This digest discusses the concept of "phonemic/phonological awareness"--the awareness that spoken language is made up of discrete sounds. The digest also discusses why this concept is so important to early childhood educators, its relation to the debate on the best type of reading instruction, and teaching methods that may help children…

This paper describes how slang is not necessarily short-lived and novel. Users perceive these words, phrases, and meanings as new and they function as new, however, their novelty is only apparent rather than real. Data examined were gathered by students from fellow students at Michigan State University. Sources for comparison included the…

A study examined the effects on early literacy learning of two dimensions of learning contexts: formality (peer writing and pretend play) and social relationships (friends and acquaintances). Same gender dyads of kindergarten friends were observed in peer writing and pretend play settings across the school year. A total of 33 males and 23 females…

Young children have little difficulty in creating imaginary worlds inhabited by fantastic creatures. Their play often reaches into the realm of make-believe whereby they improvise situations. Playing shop, mother and father, or doctor are examples of children's ability to try out adult roles and behaviors in a safe context. At school, it seems…

A study examined the relations among the diversity of the social groupings in which children participated in home literacy events and the social groupings, oral language, and literacy in first-grade literacy events. Subjects, 35 children in two first-grade classrooms in the same school district in a small city in the southeastern United States,…

In the summer of 1991, the Worker-Family Education Program held a workshop for two groups of teachers and students. The workshop was designed to explore an economic trend whereby transnational corporations send production and assembly operations to the Third World in search of cheap labor and to begin a collaborative English-as-a-Second-Language…

Composition teachers today are aware of the practice of differentiating between written and spoken language. The "basic writing" student often views written language as a nearly new language altogether. Therefore, it is increasingly important to recognize and codify not merely the disparity between speech and writing but also the…

The introduction to discourse analysis is intended specifically to inform second language teachers about aspects of discourse analysis that can be helpful in instruction. It presents the principles seen as relevant to the language teaching context and illustrates them with real spoken and written language data. The first chapter gives a historical…

After a review of the theoretical context to current research on literacy, consideration is given to aspects of the literacy practices of the Moroccan community in the Ladbroke Grover area of West London. Findings from a study of literacy in its social context in Morocco are cited in the discussion of the West London practices. Emphasis is on the…

A study of the phonetics of everyday conversational interaction looked specifically at the occurrence of the "oh" particle, a signal of the receipt of new information. Focus was on the phonetic characteristics of the "oh" utterance in this context. Data were drawn from British and American recorded telephone conversations. It was observed that…

The works of women African writers such as Bessie Head, Mariama Ba, Buchi Emecheta, and Flora Nwapa have become increasingly familiar to North American college students during the past decade, largely through their inclusion on feminist reading lists. Because the pedagogical value of these texts lies in their presumed ability to speak for African…

"Autonomous" and "ideological" models of literacy are discussed in the context of the literacy-culture-politics relationship. Assumptions underlying literacy, nationalism, assessment, and the links among them are questioned, and approaches to alternative assessment procedures are considered. Arguments about the formation and…

There are certain pre-coded (formulaic) utterances conventionally triggered by certain communication situations, and their use is expected and deemed appropriate because they are seen as part of everyday politeness formulas. Lack of an English equivalent indicates cultural differences governing their use. Some routines are taught explicitly and…

Word and nonword vocalizations produced by two groups of children aged 8-28 months were studied. The first group included six children whose speech was recorded monthly for 12 months. The second group contained 21 children. In both, only spontaneous vocalizations were recorded. Each sample was examined for frequency of word and nonword forms. A…

This paper discusses the benefits of storytelling, especially for the classroom teacher. The paper provides 12 activities for students (Kindergarten-12) to demonstrate how storytelling can help develop communication competencies. The activities included in the paper are: folktale cinquain, The Wicked Stepmother Gets Her Day in Court, storytelling…