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can't access full article, but this describes how they set up research experiments to answer their questions about the relationship between speech and gesture

A new speed-reading app, Spritz, premiered in March 2014. Its makers claim that Spritz allows users to read at staggeringly high rates of speed: 600 or even 1,000 words per minute. (The average college graduate reads at a rate of about 300 words per minute.) Spritz can do this, they say, by circumventing the limitations imposed by our visual system. The author of this article argues that your brain has an even more superior "app": expertise, which creates a happy balance between speed and comprehension. In their forthcoming book, Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning, researchers Henry Roediger III and Mark McDaniel (along with writer Peter Brown) liken expertise to a "brain app" that makes reading and other kinds of intellectual activity proceed more efficiently and effectively. In the minds of experts, the authors explain, "a complex set of interrelated ideas" has "fused into a meaningful whole." The mental "chunking" that an expert - someone deeply familiar with the subject she's reading about - can do gives her a decided speed and comprehension advantage over someone who is new to the material, for whom every fact and idea encountered in the text is a separate piece of information yet to be absorbed and connected. People reading within their domain of expertise have lots of related vocabulary and background knowledge, both of which allow them to steam along at full speed while novices stop, start, and re-read, struggling with unfamiliar words and concepts. Deep knowledge of what we're reading about propels the reading process in other ways as well. As we read, we're constantly building and updating a mental model of what's going on in the text, elaborating what we've read already and anticipating what will come next. A reader who is an expert in the subject he's reading about will make more detailed and accurate predictions of what upcoming sentences and paragraphs will contain, allowing him to read quickly while filling in his alrea

Screens have changed our reading patterns from the linear, left-to-right sequence of years past to a wild skimming and skipping pattern as we hunt for important words and information. One 2006 study of the eye movements of 232 people looking at Web pages found they read in an "F" pattern, scanning all the way across the top line of text but only halfway across the next few lines, eventually sliding their eyes down the left side of the page in a vertical movement toward the bottom. None of this is good for our ability to comprehend deeply, scientists say. Reading text punctuated with links leads to weaker comprehension than reading plain text, several studies have shown. A 2007 study involving 100 people found that a multimedia presentation mixing words, sounds and moving pictures resulted in lower comprehension than reading plain text did. Slow reading means a return to a continuous, linear pattern, in a quiet environment free of distractions. Advocates recommend setting aside at least 30 to 45 minutes in a comfortable chair far from cellphones and computers. Some suggest scheduling time like an exercise session. Many recommend taking occasional notes to deepen engagement with the text.

Other, non-human primates have Broca's and Wernicke's areas in their brains, as do humans. In both species, the Broca's region represents non-linguistic hand and mouth movements. Evidence also suggests that both species may have mirror neurons in this region that are involved in understanding the actions and intentions of others. In both macaques and humans, this region is likely involved in producing orofacial expressions and in understanding the intentions behind orofacial expressions of others. In humans, it has evolved an additional communicative function, namely speech production. Interestingly however, it does not appear to be involved in monkey vocalizations, which are instead mediated by limbic and brainstem areas. In both species, the region represents non-linguistic hand and mouth movements. Evidence also suggests that both species may have mirror neurons in this region that are involved in understanding the actions and intentions of others. In both macaques and humans, this region is likely involved in producing orofacial expressions and in understanding the intentions behind orofacial expressions of others. In humans, it has evolved an additional communicative function, namely speech production. However, unlike in humans, Broca's area does not appear to be involved in monkey vocalizations, which are instead mediated by limbic and brainstem areas. Regarding Wernicke's area, which is responsible for language comprehension in humans, evidence suggests that the left superior temporal gyrus is specialized for processing species-specific calls in macaques, just as it is specialized for speech comprehension in humans.

By Leonardo VintiñiEpoch Times Staff Perhaps the most important job for a copy editor is to ensure that text is free of spelling mistakes. But is error-riddled text any less understandable? On repeated occasions researchers have found that people can still understand the meaning of sentences even if they are completely made up of jumbled words.

A comprehensive, illustrated dictionary with etymologies, pictographs & definitions in English, displaying also Hiragana and Katakana, the Kana used in Nihongo

Very informational article about music and the correlation with childhood development. "Music is a way of knowing." Music must be included in early childhood to ensure a comprehensive learning experience. 

The trick to being a good reader, no matter the medium, is being an engaged reader. Research suggests taking notes and annotating text, whether done traditionally or via digital annotation, aids both comprehension and retention.

"Music stimulates various parts of the brain, making it an effective therapeutic or mood-altering tool." I totally agree with that statement and it is also said that 80% of students do homework and study while listening to music. I find that slower pace songs don't distract people as much as fast paced and up-beat songs do.

Comprehensive post, with statistics about usage of "different from/than/to." "Calling different than or different to "wrong" is misguided. It's an old grammar myth that has trickled down to the present day. Why perpetuate a stigmatizing non-rule? Let people speak whatever way comes naturally to them, so long as they make themselves clear, and consistent with context.  Dialectal differences should be savoured, not savaged."

Research studies have shown that music and language have a correlation between them to the human mind and support the close relationship between music and language functions. There is evidence that speech functions can benefit from music functions and vice versa. One is example is that phonological awareness, pivotal for reading and writing skills, is closely related to pitch awareness and musical expertise. Some research papers also discuss the relationship between tonal language expertise and musical pitch perception skills and on whether pitch-processing deficits might influence tonal language perception. Overall all, these studies provide a comprehensive summary of the current knowledge on the tight relationship between music and language functions.

In this article addressed to teachers, author Julia Csillag cites research on the use of wordless texts to teach students with autism spectrum disorder. Wordless texts can be used to address a variety of skills that autistic students typically struggle with, including diverse literacy skills, cognitive flexibility, and nonverbal communication. Removing words and auditory information also supports autistic students since integrating information from multiple senses can take longer in autistic individuals, particularly if this information is linguistic. Removing words can therefore positively influence processing. Using wordless books or movies can build diverse literacy skills in terms of making inferences, understanding narrative structure, and using evidence to support a claim. All wordless "texts" support individuals' ability to make inferences, which is helpful since research shows that "students with Asperger syndrome…had challenges in making inferences from the text" (Knight & Sartrini, 2014). Moreover, researchers have found that "similar processes contribute to comprehension of narratives across different media" (Kendeou, P. et al, 2009), meaning that addressing visual inferences can transfer to inferences made during reading. Images and silent books or movies necessarily require students to infer what is happening, who the characters are, etc.

This glossary offers definitions of LGBTQ terms.

Being able to speed read and still comprehend what you just read is a worthwhile skill to develop before going to college. This article provides you with 10 ways that you can improve speed reading comprehension. One surprising tip was to not highlight the text as the main goal is to be able to read fluidly and efficiently.

"The women reported giving 37% more apologies than the men did... The diary data suggest that women offer more apologies than men do because women have a lower threshold for what constitutes offensive behavior... [T]here was no gender difference in how men and women apologized." A comprehensive study, unfortunately not available online, although this post is pretty detailed.

This is a comprehensive review that talks about how television affects language learning and vocabulary building in young children. They cite lots of experiments and books related to this topic.

This article explains key principles and strategies for how to learn languages. It talks about the important elements: comprehensible input (understanding), comprehensible output (producing), and review/feedback (identifying and correcting errors). It mentions the need for balance and avoiding putting too much effort on one skill. It also talks about the importance of embracing mistakes, being comfortable with not knowing certain things, and creating low-stakes practices to become more comfortable with errors. It talks about motivation in learning and the drive for people's desire to learn the language. It includes a lot of psychology in it too.