This book is designed to provide practical advice to parents and educators on the language acquisition process. Citing numerous case studies and anecdotal examples, it explains how children learn to talk and acquire language. Chapter 1 serves as an introduction to language acquisition, explaining the components, forms, and structure of language.…

Two bibliographies of publications from the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA) are presented. The first covers the period from 1983 through 1989 and lists 261 publications from the IVLA at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The second covers from 1990 through 1993 and lists 201 publications. The comprehensive…

This student workbook for adult beginning reading instruction consists of a series of exercises in three instructional units. The first unit contains three lessons concerning self-description. The second unit consists of three lessons on the class, classroom, and clothing. The third unit has two lessons, one about daily activities and one about…

Five of the six papers in this collection focus on public library services, collection development problems, and involvement in literacy campaigns in developing countries; the sixth paper is concerned with public library services in Norway. (1) In "Big Cities, Its Inhabitants and Public Libraries Systems," May Brooking Negrao examines…

This document, the third part of a four-part analysis and assessment of Pakistan's system of primary education, presents findings from case studies of primary, middle, literacy, and skills education. The report's eight chapters are: (1) Introduction; (2) Study Methodology; (3) The Facilities; (4) School Personnel; (5) Instruction; (6) The…

In 1989, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Computers in Education study collected data on computer use in elementary, and lower- and upper-secondary education in 22 countries. Although all data sets from the participating countries had not been received at the time of writing, this paper provides…

The United States Congress's Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) issued a report describing American corporations as "remarkably underdeveloped" when compared with the nation's leading international competitors. The OTA report indicated that training and retraining must be made available to the lower tier of poorly paid, unskilled and…

A study examined the pilot year of the Computers in Early Literacy (CIEL) program, a multi-year project aimed at developing and assessing various strategies for improving the literacy development of children in kindergarten and the first grade. Subjects, 25 kindergarten and 22 first-grade students in a midwestern primary school, received three…

In 1983, the Syracuse All-University Gerontology Center (AUGC) began to offer computer classes to older adults. In starting what is now called the Computers and the Elderly Program, AUGC's director and assistant director sought advice from the Syracuse University Elders Council, comprised of older alumni, who were also among the first class…

This document contains oral and written testimony from a Congressional hearing on dropout prevention and workplace literacy held in Flint, Michigan, in February 1991. Testimony was given by officials of the United Auto Workers/General Motors training programs, a Michigan state senator and a state representative, school system and college…

An ethnographic study was conducted of initial encounters in a class participating in Swedish municipal adult education. The class was composed mostly of immigrants and some native school dropouts, and the courses studied (through field observation) were equivalent to the senior level of the compulsory comprehensive school. The study focused on…

A practicum addressed the emergent literacy needs of preschoolers at a daycare center. Goals were to increase: (1) the amount of time parents read aloud to their children to 15 minutes a day; (2) the number of library books at the daycare center from 40 to 200; and (3) the number of volunteers at the center from none to 4 who would read aloud to…

This paper examines literature on early intervention programs for disadvantaged and culturally diverse children from the 1960s to the present. The focus is on Project Head Start and its history, follow-through support programs in the primary grades, and current research on emergent literacy. The background of Project Head Start is provided, and…

A study investigated whether the much publicized campaign geared to parents and teachers about reading aloud to children has had any impact on the U.S. public. Subjects, 236 parents and 17 teachers from an urban private school with a large Portuguese population, filled out questionnaires. Results indicated that parents have been influenced by the…

Forms used at Rio Salado Community College (Arizona) to monitor student progress toward English language and civics requirements of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 are presented. The forms include the following: (1) a checklist of beginning skills in United States government and history and in English reading and writing; (2) a…