Australian enrollment statistics support the general trend that boys are more likely than girls to discontinue their study of languages and less likely to excel in the language class. The article argues that language teachers need to promote language learning for boys and work proactively on developing teaching methods that will suit boys and…

As Australian teachers negotiate a curriculum in which languages other than English assume the status of key learning area, and as the impact of this development becomes more tangible, language teachers will need to embrace change. Self-directed learning will be significant within this context and self-access packages will provide students with…

Summarizes the important workshops of the 1996 Language Teachers Association of the Northern Territory, Australia. One workshop suggests that every individual possesses a unique blend of seven intelligences. Three others focus on catering to a range of learners through the provision of multimedia tasks, by self-directed learning and through…

Hispanic individuals typically experience several often traumatic stages of cultural adjustment as they adapt to life in the United States. This includes euphoria, culture shock (hostility), recovery (humor), and assimilation or adaptation. This article examines the challenges of each stage and explains the implications for schooling. (SM)

A study of 233 children with developmental disorders and mental illness found that the most common psychiatric diagnoses were oppositional defiant disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Pica, organic mental disorder, and autism were more often encountered in low functioning individuals, while depressive and speech/language…

Discusses strategies that teachers can use to support children with and without disabilities in comprehending reading material. Factors contributing to text readability, language learning for students who are deaf or hard of hearing, and strategies for in-class text reading and independent text reading are described. (CR)

Describes how, in one Texas fifth-grade classroom, Shared Inquiry book discussions were taught and implemented over a six-month period in connection with the Junior Great Book Series. Discusses solutions to the dilemma of grading these active class discussions, and reports that scores on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) tests were…

Describes how a seventh-grade teacher and a special education teacher team-taught three divisions of language arts and reading. Discusses lesson planning, behavior problems, outside support, and significant gains. (SR)

A study accessed the outcomes achieved by preschoolers with both severe mental retardation and autistic features who received intensive Lovass (O Ivar) behavioral treatment (n=11) and those who received minimal treatment (n=10). Results found that the intensively treated children obtained a higher mean IQ and evinced more expressive speech.…

Used interviews and questionnaires to examine parents' role in supporting bilingual competence of Singapore preschoolers. Found that well-educated mothers used English in everyday interactions and provided story reading, television, and video viewing in English and Mandarin. Parents were aware of the need for appropriate physical and material…

Examines the interrelationships between young children's literacy growth and music development. Discusses five ways in which song picture books promote language growth. Suggests early childhood activities and materials for using song picture books as a resource for an integrated, developmentally appropriate curriculum. (Author/KB)

Explores a set of pedagogic practices in a 'progressivist' classroom as practices of covert institutional regulation. The article attempts to show how the instructional potential of the pedagogic act is subordinated to the regulative rules of the institutional context of the classroom, so that following classroom rules becomes the main focus of…

Presents a quasi-experimental study conducted among younger immersion students that focused on determining whether an area of French vocabulary identified as problematic for these students can be successfully learned via increased exposure to such vocabulary in interesting reading material supplemented with associated analytic language activities.…

Literature is examined for its metaphors for teaching and teachers, including the teacher as custodian and steward of knowledge, as sower of knowledge, and as "trickster," a picaresque, mythical figure who offers solutions, often inadvertently. The roles of kindness and cruelty in the learning/teaching process are also considered. (MSE)

This study evaluated the internal reliability and face validity of a linguistically modified Self-Description Questionnaire and a sign language video presentation of the questionnaire items with 10 deaf students (ages 8 to 13). Results suggest that the modified measure and video presentation are appropriate for use with deaf students without…