In many cognitive domains, learning is more effective when exemplars are distributed over a number of sessions than when they are all presented within one session. The present study investigated this "distributed learning effect" with respect to English-speaking children's acquisition of a complex grammatical construction. Forty-eight children…

The study suggests that developing greater facility in linguistic skills may well produce greater cognitive differentiation and enhance the process of objectification. (Author)

Asserts that several of the assumptions underlying Noam Chomsky's and W. V. O. Quine's theories of language acquisition and development are misleading or false. It is argued, among other things, that children do not "acquire" language, but rather learn how to participate in the linguistic community surrounding them. (99 references) (MDM)

Presents a "procedural view" of the learning mind, arguing against previous theories citing physical properties as its basis. A more process-oriented view of information processing is offered, which describes "mind" in terms of skill in manipulating symbols, and the notion of skills is shown to provide a useful framework for accounting for…

Seven key generalizations based on research findings from the study of children's language offer specific implications for classroom instruction and for instructional policy formulation and decision making. (Author/MLF)

Research on how communicating human beings produce and understand language has focused mostly on what language is, less on how language is processed, and little on who produces and understands language. However, the interaction between what, who, and how is very significant. The importance of who does languaging is related both to the cognitive…

In this paper two questions are raised: (1) Is there any meaning to current research? (2) Is meaning important to the language acquisition process? It is necessary to explore the nature of research in general to evaluate what kind of research we are doing. This leads us to consider next the content of research on human learning and on the…

Reports on a study which sought to identify and examine the effects of certain learning strategies--practice, monitoring, and inferencing--on second language learning. (AM)

In one experiment, children from 5 to 10 years of age played with puppets and responded to questions concerning the acquisition of one particular linguistic structure by children; in another series of experiments, both children and adults responded to questions regarding nonsense words in differentiating contexts--the focus of the discussion…

Argues that the second language acquisition process involves two models, providing complementary accounts of different components which could be combined. An integrated model is proposed that would carry the acquisition-learning distinction of the Monitor Model while including the Neurofunctional Theory, which uses the distinction to describe the…

Examined the use by children of the Novel Name-Nameless Category principle, under the framework that lexical principles are acquired in a developmental sequence. Results indicated that the particular principle was not available at the start of lexical acquisition but that exhaustive categorization ability and a vocabulary spurt occur…

This paper discusses four kinds of reasons for studying child language. The first of the four, biological reasons, includes the desire to understand our own species and its place among other living things in the universe. The common human faculty for communication, the variability in language building, and the similarity of human communication to…

A discussion of the effect of an immersion program on the majority language child. Research is reviewed on the "threshold hypothesis" and "the developmental interdependence hypothesis." Recent studies of the cognitive and academic effects of bilingualism are critically examined in the light of these hypotheses. A bibliography…

Intended for elementary school language arts teachers, this paper outlines some recent work in the area of cognitive functioning and shows how this highlights the necessity for great care in fostering a child's language competence at two different stages: very early childhood and early to middle primary school. Following an introduction, the paper…

The achievement of bilingualism appears to have positive consequences for the bilingual child, enhancing universal aspects of cognitive functioning available to all normal children. However, little is yet known about the interaction between educational treatment and the input factors the bilingual child brings to the situation. Focusing on the…