Background: We discuss a free software system (Computerized Language Analysis [CLAN]) that can enable fast, thorough, and informative language sample analysis (LSA). Method: We describe methods for eliciting, transcribing, analyzing, and interpreting language samples. Using a hypothetical child speaker, we illustrate use KidEval to generate a…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to document whether mean length of utterance[subscript SUGAR] (MLU[subscript S]), total number of words (TNW), clauses per sentence (CPS), and/or words per sentence (WPS) demonstrated age-related changes in children with typically developing language, aged 7;0-10;11 (years;months). Method: Participants were…

We examined differences between children with autism spectrum disorder and typically developing children over an 8-month period in: (a) longitudinal associations between expressive and receptive vocabulary and (b) the extent to which caregiver utterances provided within an "optimal" engagement state mediated the pathway from early…

The association between monolingual children's early language abilities and their later reading performance is well established. However, for English language learners, the pattern of associations between early language skills and later literacy is much less well understood for English language learners. This study examined language predictors of…

Investigations of early vocabulary production often employ a single method to measure children's word use. This study examined expressive vocabulary development in children aged 1;0-2;6 years through a combination of picture naming, caregiver report and language sampling. The participants were predominantly exposed to Maltese at home, with…

Children, like adults, use referring expressions to refer to specific objects, events, or people. Research has provided insights into how children use referring expressions and the appearance of forms developmentally (Radford, 1990; Abu-Akel, et al., 2004; Pine & Lieven, 1997). This study examined how three, four, and five year-old children…

Naturalistic interventions show promise for improving language in children with autism. Specific interventions differ in direct elicitation of child language and indirect language stimulation, and thus may produce different language outcomes. This study compared the effects of responsive interaction, milieu teaching, and a combined intervention on…

The teaching of English in the United Kingdom has undergone change during the last decade and is presently in a state of flux. Current language concerns, mainly involving students 11-18 years old, may be viewed in three ways. Students' use of language should be encouraged in the classroom through expressive talk but with teacher guidance and…

This article is based on the analysis of a fragment of conversation recorded in a year one classroom. It explores the ways in which young children use language to produce a meaningful world and highlights the importance of language in the presentation of social experience. It then draws upon this analysis to discuss how children learn to use…

Discusses linguistic theory, especially the distinction between participant'' and spectator'' language (the use of a language vs. the study of the language.) (SP)

A study investigated whether activities could be designed to elicit seven specific language functions in kindergartners: self-maintaining, directing, reporting, towards logical reasoning, predicting, projecting, and imagining. Language functions were not equally elicited by all activities, but changing activity was effective in varying language…

This study investigated the interrelationship of articulation and receptive and expressive language performance by 306 children in kindergarten and first and second grade in Fort Collins, Colorado, with regard to age, sex, and socioeconomic level. Fifty-one males and 51 females from the sample group were tested on three pairs of tests: the Arizona…

Stresses the importance for language learning of ordinary and familiar situations that bring about dialog between teacher and children. Emphasizes an environment for language learning that is stimulating for the children and that enriches and enhances the linguistic skills they already possess while increasing their expressive skills. (FL)

Observations of children's responses to picture books in three first-to-fourth-grade classrooms over a two-year period helped to form a descriptive framework for children's responses to picture books. Field notes, transcripts, and other data revealed that when children talked about picture books, they used the lexicon of the expert. They seemed…

This pamphlet is the eighth in a series of ten stemming from the view that language is central to learning, that teachers can gain insights into their work and into learning by examining the language of the classroom, and that current language theory can be the means to such insights. The pamphlet contains a discussion of the uses of language in…