This study conducted in a midwestern city, addressed problems experienced by learning disabled (LD) students in recalling specialized science and social studies vocabulary. This apparent problem was confirmed by a teacher questionnaire and analyses of types and frequency of test errors on recent exams. Students appeared unfamiliar with memory…

Administrators should realize that whole language is a multidimensional belief system, that everyone involved in its implementation must become a learner, and that this process requires risk taking in a supportive environment. Principals can provide such support by working cooperatively with teachers during every phase of implementation. The…

Second language students often fail to pick up sequences of sounds correctly, not because they can not recognize the sounds in questions but because they make incorrect generalizations or lack general mental agility. Listening in a foreign language is more concerned with vocabulary knowledge and expectation than with phoneme recognition. One…

In an effort to improve the ways in which words are learned, the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation (JOCRF) is attempting to determine the difficulty level of all non-technical words in the English language. This item banking project entails: (1) identifying words that should be calibrated; (2) writing a test item for each word; (3) testing the…

A review of the literature and teacher observations are used to examine the processes and strategies by which second language learners attain and organize verbal knowledge. Classroom data are derived from experience in teaching German to Dutch-speaking university students. The analysis looks at the relationship of morphology and word recognition…

This 10-chapter monograph explores the range of influences parents have on their children's linguistic development and in the process attempts to understand why parents adopt the language styles they do in addressing children. The discussion focuses on the following three themes that are interwoven throughout the book: (1) the social nature of…

A variety of games for beginning second language learners are described. The games are designed to develop the student's confidence in communicating in the target language and to help establish his interlanguage. They include: a bilingual guessing game, to be played by a learner and a native speaker; a game to match words, pictures, and…

Analyzing word frequency in six complete texts, a study investigated how vocabulary can be used to define texts. The texts included three stories from 5th and 6th grade readers, selections from literature anthologies for 8th grade and 12th grade students, and a magazine essay for adults. Results indicated that if particular words occur frequently…

Schema Theory, the use of the learner's background knowledge for the building of new knowledge, is applied to improving reading comprehension skills and teaching vocabulary words and concepts to learning disabled students. Semantic mapping is a vocbulary strategy which produces the interaction between prior knowledge in a graphic form. For…

Intended for staff working with trainable mentally retarded students, the manual presents communication goals and activities. The first of the manual's three components provides outlines of 20 communication goals, each of which contains an explanation of the goal, lists of skills or associated content material, and specific activities for…

The use of rhymes in a reading program can result in improved listening skills, increased vocabulary, improved spelling, and greater proficiency in comprehension. A rhyme can be improvised and/or adapted for every skill in the reading hierarchy. In order to make knowledge about rhyming words useful for improving reading skills, the teacher must…

Reflecting an intensified concern for good educational research on instruction, the papers in this collection demonstrate the growing awareness of and sensitivity to the classroom environment by reading researchers. The 51 articles, selected from those presented at the 1981 meeting of the National Reading Conference, are divided into the following…

A study was conducted to investigate incidental learning of word meanings from context during normal reading. Subjects were 129 third grade, 85 fifth grade, and 138 seventh grade students of differing comprehension ability who first completed a vocabulary checklist containing target words and distractors, then read either expository or narrative…

German second language instructional materials contain a short text in German on mountain climbing in the Alps, a vocabulary list with translation, a simple German climbing song, a recipe for goulash soup in English, and a short text in English on mountain climbing. (MSE)

Six captioned illustrations present humorous situations for classroom discussion. A list of appropriate German vocabulary words and phrases (and English translations) accompanies each illustration. (MSE)