A videotape training package to help mothers learn techniques of dialogic reading to preschool children as a way to accelerate language development was developed and tested with 64 children and their mothers. Dialogic reading affected the children's language development powerfully, and the taped training was an effective teaching method. (SLD)

Examines three factors that influence student learning and motivation of beginner foreign-language listening skills: text, context, and gender. Studies responses of fifth graders to computer-based foreign-language learning. Results indicate that providing text with spoken words facilitates the acquisition of listening skills, increases student…

Describes two QuickBASIC programs that provide students direct experience with interpreting correlation scatter-plots. Maintains that the programs can be used in classroom exercises to highlight factors that influence the size of a Pearson correlation coefficient. (CFR)

Describes a QuickBASIC program for demonstrating the differences between main effects and interactions in factorial designs. The program can be used in conjunction with a traditional lecture to improve student understanding and develop skills in recognizing main effects and interactions from graphic displays. (CFR)

Describes an interdisciplinary unit involving math, English, science, and geography. Discusses support and development of the project, objectives for teachers and students, pitfalls and successes, equipment and supplies, and benefits. (MKR)

Explores the relationship between teenagers' working memory and school achievement. Experiments revealed significant correlations between the two, specifically in the field of foreign language. Includes descriptions of the experiments with accompanying statistical tables. (MJP)

Classroom discourse is evaluated for the contribution it can make to students' learning in groups. Data recorded from primary age children working at computers are categorized as exploratory, cumulative, and disputational talk. The teacher's role in making explicit strategies that optimize exploratory talk is discussed. (Contains 31 references.)…

Two instructional treatments to increase oral reading and reading comprehension were evaluated with 5 Hispanic students (ages 11 and 12) with speech and language impairments. For all students, preliminary discussion of key words was more effective than listening to the story prior to reading but not more effective than the combined treatment.…

Examined one third-grade teacher's portfolio of her literacy instruction for a school year along with her reflections on how creating the portfolio influenced her teaching and thinking. Uses other teachers' self-report data to extend this teacher's reflections on the pedagogical and nonpedagogical effects of the teacher portfolio. (BB)

Critiques Joy Reid's treatment of the concept of "appropriation" by teachers in their responses to student writing and disputes Reid's analysis of the type of influence exerted by both process- and writer-oriented research. The article also warns against extremes of contrastive rhetoric. A response by Reid is included. (Contains 14 references.)…

Examines strategies students use while performing a listening comprehension task and the relationship between strategy use and listening ability. Eighty-three students registered for first-, second-, third-, and fourth-semester Spanish participated. The first-semester students scored the highest and the second-semester students, the lowest on…

Describes the interdisciplinary approach of one British school for handicapped students to make students aware of environmental issues and to foster active participation in the care of the school and the extended environment. Discusses activities designed for the elementary, middle, and senior schools integrating environmental education into…

Discusses the role that schools, communities, and parents can play in transmitting American Indian culture and language to Indian children, focusing on the experiences of the Hualapai Indians and Peach Springs School District in Arizona. (three references) (MDM)

Asserts the function of narrative as a method of thinking is important in the lives of children as well as adults. Maintains that, by examining a story or narrative in children's art, it is possible to account for its importance in their lives. Describes three aspects of narrative: (1) invention; (2) description; and (3) negotiation. (CFR)

Presents key features of the Reggio Emilia approach and its adaptation to early childhood curriculum in the United States. Discusses using projects as a teaching strategy for diverse students to encourage language and conceptual development. Gives prominence to visual languages. Describes project activities involving student teachers and children.…