Over the past 2 decades, a growing number of randomised controlled trials have assessed the impact on children's language skills of interventions encouraging parents to read books to their offspring. We present the results of a meta-analysis of the impact of 30 such interventions. Results indicate that they are often ineffective, and that only one…

Examines how the application of certain learning principles in the young child's home can foster successful learning in the schools. Demonstrates how these principles can be better implemented in the schools so that reading problems can be prevented or corrected. (FL)

In the earliest studies of child language, attention was given to language production as utterances of sound. Association of language with meaning followed as language development and the relationship between language and thought gained serious recognition in the study of child development. The traditional societal view of "a child should be seen…

Researchers from several disciplines have contributed to the realization that context or social situation varies in regard to a child's language acquisition. Children acquire both linguistic competence, the unconscious understanding of grammatical rules, and communicative competence, the understanding that language is used differently in different…

A discussion of environmental variables in children's language development focuses on the impact on the child of his/her surroundings, and especially the adults (parents and other caregivers) with whom the child interacts. The paper reviews the related literature with attention to the following: the parents' responsibility for child language…

The sequel to a personal account of the bilingual development of two children in one family looks at subsequent development and issues in bilingualism for those two and an additional child, occurring over a five-year period. An introductory chapter defines bilingualism and considers briefly its advantages and disadvantages. The second chapter…