One of the identified causes for clericalism -- associated with the sex abuse crisis currently plaguing the Church -- is the closed seminary model that prevails in many parts of the world: all four pillars of formation of seminarians occurs in the seminary. This model, which has prevailed since the Council of Trent, encourages future priests to…

In this article I examine lecturers' beliefs about the use of Tetum for academic, scientific and vocational communication at university in Timor-Leste and discuss the discursive and performative language planning roles that they play in the intellectualisation of the language. Drawing on analysis of recorded discussions among university lecturers…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to work toward more fully conceptualizing literacy practices as social by theorizing the combined relational and intellectual context for learning. This context is created through students' and their teachers' uses of language. In particular, the quality of language that creates this intellectual relational…

This speech, presented at the 1977 meeting of the World Organization of Preschool Education (OMEP), proposes that the preschool linguistic environment determines language facility, which affects later school and work success. The normal course of communicative ability is traced. It is proposed that although most children, in and out of preschool,…

A series of referential description tasks performed by normal and educationally subnormal children of equivalent mental age is reported, with the subnormal subjects consistently performing much worse than much younger children of normal intelligence. Aspects of performance and suggestions for improving communication skills are discussed. (MF)

Acquisition of the words "this" and "that" was tested by a comprehension and a production task with children aged 4 and 7. It was confirmed that children would learn the spatial contrast between the words and apply it from the speakers viewpoint; non-egocentrism was not deemed necessary for correct use. (CHK)

The present study aimed: (1) to systematically describe and classify the speech input received by children of specified ages from their mothers in the home, (2) to investigate the interdependence between the quality of the mother's speech, her socio-cultural background, and her children's level of intelligence, and (3) to determine whether some…

A conceptual category approach to the study of the comprehension of natural language is presented as an alternative to previous approaches made solely in terms of information gain or specific linguistic variables. Elementary school children between the ages of 6 and 11 years were given a referent identification task to test their comprehension of…

A study analyzed the perspectives, as expressed in gestures, of six sixth-grade students in science classes as they either explained in-the-moment or described book-learned or previously thought-out ideas. Student behaviors were analyzed for evidence of three perspectives: (1) outside observer, shown by the observer standing apart from his gesture…

This study examined the specific effects of picture and object stimuli on two types of language performance: comprehension and performance. Subjects were 48 4- and 5-year-olds who were randomly assigned to one of four groups. Groups were matched for SES, sex, and age and tested individually with one of the four measures: language comprehension…

This study of language development was intended to chart the developmental course of the spontaneous use of negatives and affirmatives by 1 1/2 - 3-year-olds in response to true or false statements concerning familiar objects, properties, and actions. Forty children, 18, 24, 30, and 36 months of age, were assessed for knowledge of the words used…

Although the controversy surrounding beginning reading instruction has often centered on the age at which it should be begun, i.e., at the ages of 5, 6, or 7, the position was taken in this study that by the time the child reaches these ages, it is too late for optimum development of reading readiness. As a part of a larger study, groups of…

With the growing belief that any style of speaking and writing is as good as any other, English teachers must, on the one hand, admit the connection of so-called "correct" English with snob appeal, and, on the other, defend the intellectual and aesthetic superiority of clear, well-written English and learn to express contempt for circular…

Research in linguistics (theoretical, socio- and psycho-linguistics) on relative clause formation is reveiwed in order to determine the advisability of teaching this construction in English as a second language (ESL) classes. It is suggested that research on other constructions can lead to implications for teaching these constructions when there…