Purpose: The authors explored the cognitive mechanisms involved in language processing by systematically examining the performance of children with deficits in the domains of working memory and language. Method: From a database of 370 school-age children who had completed a grammaticality judgment task, groups were identified with a co-occurring…

Previous cognitive science research demonstrates how the Agent-action-Objective (AaO) paradigm controls the cognitive processes of differentiation and integration. The present discussion advances the process to the fourth of five phases. Of the four dependent variables emerging at this stage, two are discussed: zero processing and variations in…

In three experiments, children listened to a story and were asked to repeat "the last word" or "the last thing" they heard. Found that children as young as 4.5 to 5 years treat both open and closed categories as words and clearly differentiate between words and things, contradicting the notion that children cannot focus on…

Students aged 10-12, with and without learning disabilities, acquired knowledge implicitly about pseudoword pronunciation governed by one of two phonics rules. They were then asked to verbalize explicitly about the acquired knowledge. Students did not differ significantly in implicit knowledge capabilities, but student with and without learning…

This report describes a project that used children's literature to introduce 6- and 7-year-old children (n=25) in the United States to other languages to arouse their interest in finding out more about language. Most of the children were monolingual and spoke English; two boys spoke some Spanish. The study was conducted to see if young children's…

Research measured grade 5-7 children (n=73) for intelligence; reading comprehension and both static and working memory in the first (L1) and second language (L2); and linguistic knowledge in L1. Results support the notion that increased speed of basic processing in L2 facilitates higher-level processes involved in linguistic and oral communication…