This brief arises from two distinct yet related activities currently underway within the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE). First, IDOE is preparing to review the state early learning standards. The idea for this brief arose initially in that context as a means of considering how to intentionally design and use early learning standards to…

Among the academic challenges faced by students from low-socioeconomic status (SES) homes is the loss of academic skills during the summer months. A total of 22 elementary students from low-SES homes participated in a summer program designed to improve oral and written narrative skills. We gathered oral and written narrative samples at the…

That oral teacher feedback influences learning opportunities in classroom settings is found across language learning research, though there remains a lack of empirical evidence concerning how "and" why teachers construct their feedback turns "in situ." The current paper begins to address this by uncovering how one English as a…

"Talk of the Town" is a community led approach to supporting the speech, language and communication (SLC) skills of children and young people, aged 0-19, living in areas of social disadvantage. It is delivered by the Communication Trust. This evaluation reports on a randomised controlled trial undertaken with 2696 pupils in 64 primary…

This pilot study investigates whether requiring participation in community-based learning can motivate intermediate level Spanish learners to engage in more frequent interaction in Spanish outside of the classroom and course requirements. Using the theoretical framework of willingness to communicate in a second language, this study combines both…

New and emerging perspectives of educational contexts of literacy are reviewed that emphasize the inseparability and reciprocal influence of literacy practices with the social and ideological agendas of the communities, institutions, and settings in which the literacy practices are embedded. Research on conversational contexts of literacy…

Educational and developmental researchers suggest that children who have experienced homelessness suffer both in self-esteem and in literacy development, although early research is not complete. The Reading Connection (TRC), a community-based nonprofit organization in northern Virginia, focuses on the social aspect of reading, rather than…

Two Toronto community English-as-a-second-language (ESL) programs used oral interview tests to place adults in appropriate programs. Instruments used included: Foreign Service Oral Interview; Ilyin Oral Interview; object-oriented testing; group testing; performance in authentic situations; Ontario Test of English as a Second Language; and George…