The question of which words students should learn and in what order has traditionally been regarded as a matter for teachers and materials writers rather than the learners themselves. Research has focused on using word-specific criteria such as frequency and range of meaning to help teachers make choices about what items to teach to which students…

Teaching library terminology and definitions can be a real bore. Unfortunately, no matter how one looks at it, students need to learn a set of basic library words and their meanings. The Library ABC's game teaches elementary age students library terms and definitions, and it is effective, efficient, easy, exciting, and fun. Introduce the Library…

In 2007, the Kettering Foundation launched a nationwide, two-year research project to learn what people in communities across the nation think about the achievement gap--and what roles they see for themselves in helping young people succeed academically. The community forums, which drew more than 3,200 participants nationwide, spotlighted elements…

Students' comprehension of 45 nontechnical words used in science classes was investigated. Students (n=2111) in grades 7-12 and first year university were tested. Although many students apparently understood the words at a superficial level, some were unable to make the discriminations of meaning required for effective communication in science…

The study reported in this article describes second language (L2) vocabulary learning outcomes associated with adult L2 reading comprehension processes, thus connecting L2 learning with the complex cognitive and linguistic processing involved in reading. The study aimed to determine whether background knowledge moderated the relationship between…

Serves as an introduction to seven articles which focus on the differences between school renewal and school reform and their implications in a democratic society. Embedded in both terms are basic views of the world, human nature, and the way individuals do business. Renewal considers matters of justice, equity, and diversity; reform affirms…

The purpose of this paper is to articulate the relative meanings and values of various forms of subject matter. The paper first constructs a synthesizing definition of subject matter. All subject matter is conceptual in nature and is composed of words or statements concerning objects and events of the world which are to be taught and learned. The…

Different evaluation methods are applied in order to determine and develop the skills used for reading comprehension. Cloze is an informal evaluation method which is used to determine students' current reading knowledge, to develop their focusing skills on contextual cues and to enhance critical reading. Cloze involves evaluating readers' prior…

In two experiments, dysphoric and nondysphoric students first concentrated on either self-focused or other-focused phrases and then performed an ostensibly unrelated task involving the interpretation of homographs with both personal and impersonal meanings. In Experiment 1, they constructed sentences for the homographs; dysphoric students'…

Determining the gender of German nouns is an awesome task for the beginning student of German. This article lists rules which might facilitate this task. The gender can sometimes be inferred from the ending of a word, sometimes by the meaning, but sometimes only through memorization. (Author/TL)

The study involving 46 learning disabled children (mean age eight years) was designed to determine the effects of training in paradigmatic language structures on the reading process of Ss. Findings lent support for the semantic and syntactic relativity of words and for the meaning inherent in the nucleus of key verbal elements linking ideas to one…

Attempts to combine language and composition in the freshman English course at Gustavus Adolphus College (St. Peter, Minnesota) should interest all teachers of English. One project utilized a single key word for several assignments. Students were asked to (1) think through the meaning of the word for a week and write definitions and associations,…

Even through simplistic nursery rhymes, communication provides a powerful medium through which people formulate and create impressions, images, and ideologies. Communication, verbal and nonverbal, clearly plays a significant role in individual gender construction. Through words and action, people create meaning for others and themselves. One's…

This book presents essential information on designing and implementing a high-quality, systematic literacy program to help children learn about letters, sounds, and words. The central goal is to teach children to become "word solvers": readers who can take words apart while reading for meaning, and writers who can construct words while…

Two studies examined the relationship between word knowledge and reading comprehension. Subjects were college undergraduates with high and low verbal abilities as indicated by a standardized verbal aptitude test. The first study involved a multiple choice vocabulary test from which words that both groups defined correctly were selected. The…