The objective of this research was to explore whether orthographic learning occurs as a result of phonological recoding, as expected from the self-teaching hypothesis. The participants were 32 fourth- and fifth-graders (mean age = 10 years 0 months, SD = 7 months) who performed lexical decisions for monosyllabic real words and pseudowords under…

Focusing on the ST-ART shorthand theory presentation method, this article discusses the following principles of language-motor skill acquisition: mental practice, symbol-sound association, verbal mediation, recitation and articulation, hierarchy of habits, overlearning, learner anxiety, sense modality, guided practice, kinesthetic imagery, visual…

Discusses several philosophies of linguistics and semiotics that debate the importance of words and their relationship to signs, language as the primary modeling system, and the historical primacy of verbal versus visual communication. Describes human communication as both language-based and nonverbal, both aspects inviting arbitrary and abstract…

Reviews the literature which presents theory and research that places early communicative development in the context of familiar experiences that occur over time. (BB)