This study is the first to explore microdevelopment in sociolinguistic evaluative judgments of standard German and Austro-Bavarian dialect by adult second language learners of German by using dense time serial measurements. Intensive longitudinal data (10 observations per participant) were collected from four learners at approximately weekly…

Children's peer social worlds as part of language and literacy learning are often "hidden" from researchers and teachers alike. This article reports on collaborative research between a researcher and veteran kindergarten teacher into these hidden worlds. We draw upon ethnographic documentation (videos, interviews, field notes) and video…

There is an exponential growth in the number of schools that offer American Sign Language (ASL) for foreign language credit and the different ASL curricula that were published. This study analyzes different curricula in its assumptions regarding language, learning, and teaching of second languages. It is found that curricula vary in their…

In a response to Halliday (1993), Gee (1994) discussed the analogies between learning a language and learning in general. The article presents two of his proposals and discusses an empirical method for studying them. The article focuses on identifying the units acquired during language learning and the relevance of the concept of an innate…

Language skills play an important role in learning. Teachers must understand how meanings are formed, why they are often difficult to communicate, and the importance of language in the formation and sharing of meaning. Various communication practices that inhibit or enhance the students' understanding of meaning are explored. (DF)

This article describes how, over the past 25 years, sociolinguistics and education have entered into a methodological and intellectual dialogue that has significantly changed both views of language and theories of how language enters into school learning processes. The first section, "Literacy, Language and the Problem of Differential Learning,"…

Studies of bilingual infants are in disagreement as to the point at which the child distinguishes two languages in his linguistic environment. In this paper, data from two classic works by linguist-parents on bilingual infants are compared with data collected from the author's own bilingual daughter. Five types of behavior are described which…

This 10-chapter monograph explores the range of influences parents have on their children's linguistic development and in the process attempts to understand why parents adopt the language styles they do in addressing children. The discussion focuses on the following three themes that are interwoven throughout the book: (1) the social nature of…

An analysis of literature on second language learning identifies four approaches in the literature, each of which can make a unique contribution to the understanding of the second language learning process, particularly as it pertains to limited-English-proficient students. The four approaches are explained and illustrated with examples from the…

The value of language learning theory and research is discussed, and the need for content-related linguistic, sociolinguistic and cultural research, as well as treatment-related research on language teaching and learning, is emphasized. It has been only gradually, from about the mid-sixties and increasingly from the early seventies, that second…

An ethnographic study of kindergarten through grade two classrooms was conducted of various sociolinguistic contexts in which young students were developing oral and written language competencies. Nonparticipant observations were conducted in both regular classrooms and Chapter I small group classroom settings. The observations were analyzed from…

This article discusses the various linguistic and psychological theories from which language teaching has drawn, and their application in certain instructional materials. (CFM)

After intensively studying for several years the thinking processes of members of a tribal group in Western Africa, the Kpelle, the authors examine the relation between culture and cognitive development. The following issues are discussed: (1) an analysis of the terms "culture" and "cognition"; (2) an ethnographic description of the Kpelle…

This volume is a collection of articles on various aspects of applied linguistics as it relates to language teaching. Chapter 1, by S. Pit Corder, entitled "Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching," gives a short, general survey of applied linguistics in language teaching. Chapters 2-5 give an account of the main concepts in what is now called…

Problems attributed to dual language learning in early childhood have been exaggerated and may be the result of a failure to control significant research variables. The relationship between a child's acquisition of a language and his ability to think must be better understood for closer investigation of the effects of dual language learning.…