Introduces two books about magic, one a collection of essays "Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader," which describes the author's inherited lifelong passion for books and reading; and the other a novel, "Mangos, Bananas and Coconuts: A Cuban Love Story," which tells a story of love and magic that seems both real and…

Discusses how to help journalism students avoid pronoun case errors. Notes that many students as well as broadcast journalism professionals make the error of using the past tense when referring to a previous expression or situation that remains current in meaning. (RS)

Considers different approaches to items in an administrator's portfolio. Discusses the importance of languages and literature as being the foundation of humanistic study and notes that humanistic training inculcates practices of conversation and argument on the most basic of topics, the nature and the expression, over time, of human existence on…

Three pieces of writing were collected from 36 adolescent girls in each of three years to test writing-development scales measuring idea development, language use, and audience awareness. The scales were easy to apply in the classroom and capable of assessing students of varied disabilities. (SK)

Creates a general set of guidelines for playgoing. Presents and discusses ideas such as: reading the program, looking at the space, studying the set, listening to the language, meeting the characters, watching the actors, examining the director's influence, and imagining the logistics. (SC)

Presents data on patterns of language use by Italians living in Australia, focusing on the maintenance of Italian and Dialect under the impact of widespread shift to English. Data from self-report surveys suggest differences by gender, age, and region of origin and note that the position of Italian, though more limited, is somewhat more solid than…

Investigated toddlers' acquisition and use of nonsense verbs in passive and active voice. Children used various strategies to answer questions designed to elicit voice changes but did not usually change verb construction. When passive and active constructions were primed, older children were able to use an active-introduced verb in passive…

Discusses what explains adolescent language and behavior that deviates from and undermines prevailing pedagogical norms and expectations; how ought beginning teachers and teacher educators should respond to it; and what insights can be derived from the study of oppositional adolescent language and behavior. Suggests that storytelling can function…

Qualitative research is inquiry aimed at describing and clarifying human experience as it appears in people's lives. Researchers using qualitative methods gather data that serve as evidence for their distilled descriptions. Qualitative data are gathered primarily in the form of spoken or written language rather than in the form of numbers.…

This study compares two methods commonly used (concordance and prediction) to establish linkages between scores from tests of similar content given in different languages. Score linkages between the Verbal and Math sections of the SAT I and the corresponding sections of the Spanish-language admissions test, the Prueba de Aptitud Academica (PAA),…

This article presents a theoretical framework in the form of a model on which to base research in scientific literacy and language use. The assumption guiding the framework is that scientific literacy is comprised of the abilities to think metacognitively, to read and write scientific texts, and to apply the elements of a scientific argument. The…

Specialized psychotherapy for deaf people in the Dutch and Western European mental health systems is still a rather young specialism. A key policy principle in Dutch mental health care for the deaf is that they should receive treatment in the language most accessible to them, which is usually Dutch Sign Language (Nederlandse Gebarentaal or NGT).…

The element of play is underutilized in the secondary classroom in spite of the fact that play produces unique opportunities for meaningful learning. The ways in which the elements of epic poetry, Beowulf, and the Old English diction differed from the modern usage is discussed.

Every student should be encouraged to read and write and critically view the pursuits that matter to him. The effective way of teaching English language to the students is to affirm their use of language, which will help them in assuming that teachers have the time to listen and the disposition to hear them and that they care about individual…

This study investigates the roles of biological and psychological gender, as well as assigned discussion topic, in the written language use of nonprofessional writers. University students wrote passages on three specific topics-one socioemotional and descriptive, one functional, and one involving political debate. Effects of biological gender were…