Learning is not a simple unitary process. This paper identifies three qualitatively different phases of the learning process. In one phase, the learner acquires facts and information, accumulating more structures onto the already existing knowledge structures. This phase of learning is adequate only when the material being learned is part of a…

Naturalistic second language (L2) acquisition (i.e., L2 acquisition without classroom instruction) does follow ordered developmental sequences. These L2 developmental sequences need not be completely identical to the respective first language (L1) sequences. The L2 sequences involve some utterances which on the surface match certain phenomena…

Standard guidelines are presented by the Oregon Department of Education for a prekindergarten public school program for 4-year-olds. The program emphasizes helping teachers work with parents at home and at school to form an effective team in building a child's self-concept, self-confidence and communicative skills. Each curriculum area is…

A number of first language (L1) research studies are examined in an attempt to discover whether the hypothesized similarity between L1 acquisition and second language (L2) learning has any empirical support. The relationship between age and language learning is considered to determine if there are changes in learning ability, rate of learning and…

Limitations of language acquisition research are: the restricted linguistic scope of studies; lack of data in cognitive processes and learning strategies, the role of individual variables, second language acquisition, and the role of social and environmental variables; and undeveloped methodology for data collection and data analysis. (SCC)

Reports on a study that sought to test theories which predict that spacing between two items to be learned improves the probability of remembering at least one of the items. (AM)

Examines the effects of aptitude, field independence, attitude, and strategy use upon four areas of language achievement: formal/oral, formal/written, functional/oral, and functional/written. Test results indicated that aptitude and field independence are related, as are strategy use and attitude; only aptitude and strategy use, however, affect…

Suggestopedia is a learning technique which claims to provide students with a better and richer learning experience than is generally found in most educational systems. It also claims to accelerate the learning process by giving access to so-called unused "reserves of the mind." (SW)

Three experiments use a tachistoscopic word recognition task to investigate how skilled readers covert visual input into a speech-related or phonological code during reading. (Author/NCR)

Offers a variety of practical writing ideas that can help first-grade teachers encourage writing across the curriculum. (FL)

In three major reports on higher education, some common problems emerged as recurrent themes: the absence of faculty responsibility for the curriculum as a whole, the lack of structure in baccalaureate programs, emphasis on specialization results in a tendency to downplay the humanities, thinking and problem solving skills are neglected. (MLW)

Discusses the need to consider students' pre-existing conceptual schemes when teaching chemistry. Reports on a study done in Spain which indicates that the existence of adolescents preconceptions about gases is important to consider when teaching the principles of conservation of substance, mass, and weight. (TW)

What is notably missing in the teaching of foreign language vocabulary is a systematically elaborated strategy for vocabulary acquisition that is based on the findings of linguistics and learning psychology. The practical implications of such a double anchorage in linguistics and psychology are outlined in a proposed model of a semantization…

Reviews the purposes, underlying assumptions, and curriculum development model for the United Kingdom's "Children's Learning in Science Project." Explains the general features and phases of the constructivist approach to learning that the program advocates. Identifies theoretical developments on children's ideas, the constructivist view…

This discussion of distance education needs from the point of view of the adult student focuses on learner needs. It is suggested that these needs will be met through improvement in program design procedures, increased student support through advising and guidance, and greater cooperation between existing educational agencies. (LRW)