This study focuses on the nature of children's participation in an Australian early childhood context in which their second language is used. The aim is to create knowledge of toddlers' modes and trajectories of participation. Empirical data documenting the participation of two toddlers were gathered through video observations of everyday…

Tracing the development of "concept of story" in one child from age three years to five years using the language experience task, a hierarchy of text/context relationships emerges. First there is the inventory stage whereby the child names and describes behaviors to objects. The second stage is descriptive and the child modifies the object and the…

Reviews current theories of language teaching and learning. Considers thinking and problem solving as the impetus to linguistic growth and change. Encourages teachers to devise genuine problem solving tasks for young children that begin by observing/examining and end in expression through writing. (RL)

In order to document the self-directed, spontaneous growth in literary output of a six-year-old child, her writings during a one month period were collected and compiled. It was discovered that the child used writing to organize knowledge about the environment and the operations of print, to maintain personal relations, to establish impersonal or…

Describes and provides examples of how storytelling can help develop children's language ability. Argues that the goal is not to teach children language but to create an environment that will allow language learning to occur naturally. (SRT)

Prepared as part of a series applying recent research in oral and written communication instruction to classroom practice, this booklet describes several classroom-based studies that have examined children's writing development and synthesizes what they have shown about the process. The first section of the booklet analyzes the term "writing…