Research Findings: Early childhood teachers' talk is a key ingredient in children's early language and literacy development, but there has been little systematic synthesis of observational studies that examine relationships between teacher talk and child oral language. In this systematic review of 54 studies, we investigate and synthesize the…

The overarching goal of this literature review is to improve the understanding of the importance of oral language to critical emergent literacy skills and explore available assessment measures for use within the classroom. An overview of the components of language (i.e., content, form, and use) is provided. Measures of oral language gleaned from a…

The practice of making string figures, often called cat's cradle, can be found all over the world and is particularly widespread in Melanesia. It has been studied by anthropologists, linguists and mathematicians. For the latter, the ordered series of moves and the resultant string figures represent cognitive processes that form part of a practice…

The purpose of this historical project was to compare 19th and 20th century books that originated approximately 165 years apart from collections at Miami University (Oxford, OH) in order to interpret how an early language and vocabulary may have emerged from literacy practices of reading printed books to form an early conception of health…

It is expected that all students in the United States learn to read English well. This task is more complex for emergent bilinguals (EBs), the majority of whom speak Spanish, who are simultaneously developing their English language proficiency. Although several syntheses have documented the positive effects of shared book reading (SBR) in school…

This paper presents a critical examination of key concepts in the study of (signed and spoken) language and multimodality. It shows how shifts in conceptual understandings of language use, moving from bilingualism to multilingualism and (trans)languaging, have resulted in the revitalisation of the concept of language repertoires. We discuss key…

Research into language acquisition and oral language use was examined in order to identify key factors that contribute to the successful acquisition of second language (L2) listening ability. The factors were grouped into three major domains: affective, cognitive, and interpersonal. It is claimed that in each domain, proficient L2 listeners have…

The purpose of this literature review is to identify the most effective instructional principles for English language learners (ELLs) as documented by prominent researchers in the field and existing research reviews. This report is intended as a high-level synthesis of existing reviews of the literature rather than a comprehensive search and…

Examines 11 types of uses of the English word "with," demonstrating that speakers who use the word have an implicit knowledge of its multiple meanings and uses, which far exceeds their explicit knowledge of the word. (CB)

Examination of two sections of Benedetto Varchi's sixteenth-century document on Italian language usage reveals an uncommon appreciation for living usage, recognition of common linguistic practice, and a significantly greater awareness of social differentiation than that typically reflected in other sixteenth-century manuscripts. (31 references)…

Discusses examination and cross-examination strategies used in the adversarial system of a U.S. criminal trial, arguing against the use of traditional discourse analysis to describe courtroom communication and demonstrating how counsel use semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic features to establish credibility and achieve calculated responses. (25…

Examines the creative manipulation of certain narrative devices in modern Greek and in Tosk Albanian to show (1) how narrative performances become ways of relating historical events and past experiences in present-day life; and (2) that studies of language death should more intensely use ethnography of the speaking paradigm to detect sensitive…

This article offers a linguistic and paralinguistic explication of the oral practice of chismeando (gossiping) as engaged in by a group of women from the Dominican Republic. A culture-specific study of the structuring resources by which the participants construct, maintain, and/or modify their in-group identities in everyday oral practice is…

This is a report on the activities of the survey of spoken English at the University of Lund (Sweden), during the period 1975-81. The aim of the survey has been to make available in machine-readable form a corpus of material with its origin in speech. The corpus was built in conjunction with the survey of English usage project at the University of…

Reviews literature relating to conversational analysis, identifying two major approaches which exhibit chronological and methodological differentiations and focusing from a perspective of sequencing. (CB)