Reviews and compares the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky on the relationships between child language and thought, as presented in their respective works, "The Language and Thought of the Child" and "Thought and Language." (SJL)

Research supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation; reports results of experiments in general cognitive development of children tested for their comprehension of the words more'' and less'' (RS)

This paper suggests that language study focus its attention more on the pedagogical needs of educators by offering them a more comprehensive dialectical and unifying theory of language development that could then present the process as a holistic endeavor instead of as a set of separate linguistic acquisitions. Specifically, it suggests the use…

The various chapters in the text provide details of factual situations and teaching practices in the school environment. The authors convey their conviction that the field of experimental pedagogy must remain autonomous while utilizing the findings of psychology and that all hypotheses derived from psychology must be verified through actual…

In this book Piaget considers the way children learn about the world. He addresses such questions as the following: How does a child learn to perceive the world around him? How, for example, does he learn that by grasping an object, he can pull it towards him, or that a ball of clay, flattened, is no smaller than it was before? How does he learn…

The goals of bilingual education and its relationship to education are examined, and a model for bilingual education is proposed. A definition of bilingual education is emerging that permits the child to choose the mode of communication with which he is most comfortable. Cognitive psychology and its emphasis upon the child's active interactions…

Since the 1950's there has been a tremendous shift in the way language and language behavior is viewed. The shift is characterized as a general movement away from surface observation and analysis to attempts at the description and analysis of underlying linguistic forms. The interest in underlying linguistic forms has, in a rather natural way, led…

The distinction between deep and surface levels of language; the intersection of learning theory and cognitive development; and the linguistic competence of the pre-literate child and the illiterate adult are highlighted. Author argues that T-G Grammar will be a powerful aid to recognizing and dealing with problems of mass literacy education.…

Writing development in preschool children has only recently begun to receive attention; however, Russian researchers dealt with the subject in the 1920s and 30s. Arguing that writing was a fundamental assist to cognitive growth as well as a tool for communication, Lev Vygotsky believed that the preschool child was ready to be taught writing.…

Critically examines papers by Wellman and Estes, Olson and Torrance, and Hall and Nagy. (AEW)

The value of James Gee's (1994) analysis of first-language acquisition as a guide for theories of learning and pedagogy is that it initiates a serious discussion of learning based upon the most effectively studied developmental mastery--language. This commentary argues that this approach underestimates the roles of diverse symbol systems and…

If the question of what it is that is innate is simply left as some kind of human learning potential, this position, representative of the nativist philosophy, does not differ radically from that of behaviorists. The latter position holds that a human being starts out with a mind which is basically empty and receptive to, subject to, and the…

This paper examines whether language development can be understood epigenetically in the same manner and based on the same principles with which Piaget has analyzed intellectual-cognitive development generally. The study is subdivided into four parts: (1) some principles in Piaget's system (the epigenetic principle, the genetic circle, and the…

Investigations using English have shown that a number of linguistic constructions associated with reporting verbs, and verbs concerning plans, present comprehension difficulties to children over the age of five. The corresponding constructions in Greek involved ambiguity appreciation, and tests of monoglots and bilinguals indicated that a…

Focusing on the acquisition of semantic features and the relation between semantic and perceptual features, this study further tests the "semantic feature hypothesis," where a child acquires full adult word meaning component by component, and its complementary "correlation hypothesis," which claims that the source of these semantic features lies…