A study of the child's experience in learning a second language as it is embedded in his experience of kindergarten looks at two classes of unilingual (English-speaking) Canadian children in a half-day French immersion program. The immersion experience for the children is described in these terms: what "French" means to them; what and how they…

A series of studies are underway at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Audience Research Facility to examine the impact of interactivity on informational and entertainment based television viewing. In order to examine the learning of spatial skills from videogames, the first study compared the learning of spatial content from interactive…

The United States-Japan Cooperative Science Program was initiated for the purpose of conducting research and exchanging ideas for the improvement of science education. A seminar was held in Honolulu in 1986 to discuss efforts and future directions of this cooperative program. This paper reviews the outcomes of the seminar in three areas. These…

This paper discusses higher-order cognitive skills, provides examples of appropriate test item content in various subject areas, and describes higher-level cognitive skills which might be tested by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Higher-order cognitive skills are said to be more difficult to measure than simpler skills;…

A study of code-switching in a group of 35 Spanish-English bilingual third-graders is reported. The students' diary journal entries and writing assignments based on previous classwork are examined. Retelling of stories previously told by the teacher and the journal entries helped identify the kind of language used by students, the code-switching…

The "informal process" for writing reports, which incorporates the mechanics of textbook theory but emphasizes the composition process, may be more successful for teaching fifth graders how to write reports than the traditional approach. This process recommends a number of nontraditional teaching methods. Student choice of topic should…

To determine students' metacognitive knowledge of the expository writing process, a study analyzed fifth and sixth graders' declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge by means of group questionnaires and individual interviews at all stages of their participation in one of three year-long writing programs. The programs emphasized social…

Cosponsored by Hanyang University as a demonstration of its founding philosophy, "love in deed and truth," this conference focused on literacy and languages from cross-cultural and instructional perspectives. The papers selected for this yearbook and their authors are as follows: (1) "Designing Tasks for Slow Learners in L2"…

Research summarized here demonstrates how similarity thinking can be used in training programs to help ethnic minority children acquire basic skills. Current achievements are often attenuated by poor language skills, especially when English is not the first language of the child. Similarity thinking assesses the child's ability to learn without…

Research was conducted to further investigate the results of an earlier 1985 study (Dwyer, et al.) which found that a moderately externally-paced microcomputer-based instructional program was more effective than either a self-paced or a more aggressive externally-paced condition. Instructional programs (heart parts and verbal labels) were…

Four similarities between reading and writing and their corresponding instructional significance are examined in this literature review. Each of the four reviewed topics is prefaced by general instructional suggestions based on research cited in the review. Topics and suggestions are as follows: (1) linguistic--whenever possible, the processes of…

Reading comprehension skills can be taught effectively across the curriculum leading to enhanced critical thinking and reading skills, as well as improved performance in content areas. Skilled readers plan their approach to the task at hand, monitor their learning as they read, apply strategies to foster learning, evaluate, and if necessary,…

To determine the influence of media on learning, a study explored students' preferences, perceived difficulty, and learning in relation to a variety of activities. A randomly selected panel of 611 students, grades three through ten, was drawn from the nine schools (six elementary, two junior high, and one senior high) that make up an entire public…

The usefulness of studying thought processes in the construct validation of ability tests was examined using a sample consisting of 343 Canadian senior high school students. Four levels of probing were used by the interviewer to examine the students' thinking processes while taking the Test on Appraising Observations: (1) think aloud; (2)…

The essays in this book address various cognitive and emotional dimensions of disrupted composing and describe some of the situational variables that can contribute to it. The titles and authors are as follows: "Blocking and the Young Writer" (Donald H. Graves); "Emotional Scenarios in the Writing Process: An Examination of Young…