Language in the Schools

"This volume would make an excellent choice for a school-wide study group for professional development of teachers, especially for an elementary school that has a diversity of languages spoken within the community. Editors Denham and Lobeck and their colleagues have built an excellent argument for increasing the linguistic knowledge of teachers. As American classrooms continue to expand in diversity, these tools will become vital to the language of learning."—PsycCRITIQUES"...a great deal of valuable information to encourage teachers to think in more global terms about language and language use. The focus on diversity of the student population and diversity of language is clear and needed."—Nancy L. Hadaway, University of Texas at Arlington"The representative topics they explore are both stimulating and relevant to educators in today's teaching environments, and the suggested activities are, for the most part, realistic and exciting for teachers. Language in the Schools is successful in helping teachers see how to investigate and celebrate language(s) in their classrooms--whether they teach social studies, geometry, life science, or English. The book is a valuable contribution toward increasing awareness of language's role in classroom learning."--TESL-EJ, March 2007, Volume 10, Number 4

• Contents: Preface. Part I: How Knowledge of Language Can Inform Teachers in Multicultural, Linguistically Diverse Classrooms.J. Baugh, Linguistics and Education in Multilingual America. J.S. Lee, Embracing Diversity Through the Understanding of Pragmatics. S. Burt, H. Yang, Growing Up Shifting: Immigrant Children, Their Families, and the Schools. K.A. Remlinger, Language and Gender Matters in the Classroom. A.B. Wassink, "My Teacher Says...," Mastery of English and the Creole Learner. J. Ann, L. Peng, The Relevance of Linguistic Analysis to the Role of Teachers as Decision Makers. L.S. Mancini, A Positive Sign: An Overview of the Benefits of Signing in the Classroom. A. Lobeck, A Critical Approach to Standard English. P. MacGregor-Mendoza, Bilingualism: Myths and Realities. R. Bayley, S.R. Schecter, Spanish Maintenance and English Literacy: Mexican-Descent Children's Spanish and English Narratives. Part II: Integrating Knowledge of Language Into K-12 Teaching.A. Curzan, Spelling Stories: A Way to Teach the History of English. K. Denham, Teaching Students About Language Change, Language Endangerment, and Language Death. J.M.D. Higgins, Language as a Reflection of Our Social and Physical World: What We Can Learn From Metaphor. R.S. Wheeler, Contrasive Analysis and Codeswitching: How and Why to Use the Vernacular to Teach Standard English. K. Hazen, English LIVEs: Language in Variation Exercises for Today's Classrooms. P.A. Dunn, K. Lindblom, Developing Savvy Writers by Analyzing Grammar Rants. D.J. Napoli, Linguistics as a Tool in Teaching Fiction Writing. T.T.N. Hung, Applications of Corpus Linguistics in the English Language Classroom. A.M. Nemoianu, English Gairaigo: Learning About Language Structure From the Margins of Japanese. A. Curzan, Opening Dictionaries to Investigation.