Research on second language acquisition (SLA) and research on foreign language learning (FLL), often regarded as different and separate fields of inquiry, are compared in a brief review of literature. Perceptions about the scopes and characteristics of the research are examined. Concerns about the relationship between SLA research and theory and…

Research is reviewed on stimulus overselectivity in autistic children, and educational implications are discussed in terms of language acquisition, social behavior, observational learning, generalization, and prompting and prompt fading. Approaches to circumvent the problem of overselectivity are also described. (CL)

An experimental study investigating the interaction of linguistic complexity and performance in child language acquisition tests the hypothesis that children learning a first language acquire relatively complex sentences somewhat later than less complex sentences. In one of three tests, the subjects, 44 children aged 3.6 to 6 years, were presented…

The study found differential learning rates in a group of bilingual children (ages four to six) with limited English proficiency (LEP) when they all were taught an invented morpheme. The language-impaired children in the group learned the morpheme at a slower rate than the nonimpaired children. Results have implications for identifying language…

Argues that rather than using a spelling series and treating spelling as a subject separate from the other language arts, teachers should use a program that begins with encouraging invented spelling and moves to the use of high frequency word lists and spelling by meaning. (FL)

The way adults talk with children is important because different styles of interaction lead to different learning opportunities. Differences between child-parent linguistic interaction and child-teacher interactions are explored. Suggestions to help teachers interact more effectively are discussed. (DF)

Suggests adapted teaching strategies that can help meet the deaf students' special needs in reading. (FL)

Presents a method and rationale for enhancing verbal learning in a typical reading-language arts lesson through personal and group generated images and associations. (FL)

A structured discourse strategy, employing child echoic imitations and adult expansion, was used to teach five autistic preschool children two-term semantic relations. The strategy increased the children's initial spontaneous imitations of two-term relations. Following the imitation increase, spontaneous productions of the two-term relations…

This Digest discusses Problem-Based Learning (PBL), a method developed by H.S. Barrows (1986), and originally created to prepare medical students for real-world problems by letting them solve medical problems based on real cases. The Digest contends that PBL can situate language learning in the real world by posing problems like those found in…

A kindergarten teacher recounts her experiences with a southeast Asian student as he progresses with the English language. The "beautiful book," in which the boy would illustrate words and dictate appropriate stories for the teacher to transcribe, was instrumental in the boy's language acquisition. (HTH)

Language research over the past two decades has revealed that language is not something children "acquire," but rather a system they build. A key factor in this linguistic construction is children's interaction with parents or other caregivers. The studies reveal further that children's repeated interactions with books and stories and…

Describes dialogue journals, which provide natural, functional experiences with both reading and writing. Suggests guidelines for both their classroom implementation and for teachers' responses to children's journal entries. (FL)

A discussion of research on naturalistic second language acquisition (SLA) focuses on its relationship to the foreign language classroom context. It is argued that to attempt to relate natural SLA to classroom foreign language learning (FLL), a coherent and consistent theoretical framework is needed. The Cognitive-Interactionist Model is developed…

Explores the consequences of not developing competence in oral forms of the second language, which is the intermediate step in the recommended sequence of bilingual literacy development. (JK)