Reading consists of many interconnected skills. Research recommends that beginning readers focus on a set of basic skills, specifically referred to as the "foundational skills" (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices [NGACBP], Council of Chief State School Officers [CCSSO], 2010). Essential to forming the base for…

What are the "key competencies" needed in our time? What literacy is needed to make students active participants in their societies and contributors to changing cultures? This article offers a contribution to the ongoing discussion about these questions. It takes as its point of departure the "key competencies" formulated in…

Too much attention is given to drill on the component skills of language and literacy and too little attention to their significant use. Component skills must be used in contexts that require their integration into some larger act that has a personal purpose that binds the parts into the whole. (Author/IRT)

Evaluates Neville Bennett's study of "Teaching Styles and Pupil Progress" which is being used to support a return to formal methods of instruction. (DD)

The articles in this issue of "Kansas English" discuss and define what is basic in composition. The first article, by Richard Lloyd-Jones, discusses the teaching of composition and the preparation of teachers of composition. The second article, by Hans P. Guth, suggests a positive modern approach to language, designed to help students become more…

Which means, receiving message loud and clear--what classroom "good buddies" do with CB lingo in language activities. (Editor)

Spelling is fun when the kids take a personal interest in what they learn. (Editor)

Generally, teachers are good students. Most know how to successfully address a variety of academic tasks demands. Many know how to compensate for any personal weaknesses they have with specific skills. Sometimes teachers are such good students that they forgot what it was like to struggle to learn something. Unfortunately, students with emotional…

Here are three articles designed to help teachers teach the basic subjects--science, mathematics, and language arts. (Editor/RK)

Intended for regular teachers with mildly handicapped learners, the handbook covers techniques for adapting instruction, for compensatory instruction, for remedial instruction, and for teaching basic survival skills. An introduction surveys types of appropriate modifications for mainstreaming. Adaptive techniques discussed include the following:…

Claims that teachers of elementary students in the U.S. and the U.K. are often concerned with teaching the "basic skills" of reading at the expense of developing information skills: locating information, learning from it and using it. Suggests approaches for teaching these skills.(NH)

THE COURSE HAS BEEN DEVELOPED TO PROVIDE REMEDIAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT WHO IS SERIOUSLY HANDICAPPED IN THE LANGUAGE ARTS. BASED ON THE WORKSHOP PATTERN, THE PROGRAM, OFFERED IN THE FRESHMAN YEAR, IS THE EQUIVALENT OF A 2-YEAR COURSE. IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT THE STUDENT BE PROGRAMED FOR TWO PERIODS OF ENGLISH, WITH READING SKILLS…

Discusses the literacy problems caused by teaching reading and writing separately and by teaching in isolation the skills required in these two processes. (HTH)

This paper argues that the "back to basics" movement represents a simplistic assessment of the problem it is trying to deal with. It is not necessary for the English curriculum to "return" to narrowly defined basic skills because the English curriculum, in fact, never left them, and that is the real problem. Language…