Curriculum modifications are presented, along with empirical support when available, for teaching spelling vocabulary to students with learning disabilities. The article discusses selecting words to be learned, daily testing and practice of small word sets, strategy training, self-regulation, motivation, students helping each other, and frequent…

Comparison of the attitudes of Japanese and American high school students toward rote learning and more "creative" learning and their performance on rote learning tasks revealed that Japanese students viewed rote learning more positively than Americans and performed significantly better on rote-based second-language word recall and…

Emphasizes that teachers of adult second language learners who are used to developing concepts in a subject area alone must adjust their teaching to include the development of language, culture, and prior experience differences. Presents activities using the newspaper to teach vocabulary, pronouns, possessive pronouns, and noun plurals. (RS)

Examines differences in secondary students' vocabulary learning from original and revised contextual information. Finds that the revised passages generated significantly higher scores for both ability groups on the definition and importance measures but not on the indication of knowledge measure. (MG)

An approach to the teaching of English to part-time adult students in a course in China aimed at opening up and developing the vocabulary of the students through a variety of text-related activities. Wall posters were used as a basis for an extended session of fluency-focused activities, through which students became independent users of English.…

Examines second-language vocabulary knowledge and acquisition by reviewing research on levels of lexical proficiency and on qualitative differences in the oral and written communication of French immersion students as compared to that of their francophone peers. Argues for improved vocabulary instruction in immersion programs. (MDM)

Compares 39 native teachers' and 41 native nonteachers' perception of elementary learners' spoken Japanese. Interviews between a native speaker and a learner were audiotaped, and the 80 natives evaluated them according to grammar, fluency, vocabulary, appropriateness, comprehensibility and pronunciation. Results indicate teachers are more critical…

Addresses the question of how computer-assisted language learning should be designed to promote second language lexical fluency. The discussion reviews findings in the psychological literature concerning the nature of lexical development, the transfer of appropriate learning, and the conditions that promote automaticity in skilled performance. (43…

Reviews studies on the representation of words and their meanings in bilingual memory. The roles of the following variables in bilingual memory organization are discussed: the level of proficiency in the second language (L2), the strategy of learning the L2, the interval between previous and current use of L2, and the L2 learning environment. (43…

Describes a university-level English-as-a-Second-Language program that includes integration of text and film that bolsters the extensive reading process. Criteria for the selection of resource materials included a challenging vocabulary, an interesting plot, compatibility of film and text version, and universal themes. Integrating books and films…

This article uses diary data to examine a British learner's self-study experience of Hungarian, with reference to lexis. From this learner's experience, it is suggested that building a working lexicon is the single most important task facing the learner. (40 references) (MDM)

Discusses problems inherent in the content of modern language syllabuses. True communication occurs when the focus of classroom activities is on the message. The success of the lesson derives from the quality of the presentation and, crucially, the vocabulary list and the pupils' prior knowledge of the concepts underlying the content. (six…

Articulatory precision and fluency criteria for identifying formulaic expressions, sublexical forms, and target lexemes in linguistic productions are defined and applied to the analysis of two Danish children's language development. Results are compared to application of standard distributional and frequency criteria in the tabulation of mean…

Four experiments with 132 seventh graders, 162 eighth graders, 75 fourth graders, and 52 third graders compared the mnemonic keyword method with various other vocabulary learning strategies. Mnemonic keyword students outperformed sentence-context and free-study counterparts and generally outperformed others on tests of vocabulary usage. (SLD)

Finds 3 patterns of book-reading experiences in 24 classrooms of 4-year olds: coconstructive; didactic-interactional; and performance-oriented. Finds larger gains (one year later) by children in the performance-oriented classrooms than by those in the didactic-interactional rooms. Reveals strong effects of child-involved analytic talk on…