 'Diversity' Equals 'Variety'," this article argues that evaluation of curriculum transformation requires…

Twenty different monologues were analyzed; and the interrelating roles that clause relations, lexico-grammatical cohesion, and intonation choices play in creating cohesive monologue were examined. It is argued that these linguistic resources can be exploited by speakers to signal underlying concepts and help listeners interpret the text. (Contains…

Thirty-six elementary school students repeated short meaningful, long meaningful, and long nonce utterances in response to a visual cue. Nonstuttering, stuttering only, and stuttering-plus (concomitant speech and/or language problems) children responded differently to utterance length and meaningfulness. Results suggest that the three groups may…

Examined the relationship between infants' early verbal imitation, when the ability to copy behaviors first emerges, and their lexical development during the second year of life. Twenty infants were examined longitudinally at ages 10, 13, 17, and 21 months. Suggests that infants' early imitation of words not in their repertoires predicts and may…