An item discriminability study of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills Language Skills tests identified test items that are robust discriminators, psychometrically capable of separating low scorers from higher scorers in the language tests battery. The analysis was conducted by calculating a point-biserial correlation for each item on the four language…

The Mhong Language Council's 1982 conference had as its objectives: (1) a compromise spelling system to accommodate both White and Blue Mhong pronunciation; (2) simplification of the current Mhong spelling system; (3) review of approaches to the expression of foreign concepts in Mhong; and (4) adoption of capitalization and punctuation conventions…

Readers are "dumb" because they are not privy to the mind and intentions of the writer; and the failure of the unsuccessful writer is a failure to forecast what it is going to be like to be a dumb reader of the document. Sample sentences from students' writing illustrate the following types of writing problems, which force the reader to examine…

This report, part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) survey, describes one facet of the national assessment of writing. The students--9-, 13-, and 17-year-olds who constitute the sample for the NAEP studies--were told to use their best writing but were not told that their papers would be examined for mechanical correctness.…

The purposes of this study were to: (1) investigate the nature and extent of specific teaching, and the grade placement of language skills in primary grades; and (2) investigate experimentally the validity, reliability, and practicality of several different methods for measuring achievement in capitalization and punctuation in Grade 2. Phase I…

Some oral reading errors were found to be more significant than others in evaluating a pupil's performance in reading at six comprehension levels. The percentage of seven kinds of errors (pronunciation, mispronunciation, omission, substitution, addition, repetition, and punctuation) was computed to the levels of reading comprehension for good,…

This curriculum unit, developed by the Oregon Elementary English Project, is intended for use with fifth and sixth graders as a guide for writing. Included are discussions of the various marks of punctuation and the rules for using them, the use of capitals, writing dialog and paragraphs, and the mechanics of letter writing. The guide can be used…

Recent changes in French grammatical and spelling conventions not generally known in North America are outlined, including instances of gender and number agreement, plurals of hyphenated words, articles, numerical adjectives, indefinites, verb forms, and accent marks. (MSE)

The need to include an audio component in computer-assisted instruction in French is discussed and an attempted solution is described in terms of a suite of programs designed to facilitate the creation and use of dictation practice materials. (Author/SED)

Describes background, software development, and the Write-Well computer assisted instruction series used in a study at Illinois Institute of Technology. Composition students were divided into two groups, with one practicing comma usage with computer assisted instruction and another using textbooks. Results indicate computer assisted instruction…

This article discusses punctuation in Spanish, specifically rules for the use of the comma, the colon, and the semi-colon. The rules for the placement of prosodic and orthographic stress are also discussed. (Text is in Spanish.) (CLK)

Written for the fifth- and sixth-grade levels, this workbook gives students practice in using context clues and reading comprehension to apply punctuation rules, as well as in carefully reading and following directions. Noting that the activities are based on the idea that punctuation is necessary to make written communication clear, the…

This software product is designed to teach punctuation to students aged 8 to 14 years. The software may be used without the printed text, but educators will appreciate the added dimension and greater convenience that the lesson plans provide. Along with the 12 lesson plans are worksheets, templates, and other materials needed to complete the…