Defines "listening comprehension" and discusses both its role in the process of first and second language acquisition and the modes of language processing presumed to operate in listening comprehension. Presents specific teaching strategies and material incorporating listening comprehension in the foreign language classroom at all levels. (SED)

This original comparative study explores two central questions in the study of first language acquisition: What is the relative impact of structural and functional determinants? What is universal versus language-specific during development? The study addresses these questions in three domains of child language: reference to entities, the…

The Early Learning Accomplishment Profile (Early LAP) provides a systematic method for observing children's functioning in the birth to 36-month age range in order to assist teachers, clinicians, and parents in assessing individual skills development in six developmental domains: gross motor, fine motor, cognition, language, self-help, and social…

This Ready--Set--Read Kit includes an activity guide for caregivers, a 1997-98 early childhood activity calendar, and an early childhood growth chart. The activity guide presents activities and ideas that caregivers (family child care providers and the teachers, staff, and volunteers in child development programs) can use to help young children…

The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) carried out an evaluation of a pilot/programme that was introduced in 2004 to help raise the achievement of bilingual learners in primary schools. Within participating authorities, pilot consultants were appointed and were managed by the Primary National Strategy managers and the Ethnic…

With an extensive menu of lessons that take just 20-30 minutes, this intervention guide is the key to helping students grasp the five Big Ideas of early literacy: phonological awareness, the alphabetic principle, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. General and special educators will get: (1) easy-to-implement, one-page activities and…

Filling a tremendous need, this is the first graduate-level child development text written specifically for future educators. The volume provides a solid understanding of major theories of development, focusing on how each has informed research and practice in educational contexts. Topics include the impact of biology and early experiences on the…

Intended primarily for librarians and media specialists, this book offers an in-depth analysis of alphabet books from their serious, religious beginnings to their "funny," instructive, and artistic present. The book lists 542 titles with short annotations, suggested activities, and essays on each type of book. Following an introduction,…

This paper reviews recent research on children's literacy development and learning, focusing on "emergent literacy" theory. Advocates of emergent literacy believe that children learn to read by reading and to write by writing, and that children are active constructors and investigators of their own knowledge. Recent studies have suggested that…

There are many things parents and caregivers can do to help build a child's literacy skills from the time the child is born until the child is old enough for school. This 24-minute videotape, hosted by Jamie Lee Curtis and LeVar Burton, provides helpful information on how to foster a young child's language and literacy development beginning at…

This edited volume investigates the connections between the earliest human sounds and subsequent language development. With special attention to tracheostomies, Downs syndrome, deafness, and speech-motor impairments, the interaction between speech and language is examined in typical development as well as the effect that the interaction has on…

Published for planning and articulation by National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) constituencies, this paper discusses assumptions about learners and teachers, assumptions about knowledge, assumptions about language, and English/language arts practices. Assumptions about learners and teachers discussed in the paper include: every person is…

Massachusetts has a comprehensive system of early care and education that provides preschool programs for over 165,000 children, an estimated 27,600 of which attend preschool programs administered by public school systems. The second phase of the Massachusetts Cost and Quality Study examined 95 school-based, publicly administered preschool…

The goal of England's Peers Early Education Partnership (PEEP) is to support early communication and literacy skills and to support parents as their children's first educators through both home- and group-based programs. The program is currently offered to all children under 5 years of age and their families in a disadvantaged area of Oxford. This…

This paper discusses the outcomes of a study that investigated whether applying the discrete-trial approach is effective in teaching children with autism to learn functional and pre-academic skills. Participants were four young children with autism (ages 3-4) attending a preschool special education program of an urban public school. Discrete-trial…