Informed by sociocultural and systems theory tenets, this study used ethnographic research methods to examine the feasibility of using speech recognition (SR) technology to support struggling readers in an early elementary classroom setting. Observations of eight first graders were conducted as they participated in a structured SR-supported…

A program that included daily spontaneous writing helped eight first graders with academic and behavioral difficulties learn to express themselves meaningfully in a supportive, accepting environment. (CL)

This study investigated how the context of a Primary 3 (P3) teacher of Luganda in Uganda influenced the teacher's literacy instructional decision-making, beliefs, pedagogy, and practices before and after she was provided with supplies and literacy instructional procedures that helped produce reading materials for her students. The contextual…

Urges the use of the language experience approach to helping children learn to read and to write. Suggests some activities for starting the school year using this approach. (TJ)

Describes how tapes and transcripts from student-tutor pairs in adult literacy groups were examined to analyze the transition from speech to writing. Discusses the difference between written and spoken English. Provides examples of how passages were transcribed. (JOW)

Shows how having students write journals about their learning experiences was an effective teaching technique in the primary grades. (RL)

Recognizing the utility and limitations of traditional curriculum and of present language programming for its mostly Navajo population, the Ganado Public School District developed the GLAD (Ganado Language Arts Development) project, which aims to: develop literacy in kindergarten through third grade students; expand and enrich the pedagogical…

In the language-experience approach to reading instruction, communicative skills are viewed without distinction among listening, speaking, spelling, and writing. The children learn to conceive of expression and reception of expression as natural parts of experience, rather than as separate tasks that occur during a break in regular activity. The…

Examples of the awareness of young children of printed information they have gained informally are used to demonstrate some of the important knowledge that children bring to beginning reading and writing. Teachers need to encourage exploratory reading and writing experiences. (Author/DB)