https://languageandliteracy.blog/Mark Anderson on language, literacy, and schools as ecosystems — research, practice, and the conditions for learning.enhttps://languageandliteracy.blog/seeing-languagehttps://languageandliteracy.blog/seeing-languageMon, 27 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000!impressionistic sign(/media/seeing-language/01.png) I had some opportunities this past year to visit and learn from a school here in NYC that is truly unique in the city (and, from what I understand, the country) where deaf and hard of hearing children, hearing children of Deaf adults, and generalhttps://languageandliteracy.blog/what-we-learned-from-research-in-2025https://languageandliteracy.blog/what-we-learned-from-research-in-2025Sat, 03 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000!The learning ecosystem(/media/what-we-learned-from-research-in-2025/01.png) I haven’t written many posts in 2025; here are the measly few I’ve managed to squeak out: Literacy Is Not Just for ELA: The Power of Content-Rich Teacher Tall(/literacy-is-not-just-for-ela-the-power-of-content-rich-teacher-https://languageandliteracy.blog/ai-mastery-and-the-barbell-of-cognitive-enhancementhttps://languageandliteracy.blog/ai-mastery-and-the-barbell-of-cognitive-enhancementMon, 15 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000In the typical Hollywood action movie, a hero acquires master-level skill in a specialized art, such as Kung Fu, in a few power ballad-backed minutes of a training montage. In real life, it may seem self-evident that gaining mastery takes years of intense, deliberate, and guided work. Yet the perennhttps://languageandliteracy.blog/more-productive-than-an-hour-of-instructionhttps://languageandliteracy.blog/more-productive-than-an-hour-of-instructionTue, 23 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000The Surprising Cognitive Science of a Walk in the Park !(/media/more-productive-than-an-hour-of-instruction/01.png) The capacity for intense focus in our students is a finite resource—a cognitive fuel tank that can, and does, run low. We see the results in the classroom: irritability, impatience, ahttps://languageandliteracy.blog/literacy-is-not-just-for-ela-the-power-of-content-rich-teacher-talkhttps://languageandliteracy.blog/literacy-is-not-just-for-ela-the-power-of-content-rich-teacher-talkMon, 31 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000Language is the everpresent medium of teaching and learning, the element that infuses every classroom interaction. Yet, how often do we explicitly plan the content, structure, and quality of this critical element? While we meticulously map out and prepare for the activities we engage our students inhttps://languageandliteracy.blog/what-we-learned-from-research-in-2024https://languageandliteracy.blog/what-we-learned-from-research-in-2024Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000!Stacks of papers(/media/what-we-learned-from-research-in-2024/01.jpeg) 2024 was another great year filled with fascinating research. Over the course of this year, I’ve written a few posts about some of it: How to Externalize Internal Language(/how-to-externalize-internal-language) Research Highlighhttps://languageandliteracy.blog/research-highlight-5-learning-in-a-new-language-takes-efforthttps://languageandliteracy.blog/research-highlight-5-learning-in-a-new-language-takes-effortTue, 15 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000!Squirrels on a book(/media/research-highlight-5-learning-in-a-new-language-takes-effort/01.jpeg) Learning new information in L2 is more effortful than in L1. We found different functional connectivity networks of naturalistic learning through speech among adolescents, confirming this prevalent obsehttps://languageandliteracy.blog/reviewing-claims-ive-made-on-llmshttps://languageandliteracy.blog/reviewing-claims-ive-made-on-llmsMon, 07 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000!Novice bunny and expert bunny on bikes(/media/reviewing-claims-ive-made-on-llms/01.jpeg) When I typically begin a series of blogs to conduct nerdy inquiry into an abstract topic, I don't generally know where I'm going to end up. This series on LLMs was unusual in that in our first post(/language-anhttps://languageandliteracy.blog/llms-statistical-learning-and-explicit-teachinghttps://languageandliteracy.blog/llms-statistical-learning-and-explicit-teachingWed, 18 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000!NYC skyline(/media/llms-statistical-learning-and-explicit-teaching/01.jpg) The Surprising Success of Large Language Models “The success of large language models is the biggest surprise in my intellectual life. We learned that a lot of what we used to believe may be false and what I used to believehttps://languageandliteracy.blog/the-interplay-of-language-cognition-and-llms-where-fuzziness-meets-precisionhttps://languageandliteracy.blog/the-interplay-of-language-cognition-and-llms-where-fuzziness-meets-precisionSun, 28 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000!Through the window(/media/the-interplay-of-language-cognition-and-llms-where-fuzziness-meets-precision/01.jpg) In our series on AI, LLMs, and Language(/series/ai-llms-and-language) so far we’ve explored a few implications of LLMs relating to language and literacy development: 1) LLMs gain their