Learning To Read An Integrated View From Research And Practice

Literacy research has continued to develop at a rapid pace in these last five years of the millennium. New ideas about how children learn to read have led to a better understanding of the causes of progress and failure in the mastery of literacy, with repercussions for children's assessment and teacher education. These new discoveries also allow teachers to transcend the old debates in reading instruction (phonics versus whole language) and offer the path to a synthesis. At the same time, research with teachers about their own implementation of methods and the development of their own knowledge about the teaching of literacy has produced a fresh analysis of the practice of literacy teaching. Inspired by these developments, teachers, teacher educators and researchers worked together to produce this volume, which promotes the integration of literacy research and practice.

Second Language Writing Systems looks at how people learn and use a second language writing system, arguing that they are affected by characteristics of the first and second writing systems, to a certain extent independently of the languages involved. This book presents for the first time the effects of writing systems on language reading and writing and on language awareness, and provides a new platform for discussing bilingualism, biliteracy and writing systems. The approach is interdisciplinary, with contributions not only from applied linguists and psychologists but also corpus linguists, educators and phoneticians. A variety of topics are covered, from handwriting to spelling, word recognition to the mental lexicon, and language textbooks to metalinguistic awareness. Though most of the studies concern adult L2 learners and users, other populations covered include minority children, immersion students and bilingual children. While the emphasis is on English as the L2 writing system, many other writing systems are analysed as L1 or L2: Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, Gujarati, Indonesian, Irish, Italian and Japanese. Approaches that are represented include contrastive analysis, transfer, poststructuralism, connectionism and corpus analysis. The readership is SLA and bilingualism researchers, students and teachers around the world; language teachers will also find much food for thought.

English L2 Reading, Third Edition offers teachers research-based insights into bottom-up skills in reading English as a second language and a solid foundation on which to build reading instruction. Core linguistic and psycholinguistic concepts are presented within the context of their application to teaching. The goal is to balance or supplement (not replace) top-down approaches and methodologies with effective low-level options for teaching English reading. The text’s pedagogical features— Questions, Study Guide Questions. Discussion Questions, Spotlight on Teaching sections— engage readers of the text in moving easily from linguistic details and psycholinguistic data and theory to practical explanations and suggestions for teaching. Two Appendices provide tables that list the graphemes or the phonemes of English. Changes in the Third Edition Shift in focus from criticism of whole language methodologies to a more neutral stance —times have changed and the study of lower-level reading strategies is now mainstream Greater focus on linguistic form, along with function and meaning Updated information about reading strategies at each level of the reading process More Spotlight on Teaching sections, one for each chapter New chapter on spelling development

Applied Linguistics and Language Teacher Education is aimed at applied linguists who are interested in understanding more about the learning of novice teachers in their classes. The 21 studies in this volume provide information on the complexity of novice teachers learning and use of knowledge in a variety of applied linguistics classes such as SLA, Syntax, Pragmatics, Sociolinguistics, Phonetics and Phonology, L2 Reading and Writing, Testing, and Content Based Instruction. These studies were conducted in a variety of contexts, from North and South America to Europe, Asia and Australia, and look at the preparation of teachers of English, Spanish and Chinese. The book also includes a state-of-the-art summary of research on knowledge acquisition and use which provides applied linguists with a solid basis for developing their ideas about their students learning and use of the knowledge presented in their classes.

This collection of 58 articles from the recently-published third edition of the INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF EDUCATION focus on learning, memory, attention, problem solving, concept formation, and language. Learning and cognition is the foundation of cognitive psychology and encompasses many topics including attention, memory, categorization, etc. Most books in the area either focus on one subtopic in-depth (e.g. an entire book on memory) or cover the gamut of subjects in a series of long, technical handbook-like chapters. This concise reference offers researchers and professors teaching in the area a new take on the material that is comprehensive in breadth, but lighter in depth - focusing on main findings, established facts, and minimizing the amount of space taken up by large, multi-volume references. An introduction to a complex field via summaries of main topics in this discipline Contains contributions from the foremost international researchers in the field Makes content available to individual cognitive psychology researchers

This new edition of the much-loved Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy has been revised and updated to retain its cutting-edge focus on emergent and important areas of research. This comprehensive work guides the reader through current social, cultural and historical analysis on a global scale. The new edition contains a greater range of methodologies, and chapters on: - space and literacy - disabilities and early childhood literacy - digital literacies - indigenous literacy - play and literacy - policy In the Handbook, readers will find coverage of all the key topics in early childhood literacy. The exceptional list of contributors offers in-depth expertise in their respective areas of knowledge. The Handbook is essential for Undergraduate students; Masters students; PhD students; CPD students; researchers, and literacy-centre personel. ′The second edition of this internationally respected and widely used text encompases a myriad of new issues and insights, both through new contributions and thoughtfully revised chapters which raise fresh questions and challenges for research and practice. In pushing the boundaries still further, the handbook retains its rightful place at the forefront of research into early childhood literacy practice in the 21st century′ -Professor Teresa Cremin, Open University UK ′This handbook provides in-depth knowledge of insights and theories about the dynamic process of how children come to know literacy as thinking humans in social and cultural spaces. There is a rich array of research perspectives of children′s meaning-making through family and digital liteacies, play and literacy, and in-school and out-of-school literacy experiences′ - Yetta Goodman, Regents Professor, University of Arizona

First Published in 2005. All teachers recognise how crucial is the acquisition of good reading skills. This book will help teachers understand how pupils learn and will help them to meet those pupils' different needs through appropriate intervention. It includes: Clear explanation of different learning difficulties; Guidelines on types of assessment; Advice on how to select the best type of intervention and support. For teachers, TAs, Numeracy Co-ordinators and SENCOs.