Suggests that Whole Language is not the whole word approach, nor merely teaching skills in context, nor the Language Experience approach, nor a new term for the Open Classroom, but rather a point of view about language, literacy, and content learning. (JC)

Over the past decade, education reforms have raised the educational bar for all children in the United States--including newcomers. These reforms place tremendous pressures on children and teachers. In addition to mastering the content-area curriculum, children must become skilled users of language. They must be highly competent in reading and…

Relates the English language spelling system to sound and examines whether spellers make use of the information available in that relationship when spelling words. Describes how certain phonological features of a dialect spoken along the northeast coast of Newfoundland influence spelling errors among fourth graders. (SB)

Investigates English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) students' performance in error correction in writing and discusses the pedagogical implications that arise from the study. Findings reveal that students' major difficulty is failure to detect errors. Pedagogical implications indicate that error feedback is superior to overt correction and that some…

Examines the relationship of codes across languages, with particular reference to written language and to English in relation to Japanese and Chinese. Reviews language contact and language learning effects related to reading, writing, cognition and linguistic creativity as various types of cross-language effects in biliteracy. (42 references)…

Discusses how the appropriate interweaving of assessment and teaching encourages students to participate actively in their own learning. The article describes one teacher's efforts to enhance the proficiency of the English language-math learners in her class by encouraging the students to work toward an exhibition of student-built models of famous…

Describes a writing project that was set up to improve the writing skills of selected categories of corporate employees. The article considers the interplay between the technical platform for distance training scenarios and the pedagogical strategies these made available to course writers and tutors. (10 references) (Author/CK)

Presents a hypothesis-generating study of advanced university English-as-a-Foreign-Language learners' incidental vocabulary acquisition from oral and written dialogue journals over a semester. Teacher and student entries were analyzed and transcribed using WordCruncher (1993). Analyses compare characteristics of the input to the learners in the…

In a study of first-language transfer and second-language (L2) acquisition of reflexive binding, the interpretation of English reflexives by native speakers of Serbo-Croatian was investigated using two types of written sentence comprehension tasks. Results support the transfer hypothesis and suggest learners have access to Universal Grammar in L2…

Describes the results of using field-specific written materials in a language laboratory setting to teach oral skills in a support course for international teaching assistants for the purpose of promoting automaticity in oral production and raising the intelligibility of students through the improvement of fluency and pronunciation. (25…

Many American Indian students are alienated from schooling by the obvious disparities and conflicts between language usage in the oral tradition of their communities and that required in written academic discourse. A community-based language model used with Lakota college students empowers students by teaching critical writing that fuses…

Presents data from a cross-sectional study of the use of cohesion in Italian texts written by second-language adult learners and by native speakers. The study's goal was to compare learners and native speakers in their use of cohesion and to observe the developmental sequences in the use of cohesion. Data interpretation is presented. (64…

Analyzes the academic records of 191 nonnative students who took a writing examination in 1991 to assess their performance on the writing examination of Georgia State University. Results indicate that questions remain about the relationship between English proficiency and academic preparation and about responsibilities for academically weak…

This comparison of 15 successful and 15 unsuccessful college foreign-language learners found significant intergroup differences in performance on the Modern Language Aptitude Test, tests of written and oral language in the syntactic and phonological domains, and math calculation. Results suggest that students with foreign language learning…

A straightforward method for improving second-language writing skills is described that also encourages oral discussion of grammar. Drawing on process writing principles and group activity, the method involves having students correct their peers' work. (Contains four references.) (LB)