The Workshop on the Role of Language in School Learning: Implications for Closing the Achievement Gap was held to explore three questions: What is known about the conditions that affect language development? What are the effects of early language development on school achievement? What instructional approaches help students meet school demands for…

A synthesis of the extant research on reading interventions for students with reading difficulties and disabilities in fourth and fifth grade (ages 9-11) is presented. Thirteen studies with treatment/comparison study designs and eleven single group or single subject studies were located and synthesized. Findings from the 24 studies revealed high…

This study examined the effectiveness of a yearlong, researcher-provided, Tier 2 (secondary) intervention with a group of sixth-graders. The intervention emphasized word recognition, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. Participants scored below a proficiency level on their state accountability test and were compared to a similar group of…

Vocabulary knowledge at school entry is a robust predictor of later reading achievement. Many children begin formal reading instruction at a significant disadvantage due to low levels of vocabulary. Until recently, relatively few research studies examined the efficacy of vocabulary interventions for children in the early primary grades (e.g.,…

This article describes a series of exploratory L1 to L2 dubbing projects for which students translated and used editing software to dub short American film and TV clips into their target language. Translating and dubbing into the target language involve students in multifaceted, high-level language production tasks that lead to enhanced vocabulary…

This study utilized a large sample of two-parent families from low-income rural communities to examine the contributions of father education and vocabulary, during picture book interactions with their infants at 6 months of age, to children's subsequent communication development at 15 months and expressive language development at 36 months. After…

Early shared reading experiences have been shown to benefit normally hearing children. It has been hypothesized that hearing parents of deaf or hard-of-hearing children may be uncomfortable or may lack adequate skills to engage in shared reading activities. A factor that may contribute to the widely cited reading difficulties seen in the majority…

Responding to the need for foreign language fluency in ever-globalizing business and cultural spheres, the federal government and foreign language institutions in an eleven-member task force collaboratively published a set of nationally recognized, foundational standards for foreign language teaching. Rather than rely on teacher-centered…

This book presents results from a four-year project addressing the central question: What factors, challenges, and contexts contribute to and constrain literacy achievement among at-risk adolescent learners with culturally diverse backgrounds? Researchers consider the importance of several, interrelated factors that support the development of…

As the ongoing national indicator of what American students know and can do, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in Reading regularly collects achievement information on representative samples of students in grades 4, 8, and 12. Through The Nation's Report Card, the NAEP Reading Assessment reports how well students perform in…

"The EUROCALL Review" is published online biannually by the European Association for Computer-Assisted Language Learning (EUROCALL). This issue offers regular sections on: (1) up-to-date information on Special Interest Groups; (2) reports on on-going CALL or CALL-related R&D projects in which EUROCALL members participate; (3) reports…

This study explored L2 literacy ability and intercultural sensitivity of Korean late elementary to early middle school students learning English as a foreign language. This study investigated the latent variable structure of L2 literacy abilities, including fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and writing abilities, and intercultural…

"The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance." Change can be scary. Quite often people find themselves venturing down an unknown path, unsure of what twists and turns will come their way. This uncertainty brings about questions, anxiety, and for some, a sense of panic. Similar emotions…

This study discusses the effects of using multimedia assisted instruction for Mandarin vocabulary learning by Vietnamese students with the assistance of the ASSURE model. The aim is to understand the difficulties encountered by these students and the effects during the learning progress of multimedia assisted instruction. In order to fulfill the…

Responding to readers' stories, questions, and requests for extended examples, this book was developed as a complementary volume to "Bringing Words to Life." The authors present additional tools, tips, and explanations of such questions as which words to teach, when and how to teach them, and how to adapt instruction for English language learners.…