A survey of 14 leading language arts, children's literature, and reading methods books, as well as professional journal articles and other notable books on reading to children, yielded a total of eight recommendations made by more than half of the authors, including the following: (1) prepare by previewing the book, (2) read with expression, (3)…

Noting that young children's initial writing efforts are often dismissed as insignificant scribbling, a study explored children's emerging understandings about written language as indicated by the changes in 47 preschool children's autographs. Throughout a school year children were asked to write their names and draw pictures of themselves.…

Instructional communication research may be examined from the perspective of teacher effectiveness research, based on three dominant 20th-century philosophical traditions: logical empiricism, interpretive theories, and critical theory. Since at least 1896, scholars have used empirical research methodology (largely "logical empiricism," modeled…

Three techniques have been found to be helpful in using dramatic techniques to provide motivation, self-confidence, and self-esteem to students of English as a second language at Hostos Community College. Strategic interaction is a technique based on the open-ended scenario, in which students are free to respond to the problem presented in the…

To help Pennsylvania-based reading professionals share the results of their research with colleagues, this guide contains abstracts of both published and unpublished articles, doctoral dissertations, masters' projects, institutional research projects, and articles in preparation, all prepared by researchers living in Pennsylvania or affiliated…

Teacher behaviors and activities related to varying levels of student engagement and disruption were examined in 41 elementary school classrooms. Teachers and their classes were observed for eight weeks at the beginning of the school year and from January to March to determine: (1) the relationships between management behaviors and two student…

Foreign graduate students who have reached an advanced level in a specific discipline may be able to explain that subject's intricacies with ease but may have difficulty in speaking comprehensibly, explaining clearly, and understanding students easily while leading an undergraduate discussion section. Harvard University offers a program to help…

To accomplish successful communicative foreign language teaching, a teacher needs more than a sound command of the language and thorough training in communicative methodology. He or she also needs training in self-presentation, exposure to situations in which the importance of non-verbal behavior is made clear, and discussion of the fundamental…

Based on the hypothesis that the low academic achievement of Brazilian children attending government schools was directly related to a discrepancy between the children's working-class dialect and the school's dialect which is closer to upper class speech, a study was undertaken in literacy classes in one private and one public school where the…

In writing instruction, emphasis should be placed on developing a sense of a community, focusing on the social or collaborative view of writing. This view contends that writing is taught best as collaborative learning, with the classroom providing a social context in which students come together to develop their writing skills. In the…

By using public speaking skills, typical classroom problem areas can be reduced or eliminated. During the first five minutes of class, instructors can orient their audience by reviewing information from the previous class, or gain attention with an interesting story, quote, or humorous incident related to the subject matter. To avoid wasting the…

Although the social-emotional development of students is an important goal of schools, and foreign language education is generally intended to be a humanistic pursuit valuing the appreciation of others' cultures and the similarities and differences among people, these objectives are not always translated into classroom practice. The link between…

A review of research on time on task and length of school day or year reveals that time is not the only variable significantly related to student achievement. Research indicates that increasing time in school will not automatically increase student achievement or raise standardized test scores. Other variables such as corrective and immediate…

A teacher training program located in the Department of Communication at the University of Montana systematically attempts to modify teachers' communication behavior within the classroom. In step 1, baseline behavioral data are collected from each teacher by videotaping within the classroom. Step 2 involves coding the videotapes, using a "simple"…

A study examined the attitudes and learning strategies, and their relationships to achievement, of university students enrolled in elementary Spanish (n=88) and elementary Japanese (n=121) for one academic year. For both groups of students, the classroom was seen as the most relevant context for language learning. Specific classroom behaviors…