We compared the effects of children's reading of an educational electronic storybook on their emergent literacy with those of being read the same story in its printed version by an adult. We investigated 128 5- to 6-year-old kindergarteners; 64 children from each of two socio-economic status (SES) groups: low (LSES) and middle (MSES). In each…

This follow-up study compares cognitive and language aspects of a group of Italian children ages 4-6 years, who had shown delayed expressive language abilities at 24 months of age (late talkers), with those of a group of children with a history of normal expressive language development (average talkers). Children were given a battery of…

For the monolingual population, research has shown that vocabulary knowledge is closely related to reading achievement. However, the role of vocabulary has not been studied as extensively in the bilingual population. It is important to look at vocabulary to better understand reading achievement in the bilingual population in the United States.…

This quasi-experimental study investigated the effectiveness of two types of vocabulary instruction--image-schema-based instruction (ISBI) and translation-based instruction (TBI)--on the acquisition of second language (L2) polysemous words. Fifty-eight Japanese high school learners of English were divided into two treatment groups (ISBI and TBI)…

In this article, the author describes how he created an approach that he terms "Mathematics as a Second Language" (MSL) for teaching ELL students mathematics. The main components of MSL are vocabulary activities, journals, group work, and projects. He used MSL to teach prealgebra to ELL students, as well as to native English speakers, for two…

Vocabulary learning is central to reading ability and academic achievement. Vocabulary researchers and educators have viewed its essence as a process of associating the pronunciations and meanings of words in memory, and they have paid little attention to the contribution that spellings might make to vocabulary learning. We review theory and…

English language learners are students with a primary language other than English who have a limited range of speaking, reading, writing, and listening skills in English. English language learners also include students identified and determined by their school as having limited English proficiency and a language other than English spoken in the…

Basic English Writing (BEW) courses have been part of English learning curricula in many universities. Some research has been conducted to investigate various class designs for English language courses. However, class designs for English writing are not yet abundantly developed to provide more experimental results. The purpose of this study was to…

This paper presents a method to help high school students with learning disabilities increase their vocabulary in preparation for college, including preparation for college entrance examinations such as the Scholastic Assessment Tests (SATs). The approach focuses on the use of elaborative techniques in which students actively generate meanings and…

A practicum was designed to improve the oral/aural vocabulary which would eventually improve the reading vocabulary of second language learners. The practicum, implemented in a second grade by a media specialist who counted on the cooperation of the classroom teacher, consisted of a read-aloud program in which the students read daily from a…

Developed as part of the ABCs of Construction National Workplace Literacy Project, this instructional module is designed to help persons in electrical and instrumentation occupations develop strategies for finding the meanings of compound words used in technical writing and the workplace. Presented in the first section is a method for deducing the…

Creating a learning and instructional environment for teaching students in a "humane and efficient" manner, this book is designed to empower teachers by providing them with specific suggestions for problems they will encounter as they provide students with direct, explicit instruction in reading. As in earlier editions, the book devotes…

This resource, designed for both experienced music teachers and educators with limited background in music, combines 50 simple songs with related learning activities and reading suggestions to develop creativity in students and to reinforce learning in a variety of subjects. Each original composition has chord symbols for guitar and autoharp, with…

This handbook presents brief descriptions of various aspects of reading instruction and related lesson plans and class activities. Sections of the handbook discuss readiness, word recognition, developing vocabulary skills, reading in the content area, and reading comprehension. The handbook also offers brief biographies on Emmett Betts, Guy Bond,…

This self-instructional program, designed to teach 83 basic signs, includes a user's guide, a videotape, and an interactive videodisc. The program is intended to teach common phrases and sentences, but can also be used to illustrate selected grammatical features of English as part of a language arts program for deaf children. The interactive…