Instructed second language acquisition (ISLA) has been referenced in the larger field of the SLA literature for over two and a half decades. Currently, there are several theoretical underpinnings accounting for processes assumed to play a role in ISLA and quite an impressive number of studies have empirically addressed some aspect(s) of ISLA.…

In a statement-response-reply format, a proposition concerning the study of semantics is made and debated in three papers by two authors. In the first paper, it is proposed that semantics is not the study of the concept of meaning, but rather a neurolinguistic issue, despite the fact that semantics is linked to context. It is argued that semantic…

The relation definition theory proposed in this paper is explicitly different from previous semantic memory theories since it is the first to make a relation's definition the basis of semantic processing. The paper suggests that this relation definition theory successfully predicts relation similarity on the basis of one key primary assumption:…

Takes an in-depth look at the probabilistic nature of human communication, i.e, the misinterpretation of the language-producer message by the language comprehender. Reviews the psycho-linguistic, linguistic and philosophical literature dealing with this aspect of language and demonstrates that this misinterpretation is related to a basic process…

Suggests some reasons why the exploration and description of language function is often an untidy exercise but, none-the-less very rewarding and rich in implication for English teaching. (Author/RK)

Recent surveys of creativity research have stressed the wide variety of criteria employed by investigators and have pointed out the theoretical and philosophical differences among investigators. Few surveys, however, have questioned whether investigators intended the same, or different, definitions for creativity. Although as many as 26 distinct…

After a pilot study identified possible responses that children and adolescents give when defining concrete and abstract nouns, a study investigated the development of concrete noun (specific objects) and abstract noun (concepts) definitions given by 10, 14, and 18-year-olds, as well as whether abstract and concrete nouns are defined in a parallel…

A set of procedures for coding internal state words (those words representing mental states and perceptual experiences), developed for application to data on the language of young children and those with whom they converse, is described in this report. The report first discusses the rationale for studying cultural variation in vocabulary use, the…