Fourteen collections of children's reading materials were used to investigate the claim that collections of authentic texts with a common theme, or written by one author, afford readers with more repeated exposures to new words than unrelated materials. The collections, distinguished by relative thematic tightness, authorship (1 vs. 4 authors),…

Acquisition of the host country's language is a basic requirement for the occupational and social inclusion of immigrants. It has been widely acknowledged that both the teaching and the learning of a second language are substantially improved by the communicative approach. A technique employed by the latter is that of role-play. This technique…

The crucial role of vocabulary knowledge in reading comprehension has been well recognized in first language (L1) situations and this has appeared to be true of second language (L2) settings as well. However, in relation to a sociocultural context such as Singapore, where English is designated as an L1 in the school curriculum but the majority of…

Grounded in state-of-the-art research, this book explores how English language learners develop both the oral language and literacy skills necessary for school success. Chapters examine the cognitive bases of English acquisition, and how the process is different for children from alphabetic (such as Spanish) and nonalphabetic (such as Chinese)…

This study was conducted to determine which method for vocabulary instruction was most beneficial: learning words through the context of literature and reading or through isolated word lists. Subjects, 45 high school students taking Freshman English, were divided into 2 groups. All students were studying Charles Dickens' novel "Great…

This annotated bibliography lists research published between 1960 and 1980 in the field of vocabulary acquisition and word handling in a second language. The bibliography is divided into two sections. The first contains 280 entries listed alphabetically. A short abstract is provided for each entry. The second section is a supplementary…

This bibliography is a follow-up to the "Specialised Bibliography 3," published by the Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research, in 1983. This volume covers work in the field of second language vocabulary acquisition that has appeared between 1980 and 1985. There are approximately 300 entries in this bibliography, and for each…

The guide presents enrichment activity information for a language arts unit focusing on vocabulary for gifted and talented students in grades 5 and 6. The information is presented in terms of objectives, entry skills, teacher's approaches, student activities, and resources. Activities deal with such aspects of vocabulary development as synonyms…

Phonics, vocabulary, main idea, etc. - the daily paper can make skill-building more fun. (Editor)

The experiment reported here evaluated the effectiveness of a mnemonic procedure, the keyword method, for learning a foreign language vocabulary. (Editor)

Using Atkinson's Keyword Method--an imagery mnemonic for vocabulary learning--as a vehicle, this paper argues that even the most well-reasoned and explainable psychological outcomes need to be validated empirically. The paper provides 12 examples of applications of the keyword method in which an eminently reasonable cognitive outcome was…

Theories of the acquisition of word meaning among children are reviewed and a case study of one child is reported. Three models of how the young child associates words with underlying concepts and conventional meanings are noted. While one model proposes that children initially overextend word meanings, the other two models propose that new words…

Describes an exercise designed to make students aware that the meaning of words is context-dependent and that everyday usages differ in meaning from poetic uses. (RB)

AN EXPERIMENTAL FIRST-GRADE READING PROGRAM EMPHASIZING UNINTERRUPTED STORY READING WAS REPORTED. SUBJECTS CONSISTED OF ONE OF THREE UNSELECTED FIRST GRADES IN AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. INSTEAD OF USING WORKBOOKS AND HAVING SUCH FORMAL TESTS AS VOCABULARY LISTS AND END-OF-BOOK TESTS, PUPILS READ A NEW STORY EVERY MORNING, REPEATED IT IN THE AFTERNOON…