Information necessary to understand many English sentences appears to be supplied by a source outside the sentence which is composed of a fund of knowledge accumulated throughout life. This fund of knowledge may be visualized and a conceptual network into which the incomplete information supplied by a sentence can be mapped, thus making it…

SAM (Script Applier Mechanism), a computer program designed to understand stories that rely heavily on scripts (typical sequences of events in particular contexts), is described in this report. Chapter one, which discusses SAM's background, shows how causal chaining was developed to connect events in stories, presents a typical script, and…

A rating instrument for describing nine structural characteristics of written compositions is presented and explained. (JH)

This multiple case study investigated the relationship between kindergarten teachers' questions and children's responses. The classroom discussions of 4 groups of children and their teachers (all middle income level) were taped and classified into five different question and response categories. Results indicated that: (1) some teachers ask more…

A study examined student mastery of meaning and use in reading and composing of five formal logical connectors (moreover, accordingly, hence, even so, and still) across school level and class type. Subjects were 100 remedial and nonremedial students from a high school, vocational college, and university who were asked to give a synonym for each…

The problem of meaning in cross-cultural situations, resulting from differing patterns of thought, requires comprehension of the basic rules or patterns of these thought systems. This comprehension can be sought through Vygotsky's unit of analysis, a unit being a product of analysis which, unlike elements, retains all the basic properties of the…

Reading instruction for the college student learning a second language should begin by establishing symbol-sound-meaning association. The step from speech to reading could best be made at the structural level. The emphasis at this point should be on sentence structure and the student should be taught to develop the ability to interpret the…

Fourteen papers discuss language behavior in schizophrenia. Provided are an introduction to the phenomena, by H. J. Vetter, and considerations of the following: problems posed by schizophrenic language, by M. Lorenz; the validity of clinical judgments of schizophrenic pathology based on verbal responses to intelligence test items, by N. F. Jones;…