The purpose of this book is to bring together essays--first published in the "Harvard Educational Review"--that identify and explicate critical issues and positions on language and reading, examine many educational and political problems arising from these issues, and illuminate the historical and philosophical developments that have made literacy…

In physical activities, students' attitudes, values, and motivations change during their school years. Two theories concerning these changes are that teacher-student interactions and teachers' behaviors will differ according to the age level of the student groups and that evaluation of a teacher's effectiveness should be specific to the population…

This secondary unit of instruction on oral communication is one of sixteen Common Core Units in Business Education (CCUBE). The units were designed for implementing the sixteen common core competencies identified in the California Business Education Program Guide for Office and Distributive Education. Each competency-based unit is designed to…

A study was conducted to assess the ability of children to distinguish native from non-native English and to determine the age at which they reach the adult level of recognition ability. A brief passage containing the segmental phonemes of English was recorded by ten native and ten non-native speakers of Standard American English. The tape was…

Procedures and results of a project to develop and verify a list of communication skills that students in postsecondary vocational technical institutes should possess upon graduation are presented in this report. A list of forty-six competencies was developed and sent to 765 vocational technical adult education (VTAE) graduates and 740 employers…

These three volumes provide (1) basic information about the art of oral communication and its relevance in teaching and learning, (2) explanations of theories and methods for teachers at all levels who wish to include training in oral communication as part of the regular curriculum, (3) lists of teaching ideas, lesson plans, unit plans, and…

Authors in Section 1 of this yearbook distinguish between the special knowledge and tools employed by the linguists, and the concepts and conclusions which may be passed on to teachers; while authors in Section 2 deal specifically with linguistics in the school context--both its content and its implications for teaching strategies. Papers and…

The study was designed to explore further, and possibly extend, a conceptual model of teacher-student classroom interaction used initially in mono-lingual, segregated, public secondary school and college settings. The 4 verbal act modes in the model were called appraisal, prescriptive, informational, and questioning. This observational study…

The purpose of this study was to extend a relationship between teacher verbal rewarding and punishing behavior and subject matter growth previously obtained with middle-class postprimary children, with a different population; namely, first-grade, lower-class children. The subjects were 366 children and 20 teachers from first-grade classes…

Within the framework of viewing communicative competence as a prerequisite to linguistic competence, rather than vice versa, this paper considers the following: (1) the nature of communicative competence; (2) the implications of communicative competence for second language teaching; and (3) ways in which the teacher can begin to make a foreign…

This is a study of language development utilizing samples of spontaneous speech collected over three years from a representative group of children. The study is part of the Bristol Longitudinal Language Development Research Programme, the aim of which is to describe how children learn to talk; more specifically, to what extent all children develop…

The paper discusses the major second language teaching methods used to date in contrast with the strategies and techniques all children so successfully employ in first language acquisition. Second language acquisition for adults is not identical to first language acquisition but research seems to support the theory that it is similar. Successful…

Explores verbal exchange structure (2 people's cooccurring speech-act categories that accomplish some subtask within an interpersonal encounter) of two psychotherapeutic approaches used with 39 depressed clients. Analyzed verbal response mode frequencies in 1,630 segments. Exchanges showed distinctive temporal patterns across segments of sessions…

This study assesses the predictive validity of the Phelps Kindergarten Readiness Scale (PKRS) for later academic achievement and explores the utility of a domain-specific measure of kindergarten readiness. Kindergarten readiness scores were significantly correlated with both math and language arts achievement as measured by New York State…

The self-defeating behavior of some students can often make even the most persistent of teachers to feel discouraged. The purpose of this article is to explain and provide a research-based rationale for the use of teacher verbal feedback prompts that convince students of their ability to succeed on a task. He discusses how to understand the…