Reports the results of a study of six major reading series to learn which prefixes are taught and at what grade level. (BR)

Two stages in the vocabulary development of two-year-olds are reported. In the earlier Receptive stage, the child says many fewer nouns than he understands and says no verbs at all although he understands many. The child then enters a Productive stage in which he says virtually all the nouns he understands plus his first verbs. (Author/DEP)

Suggests ways to teach the diacritical markings used to indicate the pronunciation of words. (MKM)

A detailed explanation of the nature of semic analysis whose object is the breakdown of meaning into its constituent parts, principally meaning expressed by lexical units. There are numerous examples of words, word families and their histories. (Text is in French.) (AMH)

Examines preschool children's comprehension of the differing implications of the verbs "think" and "know". Results indicated that 4-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, understood the differences between the terms. (JMB)

In response to a legitimate concern expressed by science teachers that some students in their classes have difficulty reading science materials, the literature relevant to this problem was explored and reading specialists were consulted. One outcome of this exploration was a list of specific suggestions and techniques designed to help improve…

Suggests ways of involving students in conversations as exercises in the use of vocabulary. (HOD)

Comparison of the fast mapping skills of language-impaired four- and five-year-olds (N=11) and nondisabled peers (N=11) revealed no differences in ability to infer a connection between a novel word and referent, to comprehend a novel word after a single exposure, and to recall nonlinguistic information associated with the referent. (Author/CB)

Language disabled (LD) and average (N=40) six- and eight-year-olds were evaluated on the ability to detect multiple word meanings in ambiguous sentences with and without picture clues and to identify appropriate word meaning by sentence context. LD students did not show average growth in these abilities over the two-year age span. (Author/DB)

Monolingual dictionaries have serious disadvantages in many language teaching situations; bilingual dictionaries are potentially more efficient and more motivating sources of information for language learners. (Author/CB)

Presents a brief theoretical statement on definition and then discusses a study of the development of definition in children aged 5 to 10. The development of definition is characterized as the gradual articulation of a conventional definitional form out of more general forms of ordinary oral discourse. (NCR)

Argues that the process of recording newly encountered vocabulary items in a typical language learning situation can be improved through a computerized system of vocabulary storage based on database management software that improves the discovery and recording of meaning, subsequent retrieval of items for productive use, and memory retention.…

This article argues in favor of a receptive vocabulary component in foreign language courses through consideration of: productive vs. receptive vocabulary knowledge; misconceptions in receptive vocabulary instruction; and classroom-tested approaches and activities for receptive vocabulary development. (CB)

This teaching example shows how to use students' own experiences to help them learn social studies terminology. The example must be told as a story spoken to the class. The teacher's responsibility is to guide and facilitate the students' presentations. (JDH)

Presents the findings of an experiment conducted to determine the efficacy of the suggestopedia method (learning through suggestion, relaxation, and concentration) in teaching English vocabulary to 90 Spanish-dominant third graders. Reports that suggestopedia was found to be more effective than a control method for teaching vocabulary. (DR)