Ninety preschool disadvantaged children participated in a study investigating the effect of instruction using the Language Master machine, a device which uses selected word cards to teach basic language skills (e.g., completing verbal analogies, expressing ideas orally, relating perceptually similar pictures, and increasing hearing vocabulary.)…

This article shows how to make poetry relevant to high school students. The technique involved is one in which the student is shown just those meanings which he can spontaneously relate to his emotions and interests. This synthesis can be made by using the lyrics of popular songs. The student can see the images, mood and dramatic situation of the…

The chief insistence of the educational reform that Peter Ramus initiated in the sixteenth century in England was that the liberal arts should exist as separate and distinct disciplines, divided from one another. He split the old rhetorical laws to avoid duplication between dialectic and rhetoric and thus influenced the style of preaching found in…

A look at some English and American dictionaries and encyclopedias affirms the charge of "Manglish"--a male orientation of the English language. Sex stereotypes are manifested in occupational titles, certain cultural notions, and societal attitudes which are reflected in our language. School texts and dictionaries perpetuate this sexism and…

Progress made in the DARE Project, begun in 1965 with the purpose of producing a "Dictionary of American Regional English," is described. Phase 1, the collection of necessary materials, has been completed. Ten Spoken Sources of this material and 12 Written Sources are listed and annotated. It is estimated that the grand total of items in…

This study presents an analysis of the speech of twenty-five informants, who were born in eastern Kentucky or southern West Virginia. Six of them were interviewed in Kentucky, where they still live; the others now live in Chicago, in an area known as Uptown. The phonological data is described in terms similar to the Chomsky-Halle feature analysis…

The value of poetry is discussed. The term "poetry" is used to refer not only to verse but to imaginative literature in general. It is conceded that poetry deals with a value-structured world and that judgment of it is subjective. It is also pointed out that students, even high school students, can be taught some objective standards for evaluating…

This book contains the following essays regarding sexism and language: "Linguistic Sexism as a Social Issue,""Sexism as Shown through the English Vocabulary,""Sexism in the Language of Marriage," and "Sexism in Children's Books and Elementary Teaching Materials" by Alleen Pace Nilsen; "Gender-Marking in American English: Usage and Reference" by…

It is essential that language arts students in teacher education programs learn more than just facts about language, such as grammar, dialect, and so on. Future teachers must be taught how language, especially the child's language, affects the teacher, the child, and the child's achievement in school. These prospective teachers should learn what…

The competencies established for the language arts program for kindergarten through sixth grade in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, are listed in this document, which indicates grade levels for introducing particular skills, developing skills, and mastering skills. Tests to assist teachers in measuring students' progress in listening comprehension,…

Sociolinguistic attitudes of 160 high school students, 160 parents or other adults, and 40 high school teachers were studied through questionnaires administered in four South Carolina schools. Results indicated that a majority of students and teachers felt that dialect differences interfere with communication in the classroom, but that eradication…

This study investigated the interrelationship of articulation and receptive and expressive language performance by 306 children in kindergarten and first and second grade in Fort Collins, Colorado, with regard to age, sex, and socioeconomic level. Fifty-one males and 51 females from the sample group were tested on three pairs of tests: the Arizona…

The conversational language of 28 men and women born in Maine around the beginning of this century is described and analyzed as it relates to Lakoff's hypotheses in "Language and Women's Place." Transcripts were gathered by students as part of an interdisciplinary course, Women of Maine. Results indicated that there is a traditional…

These newsletters, produced during the first year of activity of a special committee of the National Council of Teachers of English, focus on the back-to-the-basics movement as it affects the teaching of English. The first newsletter describes the establishment of SLATE as an action wing of the council. The other seven deal in turn with specific…

The present practice of surnaming, by which the wife takes on the name of her husband and the children take on the name of the father, favors one of the sexes over the other. In this paper, the egalitarian surnaming system (ESS) is proposed. This system deals equally with the sexes and also serves important social functions, such as providing a…