In the last four decades, many of the studies on contrastive linguistics have been intended for and directed to second language teachers, on the assumption that a major problem in language learning arises from interference caused by structural differences in the native and target languages. However, this effort has had little impact on the…

Whole language has to do with beliefs about language and learners that lead to beliefs about curriculum and instructional procedures. The term emerged as a label for the way language is thought to be learned: as a cohesive organization of systems working together as one--as a whole. The term whole language also refers to the learner as being…

Guidelines are offered to institutional researchers and planning analysts for presenting research results in formats and levels of sophistication that are accessible to top management. Fundamental principles include: (1) know what is needed; (2) know when the information is needed; (3) match format to analytical sophistication and learning…

A child's success in learning to read in the first grade appears to be the best predictor of his or her ultimate success in schooling as well as all of the events and outcomes that correlate with that. Yet, across the research literature reviewed for a recent book, "Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print," children's…

Studied was the development of the school subject English in the Norwegian compulsory elementary and junior high school system, stressing the period of 1945 to 1970. Historically, the relation of educational reform to the school subject English is described with identification of the influencing forces and mediating agencies. This report is…

The product of a course at the University of Pittsburgh, this book offers educators the opportunity to see how the acts of reading, writing, and thinking that characterize work in academia appear to those students who lack adequate preparation for such work--namely, basic writers. The introduction to the book presents an overview of the course and…

This book is the first in a set of three study guides designed to help students of educational administration critically analyze contemporary theory in the field, examine the field from a new viewpoint, and develop their own, more practical knowledge base. The first of this volume's two sections, by W. John Smyth, focuses upon the traditional or…

To assist textbook adoption committees in answering the questions that arise as they consider basal reading series, this paper provides a discussion of readability. Following a brief introduction, the second section of the paper offers a background discussion of what readability really means. In addition, this section looks at three factors to…

One of a series dealing with current issues affecting language arts instruction, this paper focuses on thinking skills. The paper begins by raising two issues: whether thinking skills should be taught as part of each subject area, as a separate skill, or both, and whether English and language arts teachers have a special role in the teaching of…

Reflecting the influence of James Britton in the field of language and learning, this book--a collection of essays by researchers and practitioners in the area of language and learning--focuses on recent issues of language development in learning. The book contains the following 27 essays: (1) "Social Interaction as Scaffold: The Power and…

Dramatic changes in the direction of federal educational policy have occurred since the Reagan administration took office in 1980. This document examines the changes that are taking place and will continue to occur in the emerging policy stance of this administration toward educational research. The thesis is that a form of the "new…

Observing the teaching of revision from the teacher's perspective, a study conducted case studies of three eighth grade language arts teachers who taught writing by a process approach, but who used different instructional techniques, comparing what each teacher believed and said about the revision stage with how she actually taught the process.…

Process writing, a student-centered approach to literacy, can be implemented to meet the academic needs of second language learners at the high school level. A discussion of this approach begins with a description of the profoundly hearing impaired as limited-English-proficient (LEP) students, and then examines the interrelationship of three…

This paper describes the process by which student teachers in field experience programs transform present experience into personal knowledge through experiential learning. The paper is guided by the contemporary understandings about languaging; which include reading, writing, talking, listening, and the transformation of experience into new…

To evaluate whether changes in theory and research on the basic processes in reading comprehension have led to changes in classroom practice, a study conducted a modified replication of a 1967 study by F. J. Guszak. In the 1967 study, Guszak recorded and analyzed reading group story discussions for students and teachers in grades 2, 4, and 6,…