Question-answer interactions were chosen as an effective means of investigating the effect of the linguistic environment on language development. Research was reviewed indicating that the improvement in question and answer performance of a maturing child is based on the advancement of both his linguistic and cognitive abilities and that the adult…

The 13-year study reported in this monograph attempted to accumulate a mass of longitudinal data on every aspect of linguistic behavior in 211 students representing a cross-section of American urban children. Presented as the major objectives of the study, which followed the subjects from kindergarten through grade 12, are 11 hypotheses to be…