Purpose: Numerous studies emphasize the critical impact of early communicative interactions on children's language, cognitive, and social development; academic performance; and life outcomes. Early research linking disparities in language interaction quality and quantity to socioeconomic factors sometimes identified these population differences as…

When Roger Brown selected Adam, Eve and Sarah to be the first three participants in the modern study of child language, one of the criteria was the intelligibility of their speech (Brown, 1973). According to the prevailing view at the time, accuracy of pronunciation was a peripheral phenomenon that had nothing to do with the development of…

This research examined children's questions and the reactions to the answers they receive in conversations with adults. If children actively seek explanatory knowledge, they should react differently depending on whether they receive a causal explanation. Study 1 examined conversations following 6 preschoolers' (ages 2-4 years) causal questions in…

James Britton's model of the uses of language is discussed as a way to focus and organize studies of response to literature. After the model has been explicated, specific studies are discussed in relation to a number of research areas: early forms of literary experience, the child's developing "sense of story," the child's awareness that…

On the basis of an analysis of several earlier classifications of language functions a three-dimensional classification is presented. It interprets the utterance in question in terms of 1) the speaker's intended influence on the listener, 2) the speaker's intentions and attitudes, and 3) the speaker's intentions with respect to the content of the…

Describes two studies of word meaning acquisition among children. Concludes that (1) even very young children can learn new words and their meanings on basis of linguistic expressions and in absence of direct experience with referents, and (2) that particular forms of discourse (e.g., narrative and dialogue) can render new meanings more accessible…

This document is a collection of nine papers from the 1974 conference on research in English education and reading. Included are "The Role of the National Council of Teachers of English in Educational Research" by Roy O'Donnell, "Response to Literature" by Richard Beach and Charles Cooper, "Research Paradigms for Reading…

Although children's oral language has been a focus of interest and inquiry through the 20th century, current investigations document research with literature of more recent decades to support investigations, theoretical design, or philosophical approach. The developmental nature of the literature, with marked changes in theory and methods of child…

The function of speech and its implications for studying, understanding, and promoting language development are explored in this paper. Function is considered to be the purpose of the speaker when speaking, variously termed context of situation, situation, context, circumstance, or mode. It is noted that very few studies of speech and speech…

In the earliest studies of child language, attention was given to language production as utterances of sound. Association of language with meaning followed as language development and the relationship between language and thought gained serious recognition in the study of child development. The traditional societal view of "a child should be seen…

Although stressing that continuing research by no means ensures better teaching," the author briefly discusses certain areas of research in linguistics and related fields which might prove profitable to the language teacher. (FB)

Describes Joan Tough's research into the uses of language by middle-class mothers and their children in English society and presents the classification system for child language developed by Tough. (DD)

Reports preliminary findings from a study of kindergartners using LOGO in a computer laboratory. The study highlights the oral language that occurs while children produce computer graphics. (HTH)

Found that language-disordered children (K-3) who participated in a creative drama program showed an increase both in number of words spoken and in use of the projective language function. Found no significant increase, however, in their use of the directive language function. (PD)