Children will meet one less obstacle to making the transition from spoken to written fluency in language if, during the transition period, they experience written language that corresponds structurally to their spoken language patterns. Familiar children's folksongs, because they contain some of the structure of children's oral language, provide…

Oral language is used before written language, according to this paper, which contends that the acquisition of literacy is merely an extension of natural language learning for all children. This view of literacy development as natural is distinguished from the views of those that think language is innate; the naturalness of children learning to…

Oral proficiency tests were constructed for French, German, and English by the Dutch National Institute for Educational Measurement to determine how well students could cope linguistically with daily living situations, after 3 years of foreign language instruction. Originally the rating scale featured six categories. Because of difficulties in…

A study investigated errors in the writing of black students to determine how those errors were influenced by black oral English. Writing samples were gathered from 99 third grade and 68 sixth grade students in a school in an inner city, low income neighborhood. All errors in the samples were listed and analyzed. In the samples produced by the…

One of a regular series on the status and progress of studies into the nature of speech, instrumentation for its investigation, and practical applications of research, this report covers the period of January 1 to March 31, 1982. The 13 studies deal with the following topics: (1) speech perception and memory coding in relation to reading ability,…

Since the traditional information-based curriculum does not adequately meet contemporary needs, it should be replaced by a process-oriented curriculum that fosters skills in information processing, concept formation, problem solving, and other higher order cognitive processes in conjunction with the development of language skills. There are many…

Regular classroom teachers who, in addition to teaching their regular students, have to deal with students who do not speak English should follow certain principles in planning curricula and lessons for their non-English speaking students. These teachers should (1) distinguish formal classroom talk from informal talk; (2) allow opportunities for…

Research reports on the nature of speech, instrumentation for the investigation of speech, and practical applications of speech research are included in this status report for the April 1-June 30, 1981, period. The 14 reports deal with the following topics: (1) electromyography as a technique for laryngeal investigation, (2) the phonatory…

This report is one of a regular series on the status and progress of speech research. The 16 manuscript topics are: the relative accessibility of semantic and deep structure syntactic concepts, some relationships between articulation and perception, reflex activation of laryngeal muscles by sudden induced subglottal pressure changes, dynamic…

Noting that language should be a vital area of concern for anyone interested in speech communication, this paper focuses on the concern for language in the classroom as it is discussed in speech communication literature. Selected studies from the more extensive literature on educational practices are also cited. Programs in which language is…

Many issues relating to the teaching of language across the curriculum (LAC) are considered in this paper. Among the topics discussed are: (1) language development as a goal of teaching; (2) the use of language activities, including exploratory talking and writing, as a means of learning; (3) issues in which teachers might interest themselves to…

A feasibility study has been conducted in Australia to investigate school and teacher objectives and practices in the development of oracy, to determine oracy skills agreed to be important, and to assess the feasibility and desirability of testing competence in oracy. The need for oracy assessment arises from a need for schools to account for…

In the United Kingdom at present, there is a rift between leading authorities who stress the use of oral language in helping children learn to read and those who focus directly on the teaching of reading and writing. This paper identifies five phases in educational development from 1870 to the present; for each phase, indication is given of the…

This publication includes five papers that were presented at a language communications conference that emphasized integrating the language arts at elementary and secondary school levels. Walter Loban stresses the importance of classroom language activities that involve children in genuine purposes and that link language to thinking. Charles R.…

This bulletin is published annually in the interest of children with learning disabilities, language disabilities, or dyslexia. Specific topics covered in the 17 articles include: the effect of student failure on the quality of family life and community mental health; selecting initial reading instruction for high-risk children; the relationship…