One hundred and ten college students, placed in 22 problem solving discussion groups, interacted for three fifty minute periods each. Three trained observers systematically recorded the interaction. Group members were classified as being task or socio-emotionally oriented and the functional leader in each group was identified by role category.…

The purpose of this study was to locate those measurable criteria of responsiveness to language which have not been utilized to any significant extent in standardized tests. The project involved creating a testing instrument, reviewing of the instrument by a panel of experts, and applying the resultant test to a small population of college…

The multiple choice technique can test written and oral comprehension and linguistic competence at beginning and intermediate levels. Examples of test items concerning sounds, stress, vocabulary, and structures are presented, and brief comments on the items are included. (SW)

Explores the social meaning of literacy in communities and suggests that elementary teachers can enhance literacy learning by linking writing instruction to the culture of the community as well as to the functions served by writing in the community. (SKC)

Teaching organizational strategies to language-disordered children can improve comprehension and formulation of written language. The semantic organizer approach involves activating and organizing prior knowledge, understanding text structure, and developing organizational strategies with both a verbal component and a graphic-structure component.…

Shows that native-speaking Arabic readers produce search functions that are radically different from the search functions of readers whose script uses the Roman alphabet (RAs). The processes used by Arabic readers are more akin to the processes used by RAs when searching arrays of shapes. (Author/LMO)

Examines how quantification is expressed in written English. Suggests ways of defining the categories of meanings a learner might need to be able to express and the linguistic devices used to realize these meanings. Categories of quantification are included. (Author/LMO)

Discussion of Gal'perin's theory of step-by-step formation of mental actions includes descriptions of experimental applications of this activity approach to teaching foreign languages. Constructing and understanding sentences are discussed, and activities for the construction of a sentence and the orientation base of action (OBA) for German,…

Investigates second grade children's ability to understand the use of deictic terms (devices in language that convey information about the communicative situation) in three types of tasks: oral language, written language, and picture selection, and concludes that the difficulty of a word with deictic content depends largely upon the discourse…

Response cards are a teaching and learning tool designed to increase active student response during whole-class instruction. Response cards allow multiple students to write their answers on a white board and get feedback from the teacher during each learning trial. This work is a quantitative synthesis of the English-language student-level…

The textbook is designed to introduce beginning students of linguistics to the variety of languages of the world. It assumes the reader has mastered the basic principles of linguistics, but seeks background information in the broad range of language phenomena found in the world's languages. Chapters address these topics: classification of…

This book provides functional, pragmatic activities for educators, future teachers, and parents to promote the gift of literacy to others. The book offers 101 detailed lesson plans for the four literacy domains of oral and written language, word recognition, comprehension and strategic reading for narrative text, and study skills and strategic…

Transcripts of writing conferences and of interviews with students illustrate both the changes in the way students evaluate writing and the teaching strategies that sharpen evaluative skills. (RL)

Explains the results and findings of the Cognitive Analysis Project (CAP) which was used to evaluate the intellectual development of children from grades 10, 11, and 12 by analyzing the use subjects made of written language in solving problems and explaining phenomena. (HM)

Spoken and written transmission in learning English as a second language is discussed at the levels of pronunciation and spelling, with reference to the East African learner. Fundamental physical differences between communication in speech and writing that impose different constraints upon the receiver are addressed. (SW)