Thirteen papers given by language specialists are presented. These analyze special linguistic (semantic) problems that occur when interconnected strings of sentences constitute data base; they also analyze special psychological problems (of memory, inference, and motivation) that occur when human subjects are exposed to discourse materials in…

Twelve one-word-stage children were given minimally contrasting two-word instructions. Since non-linguistic cues were eliminated, comprehension involved making non-syntactic inferences from the word combinations. The children could respond correctly to some of the instructions, and even carried out some unfamiliar activities. (Author/SW)

This work investigated the young child's ability to respond appropriately to the intended, as opposed to the literal, meaning of one class of such utterances, requests for action. An action-based response heuristic is proposed to explain the apparent ability of two-year-olds to deal with indirect speech acts. (Author/SW)

Deals with problems arising in teaching English in the Hauptschule ("practical branch" secondary school, grades 7-10). Discusses, among other things, cultivation of the ability to understand the FL as a means of motivating the slow learner, with English teaching oriented toward projects and practical matters. (Text is in German.)…

This book concludes a six-volume review of research and theory on learning and cognition. Its six chapters cover the following topics: theories of semantic memory, comprehension and memory of text, coding processes in memory, perceptual learning from reading, speech perception, and the organization and core concepts of learning theory and…

In this experiment, children were given three words (a triplet made up of two nouns and one verb) and were asked to produce an utterance with them. The results were analyzed in terms of word order chosen and age of child. (NCR)

Describes a method used to teach lipreading to deaf children in Germany. The presentation of a printed word on a flashcard with its spoken counterpart produced dramatic improvements in lipreading, speech, and reading development. (MB)

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…

Children's early utterances were studied to determine whether there are developmental changes in the content, context, frequency, and form of their speech and the degree to which the changes correspond to changes in Piagetian cognitive stage. Twenty children were studied; six were 10 or 11 months old, and the remaining 14 were distributed evenly…

The gap between the language that foreign language teachers present to their students in the classroom and the language of real-life situations is discussed. The use of dialogues in the classroom and oral comprehension as a learning activity are covered. (SW)

JUNE 1964 RESEARCH INDICATED THAT EXPOSURE TO TIME-COMPRESSED SPEECH COULD PRODUCE A SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVED DEGREE OF COMPREHENSION, IN MALE COLLEGE STUDENTS, OF MATERIAL PRESENTED AT SPEEDS RANGING FROM 325 TO 475 WORDS PER MINUTE. AS AN EXTENSION OF ACTIVITIES DESCRIBED IN THE PROGRESS REPORT OF JUNE 1964, THE EXPERIMENT DESCRIBED HERE WAS…

This manual provides specific suggestions for reading instructors of mature partly illiterate and illiterate students, especially disadvantaged youth who have not completed high school. Proposed reading strategies are accompanied by examples of materials suitable for each area. Techniques are offered for diagnosing skills, as well as for teaching,…

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…

Progress in the teaching of oral comprehension depends partly on the isolation of factors which block comprehension. Research in conjunction with an experimental course in English as a second language led to the definition of errors due to: (1) insufficient knowledge of the language and the cultural context of its use, and (2) a failure to…

This comprehensive analysis of French teaching methodology reveals basic problems underlying the current philosophy of language learning, while presenting new ideas based on extensive research. Two books, "Active French; Dialogues" and "Active French: Foundations Course" (Books 1 and 2), which stress well specified learning objectives, were…