Language and Literacy resources repository

Papers on the Core Academic Language Skills Instrument (CALS-I) Papers on the Core Academic Language Skills Instrument (CALS-I)

The Core Academic Language Skills Instrument (CALS-I) was designed by the Institute of Education Sciences of the United States Department of Education to measure high utility academic language skills hypothesized to support reading comprehension across the content areas in grades 4 through 8.

What’s Hot in Literacy. 2018 Report What’s Hot in Literacy. 2018 Report

A useful guide to what topics “literacy experts” (mainly teachers and reading/literacy specialists in the United States, Canada, Phillippines, Australia and Nigeria) are currently most interested in and what they consider most important.

What's hot in literacy - 2020 What's hot in literacy - 2020

A useful guide to what topics 1 443 “literacy experts” (mainly teachers and reading/literacy specialists in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Jamaica, Nigeria, India, South Africa and the United Kingdom) are currently most interested in and what they consider most important. Keywords: Language, Literacy, Reading

When signals are lost in aggregation: a comparison of language marks and competencies of first-year university students

A study exploring the correlations between the English marks (home language and first additional language) in the National Senior Certificate and the National Benchmark Test (academic literacy) (NBT AL)) scores for University of the Witwatersrand first-year education students. The study found that the same mark in home language and first additional language does not necessarily reflect the same level of English-language academic competence as measured by the NBT AL test. Many students who have been accepted into the university based on their English first additional language marks may need academic support irrespective of their overall performance in the Senior Certificate. There was insufficient evidence to show that the NBT Al is a better discriminator of competency at this point in time.

When signals are lost in aggregation: a comparison of language marks and competencies of first-year university students When signals are lost in aggregation: a comparison of language marks and competencies of first-year university students

A comparative analysis of National Senior Certificate marks and National Benchmark Test (NBT) Academic Literacy (AL) test results for a cohort of first-year education students at the University of the Witwatersrand, which showed that the same mark in English HL and FAL does not necessarily reflect the same level of English language academic competence as measured by the NBT AL test. On average, students who wrote the FAL papers scored between .5 and .9 of a standard deviation below students who wrote the HL paper (and probably need extensive and ongoing academic support).

Brain wave study shows how different teaching methods affect reading development

Popular report on Stanford University research led by Bruce McCandliss that provides some of the first evidence that a specific teaching strategy for reading has direct neural impact. Beginning readers who focus on letter-sound relationships, or phonics, instead of trying to learn whole words, increase activity in the area of their brains best wired for reading.

Brain wave study shows how different teaching methods affect reading development Brain wave study shows how different teaching methods affect reading development

Report on a study done at the University of Stanford that shows how different literacy teaching methods affect reading development. Beginning readers who focus on letter-sound relationships, or phonics, instead of trying to learn whole words, increase activity in the area of their brains best wired for reading, according to the Stanford research investigating how the brain responds to different types of reading instruction.