This dissertation focuses on Grade 1 children's inquiry of narrative text over a three-month period. The children were read to as a group by the classroom teacher and individually by Grade 7 students, a grandparent helper, and a peer. They also read to themselves. There were ten subjects for the group context and six subjects for each other context. The data consist of audio-tapes and field notes from the five contexts. In addition three interviews were conducted with the classroom teacher and a think-aloud procedure was carried out with six of the subjects at the conclusion of the study. The children's statements were analyzed to determine if they inquired about narrative text and to explore the nature of their inquiry. The teacher interviews were analyzed to discover the teacher's perception of her role in the children's inquiry. The results from the think-aloud procedure were compared with results from the group context to determine if the findings were similar. A definition, description and list of skills of inquiry in the language arts was developed and applied to the children's statements to identify the statements that represented inquiry. Six categories that could be used to describe the nature of the children's inquiry statements emerged from the data. Each of these categories was made up of a variety of more specific classes. The children made more inquiry statements in the group context than in any other context. There were individual differences in the degree to which the children inquired about narrative text, and the text, the teacher's actions and the social context influenced the children's inquiry. The children used a variety of cognitive processes to inquire about text. The children's inquiry statements were evoked by the text, the children and the teacher. The focus of the children's inquiry statements was knowledge not explicitly evident in the text. Their statements took a variety of forms, and declaratives, not questions, were the predominant form. Although they inquired about a variety of subject matter, actions of characters and cause/effect relationships was the content of the majority of their inquiry statements. The function of most of their inquiry statements was the transmission of propositional knowledge and explanations. This study contributes to the existing literature in several ways. First, it provides a framework for considering children's inquiry and their involvement in learning. Second, it illuminates the relationship between the child, the text and the context in children's interactions with narrative text. Third, it reveals the complex and idiosyncratic nature of children's inquiry of narrative text. / Graduate

<p> Research indicates the characteristics of Autism Spectrum Disorder include challenges with receptive and expressive language, which can negatively impact social-emotional development and physical regulation. The needs of children with autism are expected to greatly impact the current medical and educational resources, thus effective intervention for language development is considered crucial. A recently implemented intervention is music therapy. Effective intervention strategies for families and special education staff are constantly being sought after. This qualitative study sought to determine, (a) how does music therapy affect the receptive and expressive language skills in children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder aged 3&ndash;8 years? (b) what components of music therapy do parents and music therapists profess to make the most impact on language acquisition development in their child diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, aged 3&ndash;8? Participants included ten family units in southern California and six music therapists in the states of California, Oregon, Idaho and Washington. The participants were asked to provide information pertaining to the language ability of their child/client before and after participating in music therapy. Results showed an increase in word utterance, progress toward special education goals, emotional wellbeing, expressive communication in the home and community, and an increase in social skills. The language ability of the children before and after participating in music therapy sessions ranged from a nonverbal state to singing songs, from using gestures to speaking three to four word phrases, from using language without pragmatics to making friends, and from uttering one to two word phrases to regulating their emotions. </p><p>

Since the United States has become an ethnically and culturally diverse country and has become a microcosm of the world, multicultural children's literature has attracted more and more attention and raised questions about its quality. The purpose of this study was to determine what images of Chinese people, Chinese-Americans, and Chinese culture were attributed in children's and adolescents' fiction. The study was achieved by examining 57 fictional books written by Chinese-American authors and other-American authors for readers from kindergarten through junior high school published in the United States from 1980 to 1997. This study was an example of the descriptive method of research using content analysis, a technique for evaluating the descriptions and information from the selected books in a systematic and objective manner, to achieve "systematic examination" by analyzing the information identified in the books under the study. The content of the books was analyzed to discover the ways Chinese people were portrayed and the ways Chinese cultures were represented, and to examine whether or not they were stereotyped. This study used two instruments, including a total of thirteen categories, to examine the images and representations from different perspectives. The results of the study indicated that the images of Chinese people were attributed both realistically and in a stereotypic manner, and the representations of Chinese culture in many books were inaccurate and unauthentic. It was also found that most of the inaccurate information and misrepresentations were made by non-Chinese-American authors and illustrators, though a few inaccurate pieces of information were made by Chinese-American authors and illustrators. The present study may be helpful to authors, illustrators, book reviewers, curriculum specialists, and others working with written materials about China, Chinese and Chinese-Americans, and also to scholars of children's literature who wish to analyze other cultures well. Directed toward the elimination of the stereotypes of Chinese and Chinese-Americans in Children's and adolescents' literature, the study promotes the realization of intercultural understanding, a necessary concomitant to the further development of cultural pluralism in this country.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Prior research in children's writing (Sawkins, 1971; Graves, 1973 and 1981; Calkins, 1980, and Giacobbe, 1982) has not offered a comprehensive analysis of both oral and written stories. My study, therefore, identified and analyzed the differences between eighteen fifth-graders' oral and written stories. I also conducted interviews to determine students' perceptions of their preferred composing situation and particular story preferences. Among the findings were that these students' oral stories were longer than their written stories. The simplest narrative pattern, "situation + problem + solution" (King, 1979:3), was the most prevalent structure. All the students used active voice in both types of stories, with the majority using simple past tense. The students showed a preference for first person point of view in their written stories, but a majority used third person in their oral composing. Most students developed their stories with primary settings relating to home and school, and the number of major characters was fairly consistent in both types of stories. Girls, however, used more minor characters than boys. These students preferred the written composing situation. All the students took some time to think about their stories before composing; however, girls used more written plans than boys. Students also used drawing to enhance their written texts but not their oral ones. The majority of students chose their written stories as better than the oral ones. Both trained adult raters and other fifth-grade raters agreed that the written stories were better. These findings are fairly consistent with conclusions reached in prior research, except those of Sawkins (1971). The differences center on planning strategies, interview skills, and story quality. Sawkins found that most of her fifth graders did not have the complete story in mind before they began composing and proceeded to compose without first having made notes. I reported, however, that my fifth graders indicated they had the complete story in mind before composing and some of them chose to write plans before they began. Although Sawkins (1971) believed that her fifth-grade boys responded better in an interview situation than her girls, I found all students in this study to be articulate and willing to talk about their individual composing processes. Finally, Sawkins reported that girls wrote compositions which were judged to be of high quality, while her boys wrote lower-quality compositions. Evaluators, however, agreed that my fifth-grade boys' stories were good, while rating the girls' stories lower. / Ed. D.

The purpose of this study is to determine the weak points and the strong points of the Language Arts Program and to make recommendations for improvement.