The study investigated the communicative effectiveness of word order in preschoolers' comprehension of meaning using simple questions and commands in an at-home play context. (ST)

Experiments in eliciting true/false judgments from young children aged 3-5 used a "talking doll," a toy panda with a speaker installed. The procedure has been used in studies of language comprehension, communication skills, and free conversation experiments. (CHK)

Research evidence currently indicates that young children's communication skills for both the speaker and the listener roles are often ineffective. The accuracy of children's communication improves gradually over the elementary school years. Current thinking in the area of metacognition may be very useful in understanding the development of…

This paper describes a series of experiments and research paradigms designed to investigate language development, specifically semantic, syntactic, and communicative development in children. Included are discussions of two studies of semantic development which examined developmental changes of word meanings. Also discussed are three studies of…

The ability of children at different ages to distinguish instructions to "ask" from instructions to "tell" and the types of structures used to express these directives were studied. Subjects were 120 children, aged 2 years 6 months to 6 years 6 months. Children were instructed to either ask or tell an adult or another child to give them puzzle…

Comprehension for the foreign language learner is discussed, and it is claimed that comprehension is not a by-product of the other skills but should be taught and tested throughout a course of study. The channel or medium used in communication will influence the understanding of the message. Differences involved in reading and listening…

A general model for second language learning is proposed in this paper. First, this model aims to describe different components (input, intake, integration, output) of the learning process in terms of the information (explicit/implicit, linguistic/sociolinguistic) to which the learner is exposed. Secondly, the model serves to identify the stages,…

Special emphasis is placed on the potential of dialog learning in a discussion of a sequence of activities and materials appropriate for developing the recognition and selection levels of activity involved in listening to a foreign language. Also referred to are the (1) procedural features of presentation, (2) emotional problems possibly resulting…