Studies have investigated and proposed different potential influences on children's initial mappings of object words to referents. Each proposal is a variant on the idea that children use one source of evidence about the structure of word meanings or of grammar to discover other forms of structure, and in doing so they "bootstrap" their…

The oral interaction hypothesis, proposed by Long and investigated by Pica, in second language (L2) acquisition is critiqued. The interaction hypothesis advances two major claims about the role of interaction in L2 acquisition: (1) comprehensible input is necessary for L2 acquisition; and (2) modifications to the interactional structure of…

The construct of competence in interpersonal communication is conceptually refined in this paper, which first provides an extensive review and evaluation of the conceptual and empirical literature concerning competence and discusses a new taxonomy of competence constructs. The paper then offers a three-component model of relational competence that…

Attempts to clarify the notion of language competence and draws on its relevance to language teaching practices. Language use competence may involve the adjustment of pre-assembled and memorized patterns and not so much the generation of expressions by direct reference to rules. (Author/CB)

Describes attempts to formalize and characterize a theory of communicative competence, focusing on the advantages of a preference model (which identifies and grades learning variables in order of importance) and of models developed on the premise of parallel distributed processing (which suggest that such rule-based processing are in fact gross…

Cultures differ in rules that govern communicative behavior, and these differences can cause teacher/student miscommunication in the classroom and can also interfere with the academic performance of minority group children. These differences can be overcome, however, by knowledgeable teachers who endeavor to build and expand the communicative…

Reflecting interest in children's language development, including an increased emphasis on written language production, this paper contains a review of research, some assumptions about children's language development, and a list of objectives for a combined literature and writing program for above-average students at the intermediate level. The…