Reflects upon, and makes recommendations for, teaching young children to read, write, and spell. Focuses on meeting children's emotional needs, essential components of healthy emotional development, how reading is typically taught, and learning letters and phonics. Stresses the importance of paying equal attention to developmental ages and stages,…

The purpose of this empirical study was to determine if there was a measurable difference on the content and organization portion of a narrative writing test by a sample of students taught by teachers who received professional development (PD) as compared to students whose teachers did not have this training and thus their students did not receive…

A Computer Tutor for Writers (CTW) was designed to provide procedural facilitation to high school students while they learn the skills and knowledge associated with composition writing. Four previous year-long studies helped identify how to facilitate specific elements of the writing process. The CTW was designed to combine lessons learned from…

The washback effect of tests on teaching has attracted considerable attention over recent years, but the critical question of how this translates into washback on learning remains under-explored. To address this issue, questionnaires relating to academic writing instruction were distributed to 108 learners from mainland China preparing for…

This exploratory survey was conducted to gain a detailed understanding of the home and community literacy experiences of children, adolescents and adults with Down syndrome. The data were collected from 224 parents/guardians across Canada who were asked to indicate literacy goals and priorities for their children with Down syndrome, the literacy…

A study evaluated the Early Literacy program that served 2,332 underachieving pupils in grades 1 (1,842) and 2 (490) in the Columbus, Ohio, public schools. These students appeared unlikely to learn to read successfully without additional reading instruction. The program featured small group instruction each day for 40-45 minutes on reading and…

This study explored the assumption that superior instruction can result from the supplementing of teachers' subject knowledge with a formal psychological understanding of learning styles and learner characteristics. Preservice language arts teachers (N=113) were asked to state what they thought would constitute appropriate responses to a middle…

The collection of 12 essays brings together work by linguists around the world concerning the use of computers in applied linguistics, including computer-assisted language learning (CALL). Articles include: "Humanism and CALL: A Coming of Age" (Vance Stevens); "A Methodological Framework for CALL Courseware Development" (Philip Hubbard);…

This instructor's guide is one of the five books developed during a 21-month cooperative project to develop instructional materials that enhance skills in a workplace context. Partners in the project included the University of Texas at Austin, consultants, the Austin/Travis County Private Industry Council, Hart Graphics, IBM, and Texas…

This student edition of learning modules in communications is one of the five books developed during a 21-month cooperative project to develop instructional materials that enhance skills in a workplace context. Partners in the project included the University of Texas at Austin, consultants, the Austin/Travis County Private Industry Council, Hart…

This book contains an introduction and 11 essays describing reading and writing projects in which adult literacy learners enrolled in the following types of programs participated: adult literacy and/or language classes, refugee groups, oral history and reminiscence projects, and community publishing and writing workshops. The following essays are…

"WATESOL" is an acronym for "Washington Area Teachers of English To Speakers of Other Languages." This document consists of the only three issues of the "WATESOL Journal" published from 1989 through 1994. Fall 1989 includes: (1) "The Visual Voices of Nonverbal Films" (Salvatore J. Parlato); (2)…

A study conducted in a freshman English class in a Taipei (Taiwan) university investigated how peer response groups functioned in their native language (Mandarin Chinese) and English, a second language. Analysis focused on (1) whether there were qualitative differences in the comments students made about peers' writing in the two languages, and…

A systemic approach to education reform emerged in the 1990s as one way of addressing policy fragmentation. This volume presents findings of a study that sought to: expand knowledge of state approaches to systemic education reform; examine district, school, and teacher responses to state reform policies in a small number of reforming schools and…

This proceedings publication addresses issues in developmental education at the postsecondary level. Papers are: "Public Relations: Making Videos to Promote Your Program" (Carol H. Bader and Kathy Liles); "Winning Strategies Through Individualized Learning in the Success Center" (Deanna L. Culbertson and Phillip C. Johnson); "Implementing Holistic…