The importance of metalinguistic awareness in early language learning and reading is stressed. It is reported that a number of studies support the contention that many children beginning first grade do not segment language into conventional words in either the auditory or the visual mode. Thus, it is suggested, instructional demands are often…

Advocates increased stress on music for preschool children for aid in language learning. (CH)

Two golden rules for teachers of young children are (1) work, speak, and act with complete naturalness, and (2) never try to teach language per se; rather, teach life (joy, sorrow, work, play, differentiation, self-awareness, etc.) by involving the children in situations and activities that are highly significant to them. (NQ)

Evaluated was the effectiveness of daily 10-minute sessions in a structured language training program (Teaching the American Language to Kids) with 72 moderately retarded students ages 5- to 13-years. Lee's Developmental Sentence Scoring of free speech samples was used as the pre- and posttest. Gain scores of 17 experimental Ss (students who had…

The four Peabody Language Development Kits emphasize reception, expression, and conceptualization in organized lessons (180 in each kit) for disadvantaged and mentally retarded children, 3 through 9 1/2 years of age. (MC)

DESIGNED FOR STUDENTS OF SPEECH PATHOLOGY AND AUDIOLOGY AND PRACTICING CLINICIANS, THIS BOOK PRESENTS AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF ATTEMPTS TO TEACH THE DEAF FROM BEFORE THE 15TH CENTURY THROUGH THE 20TH CENTURY. A DISCUSSION OF DIAGNOSTIC PROCEDURES FOR AUDITORY DISORDERS IN CHILDREN INCLUDED INFORMAL TESTING, PLAY AUDIOMETRY, SPEECH TESTS,…

This paper discusses the place of reading instruction in the education of brain-injured children and presents some arguments for early reading instruction for children in general. Reading instruction is especially suitable for brain-injured children because reading presents an additional means of stimulating the brain. Meaning is attached to…

This book, written for students, teachers (clinicians), and researchers, presents a behavioral interpretation of language, a resultant teaching strategy, and data from eight years of experience with the method. The first chapter of the book presents a behavioral description of the critical concepts involved in language training and puts forth a…

The consensus of opinion seems to be that the processes of mother tongue acquisition are essentially analogous to those of second language (SL) acquisition. These processes, however, seem to work best in childhood years. A theory of adult SL learning should try to incorporate interlanguage. (CFM)

Describes a research project in which the acquisition of French by two six-year-old boys, native speakers of English, was observed longitudinally. (CFM)

The purpose of this study is to test the commonly held assumption that younger children are superior to those who are older in learning to speak a second language with a good accent. Students from the elementary, junior high, and college levels are tested after receiving identical instruction in German phonemes. Post-test results indicate that…

Presented are 29 activities for teachers to use in helping young mentally retarded children increase language skills, and included is a language assessment chart. The goal for language development is given to be increase in effectiveness and accuracy in handling both receptive and expressive language. Activities are presented by name or purpose,…

The subject of language learning of children in bilingual families is considered in this paper. The author discusses practical problems and provides examples from his own family situation in which his children learned French, English, and German. The possibility of language mixture is discussed and the author presents some tentative conclusions…

Three groups of subjects were tested in an elicited imitation study. These were 8-year-old, 11-year-old and adult native speakers of Arabic who were learning English as a second language. The subjects were asked to repeat sentences of seven different grammatical structure types. Previous research with 4-year-old native speakers of English (Smith,…