The National Center for Leadership in Intensive Intervention (NCLII), a consortium funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), prepares special education leaders to become experts in research on intensive intervention for students with disabilities who have persistent and severe academic (e.g., reading and math) and behavioral…

A discussion of approaches for teaching foreign language vocabulary is based on the distinction between "declarative knowledge" of the meanings of words and the procedures used for achieving this declarative knowledge. These procedures form part of individuals' knowledge of how to negotiate meaning. It is proposed that a communicative view of the…

Most freshman composition textbooks are inadequate in giving information to students on how to interpret dictionaries: instead of presenting them as aids in exploring word usage, textbooks foster a naive trust in dictionaries as arbiters of all usage questions. Rather than treating words as discrete items to be mastered without knowledge of…

The performance of 18 deaf college students who learned English words and their definitions using the mnemonic keyword method with pictorial elaboration was compared with the performance of 13 controls who learned the same words and their definitions using their own strategies. Immediate and delayed prompted word-definition recall and delayed…

Presents an activity to develop an understanding of the importance of definitions in mathematics in which the teacher uses counterexamples to produce modifications in proposed definitions for the concept of quadrilateral. Suggested follow-up activities include telephone description, dictionary mathematics, and definition displays. (MDH)

This packet contains an instructor's guide, student task sheets, and an illustrated vocabulary list for a program in automotive technology for handicapped students (special vocational education). The instructor's guide consists of a matrix of modules with vocabulary divided into 30 units of study for Auto Mechanics I and 17 units for Auto…

A major obstacle students encounter in their study of mathematics is the language of the discipline. The words used to convey mathematical concepts are foreign and conceal the notions that they are intended to reveal. Discusses this problem and presents suggestions to help make students sensitive to and aware of the precision required to…

Advocates using a linguistic approach to supplement teaching social studies vocabulary. Highlights advantages of teaching vocabulary through etymological analysis, including greater student interest, more precise definitions, and the approach's transferability. Disadvantages include the complexity of some prefix meanings. Concludes that this…

Developed by educators from the Emily Griffith Opportunity School, this teacher's guide presents a course in health care vocabulary for secretaries, medical records personnel, laboratory assistants, shipping personnel, and patient relations personnel in health care facilities. The course, which should require 10-14 hours of instruction, contains…

This article discusses the importance of learning to define a word. It provides a brief background on the contribution of the definitional skills to communication and school success, information on children's development of definitions, and teacher and family strategies for enhancing young children's definitions in relation to other skills.…

A study investigated whether English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) students' understanding of culturally-loaded words (those that are similar in primary meaning but different in connotation between the two languages) approximates that of native speakers of English, and how much English proficiency level may account for the extent of this…

Three fifth grade students with learning disabilities were taught to recognize multisyllabic basal vocabulary words using constant time delay in a small-group instructional arrangement and were assessed on ability to recognize, spell, and define both their own target words and observational words. The procedure was effective in establishing…

Procedures are described for use in foreign language classes that tap the characteristics of gifted students. Each activity is directly associated with at least one of the cognitive characteristics attributed to the gifted, which are listed in the introductory section of the paper. The procedures include the following activities: conducting a…

Discusses the active contribution a learner/user must make in using a dictionary and breaks the look-up process into seven main steps. (EKN)

Dimensions of word meaning are examined, and a framework for describing and teaching Chinese words in the context of Chinese second language instruction is offered. It is argued that every word has limitations of usage that must be understood before it can be used appropriately. The limitations, or dimensions, include these: connotative (emotional…