Vocabulary Acquisition During Elementary and Post-Elementary Years: A Preliminary Report

Variables which contribute to language learning have been the subject of a great deal of research interest and study. Generally, research has concentrated on preschool language acquisition and, until the past decade, has supported the conclusion that language development is very nearly mature by about age six. Growing numbers of researchers, however, are acknowledging the need for research concerning language acquisition beyond the preschool years (C. Chomsky, 1969; Ruddell, 1976; Wardhaugh, 1976). Of specific interest are the developmental processes through which elementary and post-elementary children gain grammatical and lexical control of their language. Embedded in this larger concern are questions dealing with vocabular acquisition which Manzo and Sherk (1974) have identified as being singularly important, but relatively unresearched; specifically, (1) what condition or conditions precipitate the acquisition of new words? and (2) what strategy or strategies are used to incorporate new words into the speaking vocabulary? A third, and just as important concern, is whether the conditions and/ or strategies change developmentally, and if so, what relationship this change has to current theories of cognitive development

What Administrators Actually Know About Reading Programs

The purpose of this survey was to determine the extent and depth of public school administrators\u27 attitudes, knowledge and concepts about reading programs. Surveys were sent to 100 public school administrators in a mid-western metropolitan area. The results were tabulated from fifty-nine respondents; six superintendents, twenty-one secondary principals, and thirty-two elementary principals. No special supervisors (language arts curriculum, personnel. etc.) were included in the study

Reflections on the past two decades of neuroscience

The first issue of Nature Reviews Neuroscience was published 20 years ago, in 2000. To mark this anniversary, in this Viewpoint article we asked a selection of researchers from across the field who have authored pieces published in the journal in recent years for their thoughts on notable and interesting developments in neuroscience, and particularly in their areas of the field, over the past two decades. They also provide some thoughts on current lines of research and questions that excite them

From democratic socialism to neoliberalism: the metamorphoses of the people's national party in Jamaica

Why are leftist parties in government abandoning their state-led, redistributive economic development models in favor of market-determined neoliberal ones? Conventional explanations emphasize conditionality of international financial institutions. This argument, though, fails to account for differences in economic policy choices across countries or within a country over time. Analyzing the social democratic People\u27s National Party of Jamaica during two periods when it accepted IMF-mandated neoliberal economic reform measures (1977-80 and 1989-present), an alternative approach is presented to illuminate why and how leftist governments switch economic policy programs. The two time periods show that IMF conditionality might be a necessary motivation for the adoption of neoliberal economic measures, but it is not sufficient motivation. I argue that the actual policies the PNP governments employed reflect changes in the relative influence of competing factions within the party. This approach, focusing on domestic actors rather than international ones to account for economic policy shifts, highlights the ways in which politicians can manipulate institutional rules to change the relative weight of different factions within the party to gain support for policy decisions that contradict the party\u27s traditional social democratic ideology

Liberalismo internacional e justiça distributiva International liberalism and distributive justice

Três enfoques de justiça distributiva internacional (que exprimem diferentes pressupostos da tradição liberal) representadas na literatura recente são descritos. Examina-se o tema com relação à questão dos direitos humanos.<br>Three approaches to international distributive justice (which express distinct assumptions of the liberal tradition) represented in recent literature are described. The theme is examined with regard to the question of human rights