unchttps://languageandliteracy.blog/scaling-our-capacity-for-processing-informationhttps://languageandliteracy.blog/scaling-our-capacity-for-processing-informationThu, 04 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000!The Octopus(/media/scaling-our-capacity-for-processing-information/01.jpg) “Over cultural evolution, the human species was so pressured for increased information capacity that they invented writing, a revolutionary leap forward in the development of our species that enables information capacity tohttps://languageandliteracy.blog/the-pathway-of-human-language-towards-computational-precision-in-llmshttps://languageandliteracy.blog/the-pathway-of-human-language-towards-computational-precision-in-llmsSun, 19 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000!Natural digital(/media/the-pathway-of-human-language-towards-computational-precision-in-llms/01.png) Regularity and irregularity. Decodable and tricky words. Learnability and surprisal(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0010027707001436?via%3Dihub). Predictability and randomnesshttps://languageandliteracy.blog/the-algebra-of-language-unveiling-the-statistical-tapestry-of-form-and-meaninghttps://languageandliteracy.blog/the-algebra-of-language-unveiling-the-statistical-tapestry-of-form-and-meaningSat, 27 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000!A statistical tapestry(/media/the-algebra-of-language-unveiling-the-statistical-tapestry-of-form-and-meaning/01.jpeg) ". . . the fact, as suggested by these findings, that semantic properties can be extracted from the formal manipulation of pure syntactic properties – that meaning can emerge from phttps://languageandliteracy.blog/language-and-llmshttps://languageandliteracy.blog/language-and-llmsTue, 23 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000“Semantic gradients,”(https://www.readingrockets.org/classroom/classroom-strategies/semantic-gradients) are a tool used by teachers to broaden and deepen students' understanding of related words by plotting them in relation to one another. They often begin with antonyms at each end of the continuum.https://languageandliteracy.blog/research-highlight-4-structuring-classroom-learning-for-student-success-andhttps://languageandliteracy.blog/research-highlight-4-structuring-classroom-learning-for-student-success-andFri, 23 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000!an organized classroom(/media/research-highlight-4-structuring-classroom-learning-for-student-success-and/01.jpeg) Thanks to a podcast, Emerging Research in Educational Psychology(https://soundcloud.com/user-883650452/erika-patall-2024?utmsource=clipboard&utmmedium=text&utmcampaign=socialsharing),https://languageandliteracy.blog/research-highlight-3-the-reading-profiles-of-english-learnershttps://languageandliteracy.blog/research-highlight-3-the-reading-profiles-of-english-learnersMon, 05 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000!a boy struggling to read a book(/media/research-highlight-3-the-reading-profiles-of-english-learners/01.jpeg) Paper Citation: Philip Capin, Sharon Vaughn, Joseph E. Miller, Jeremy Miciak, Anna-Mari Fall, Greg Roberts, Eunsoo Cho, Amy E. Barth, Paul K. Steinle & Jack M. Fletcher (2023) Investigatinghttps://languageandliteracy.blog/how-to-externalize-internal-languagehttps://languageandliteracy.blog/how-to-externalize-internal-languageSun, 28 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000In a previous post, Thinking Inside and Outside of Language(/thinking-inside-and-outside-of-language), we channelled Cormac McCarthy and explored the tension between language and cognition. We dug in even further and considered Plato's long ago fears of the deceptive and distancing power of writtenhttps://languageandliteracy.blog/what-we-learned-from-education-research-in-2023https://languageandliteracy.blog/what-we-learned-from-education-research-in-2023Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000!Researchers with gifts(/media/what-we-learned-from-education-research-in-2023/01.jpeg) This has been a great year for education research. I thought it could be fun to review some of what has come across my own limited radar over the course of 2023. The method I used to create this wrap-up was to gohttps://languageandliteracy.blog/research-highlight-2-the-language-teachers-use-influences-the-languagehttps://languageandliteracy.blog/research-highlight-2-the-language-teachers-use-influences-the-languageSat, 25 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000!2nd grade students eagerly listening to a read-aloud by their teacher(/media/research-highlight-2-the-language-teachers-use-influences-the-language/01.png) Teacher Vocabulary Use and Student Language and Literacy Achievement Citation: Wanzek, J., Wood, C., & Schatschneider, C. (2023). Teacher Vocabhttps://languageandliteracy.blog/schools-should-be-more-like-trader-joeshttps://languageandliteracy.blog/schools-should-be-more-like-trader-joesThu, 23 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000!a Hawaiian shirt(/media/schools-should-be-more-like-trader-joes/01.webp) This post was written back in 2015 and was originally available on VIVA Teachers and EdPost, but it looks like it's no longer on either. I'm re-posting here for nostalgia and posterity. Prior to becoming a special education te