In June 2008, the Department of English at the University of Minnesota partnered with the Minnesota Spoken Word Association to inaugurate an outreach literacy program for local high-school students and teachers. The four-day institute, named "In Da Tradition," used spoken word and hip hop to teach academic and creative writing to core-city…

This book explores the prominence of "race" in the lives of young children and their early childhood educators. It critiques the often presumed racial innocence of young children and shows instead how young children actively engage with the politics of race as they form their own identities. It challenges early childhood educators to engage with…

The evidence of a general achievement gap, and more specifically, a reading gap between African American students and White students is a well documented and alarming phenomenon (Chatterji, 2006; Darling-Hammond, 2004, 2007; Darling-Hammond, Holtzman, Gatlin & Heilig, 2005; Fishback & Baskin, 1991; Jencks & Phillips, 1998; Haycock, 2001;…

The reported prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has increased dramatically since the 1980s. In response, researchers, educators, and policy makers have sought to develop effective technologies for assessment and intervention. A focus on evidenced-based practices is logical, given significant deficits in language, social interaction,…

The purpose of this study was to examine suburban high school teachers' beliefs about non-European ancestry immigrant students; more specifically, suburban teachers' beliefs regarding the impact of students' cultural backgrounds on academic performance were examined. Non-European ancestry immigrant students are those students whose ancestral…

This study investigates if negotiation can affect syntacticization in the learning of second language (L2) syntax. Evidence from a number of studies has suggested that linguistic modification occurs during negotiation, but no research has examined if such modifications assist the learning of syntax in a second language. This study examined to what…

Noting that message variables offer communication scholars a conceptually rich body of information, this 30-item annotated bibliography reflects the diversity of research conducted in the area of language intensity. The journal articles, conference papers, and chapters of books in the annotated bibliography are divided into sections on general…

Intended to be a guide, this book can serve as a handy reference to grammar, usage, and style for the person who needs an easy-to-use, reliable source to answer specific questions about the English language. In clear, concise terms, with lively examples, the new edition of the book provides general usage rules for parts of speech, punctuation,…

This booklet is divided into two sections. Section 1, "A Few Words on Language, Courtesies, and Stereotypes," gives suggestions on speaking to and about people with disabilities. Principles of language use include: (1) put people first, not their disability; (2) avoid identifying a group of people as a disability category; (3) avoid…

Recent research indicates that reading comprehension is the interaction of the reader's knowledge of the topic and the language with the writer's choice of content and use of the language. Classroom activities based on this research can lead to foreign language learners' successful construction of meaning from a written passage through oral and…

Pointing out that the style of the Associated Press (AP) defines clear writing, this revised edition of the practical and much-used AP stylebook is designed to be an essential handbook for all writers, editors, and students. The stylebook contains over 5000 entries laying out the AP's rules on grammar, spelling, punctuation, and usage. It gives…

A theoretical framework of written language use and development that emerged from a two-year case study of one child's writing at home and in school during kindergarten and first grade is presented. First, the paper describes three elements which are found throughout the framework: the social web of experience, writing as relationships, and…

Taking the form of a fable, this paper presents a discussion of the English language from the point of view of someone totally unknowing of its requirements. In the paper, an increasingly large cast of personified parts of speech make repeated visits to the "G. and P. (Good and Proper) Grammar Store." Sections of the paper discuss: nouns…

Style is a crucial component of success in competitive forensics, whether debate or individual events, and one of the greatest benefits students get from participating in such events is the opportunity to develop a sense of style. In keeping with the classical canons of rhetoric, style (as it relates to forensics) can be limited to a consideration…

This paper examines the role of movable adverbs in Mandarin Chinese. In terms of their position within a sentence, most Mandarin adverbs can be classified as movable or non-movable. While identification of either class may be based on their semantic categories or on the number of syllables, the motivation for placing a movable adverb in front of…