Previous research indicates that monolingual infants have difficulty learning minimal pairs (i.e., words differing by one phoneme) produced by a speaker uncharacteristic of their language environment and that bilinguals might share this difficulty. To clearly reveal infants' underlying phonological representations, we minimized task demands by…

We tested the generalizability of five propositions derived from Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000) using school-aged adolescents living in India (N = 926) and Nigeria (N = 363). Consistent with past U.S. research, perceived teacher autonomy-support predicted students' basic need-satisfaction in the classroom and also predicted…

Caregivers of 608 (331 boys and 277 girls) children in Shanghai, China reported on their children's language development and on the language teaching practices used in the home. The children were between 24 and 47 months old. The relation of age-corrected language level to paternal education, child gender, and teaching practice use was examined.…

Most acculturation research has been conducted in immigrant settings. The present study examined the generalizability of acculturation models and the adaptiveness of acculturation strategies in another bicultural environment--a colonial setting. The sample included 138 girls (M = 13.8 years) and their parents from Hong Kong, a former British…

Describes three themes that have informed research on cognitive development in sub-Sahara Africa over the past 10 years: (1) extending the range of generalizability of Western theories; (2) interpreting the uniqueness of the African situation; and (3) deriving implications for social policy. (Author/AS)