Provides a retrospective of the research of Walter Loban. Discusses the primacy of oral language, language development, and the interrelationships between oral and written language in his research. (RS)

The current state of research on language learning processes is reviewed, and the implications of that research for language arts teachers are discussed. (HTH)

No language acquisition theory has yet proved to be the correct one.

The conventions inherent to language are explored, and demonstrations, engagement, and sensitivity are discussed as factors present in all learning situations in which a person learns to master these complex conventions. (HTH)

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)

Uses both the findings of formal research studies and the observations of sensitive teachers to illustrate the power of language for helping children gain control over, and put their mark upon, their surroundings. (HTH)

Tells how children's spelling strategies offer a glimpse of their knowledge about words; describes a study indicating that children's knowledge about words develops sequentially and systematically over an extended period of time. Discusses implications of the study for spelling instruction. (GT)

Examines psychologist David R. Olson's current work on children's language development and its possible educational implications. Stresses the increasing tendency to investigate children's language development in relation to their thinking and learning rather than in isolation and to include literacy development in the oral language development…

Five educational leaders--John Downing, Richard E. Hodges, Charlton Laird, Pose Lamb, and Roy C. O'Donnell--offer reflections on significant developments in research on language development during the 1970s and on their hopes for language research and instruction in the 1980s. (GT)

Focuses on the narrative function to show how children can build on another speaker's turns in conversation and can build on their own utterances as they speak. Analyzes children's dialogs and narratives to highlight the primacy of the oral language arts as they are enacted in daily conversation and play. (HTH)

Provides a historical view of child language research, showing that investigations of child language have come full circle in their approach to gathering data. Discusses implications for teachers in encouraging children's progression to adult-like conversation. (HTH)

Discusses observations of children's efforts to move from spoken language to written language and the acquisition of cohesion in first and second grade students. (HTH)

The development of children's oral language ability, speaking, and listening, is examined in light of recent research and its implications for language arts teachers. (HTH)

Distinguishes "aesthetic reading," in which readers are absorbed in the experience of making meaning from verbal signs, from "efferent reading" (reading for information); indicates how recent findings about language acquisition support this model of the reading process; and suggests implications for reading instruction, with emphasis on the…