Intended for administrators and policymakers as well as teachers, this digest explores researchers' current understanding of English spelling and its acquisition as the basis for spelling instruction methods other than memorization. After defining spelling and the relationship between spoken English and its written system, the digest explores how…

Intended for administrators and policy makers as well as teachers, this digest identifies for prospective purchasers various sources that offer reviews of educational computer software for English and the language arts. Following an introduction, the first section of the digest discusses content-specific as well as general educational computing…

Intended for administrators and policy makers as well as teachers, this digest offers selection strategies for consumers of English/language arts computer software. Following the introduction, the digest discusses initial considerations when evaluating software, including examining both the accompanying documentation and the actual program. It…

Noting the discrepancy between what is advocated and what is practiced in language arts classroom, this Digest synthesizes the existing problems, reviews the research supporting language arts integration, and proposes a rationale for integrating the language arts. The Digest points out that these new initiatives in language arts focus on the…

Intended for teachers, this digest shows that the computer can offer many efficient tools for expression, student control of writing, and instruction beyond the grammar and spelling drills most commonly associated with computers. The digest discusses the goals of the language arts curriculum, the role of the computer in the language arts…

Intended for administrators and policymakers as well as teachers, this digest discusses the nature of narratology and how it relates to language arts instruction. The digest first defines narratology as the structuralist study of narrative aimed at understanding how recurrent elements, themes, and patterns yield a set of universals that determine…

Intended for administrators and policymakers as well as teachers, this digest provides a rationale for an integrated language arts curriculum. The digest first defines integrating the language arts curriculum as providing natural learning situations in which reading, writing, speaking, and listening can be developed together for real purposes and…

Focusing on how teachers can integrate computers into reading/writing instruction, this ERIC digest presents guidelines for helping language arts teachers match their use of computers with what is known about the reading/writing process. The guidelines for computers and reading presented in the digest point out that computer instruction in reading…

This Digest discusses approaches to group learning in the language classroom, presenting some principles that are common to any group learning approach, whether it be cooperative learning, student team learning, group investigation, or collaborative learning. The Digest also discusses the Collaborative Learning Model (Reid et al., 1989) which…

This digest describes the development of cultural journalism and its place in the contemporary curriculum. In the field of cultural journalism, the traditional skills and values of many different groups are chronicled, defined, for example, by ethnic origin, origin, occupation, or environment. The term "cultural journalism" was first…

Based on the idea that word knowledge has particular importance in literate societies, this Digest finds that most people feel that there is a common sense relationship between vocabulary and reading comprehension, i.e., messages are composed of ideas, and ideas are expressed in words. The Digest considers several viewpoints on teaching…

This digest considers approaches to langugae arts teaching that are based on mythic or archetypal ways of experiencing and knowing. The Digest argues that such approaches address students' inner lives more directly than do the usual instructional methods such as whole language or student-centered instruction, and thus can help to promote…

This digest discusses the need for differentiating language arts instruction for gifted students in grades K-8. It begins by describing differentiation approaches, including acceleration, depth, complexity, challenges, and creativity. It then explains how teachers can differentiate the language arts curriculum in the following five areas: (1)…

Most educational programs focusing on dialect differences are constructed to move speakers toward the standard variety of English. However, dialect study as language study in its own right introduces dialects as resources for learning about language and culture, with potential for language arts education. Systematic introduction of dialect…

This digest paper presents strategies and activities that can be used to encourage gifted students to develop their individual talents in the language arts. Suggestions for exploring poetic language especially free verse, include ideas for creating group poems and catalysts for creating individual poems. Suggestions for exploring the elements of…