This paper reports on a study on the relationship between cognitive task complexity and linguistic performance in L2 writing. In the study, two models proposed to explain the influence of cognitive task complexity on linguistic performance in L2 are tested and compared: Skehan and Foster's Limited Attentional Capacity Model (Skehan, 1998; Skehan…

Assesses children's comprehension of "because" and "so" on enactment and sentence completion tasks. Results provide evidence against a componential model for the acquisition of causal connectives. Supported is the position that understanding of relational terms is initially context dependent; linguistic development generates…

Reports on a longitudinal study on the effects of students' early linguistic development and family background on test performance when the students reach the end of their compulsory schooling years. Finds a considerable degree of continuity between early language development and later examination performance. (CFR)

Argues that psycholinguistics relies on a number of methodologies that bear little relation to actual language comprehension. Maintains that computer software illustrating classic experiments in psycholinguistics can introduce students to these techniques. The software examines experiments concerning reaction time, reading time, and recognition.…

A theory of how people learn certain procedural skills is presented. It is based on the idea that the teaching and learning that goes on in a classroom is like an ordinary conversation. The speaker (teacher) compresses a non-linear knowledge structure (the target procedure) into a linear sequence of utterances (lessons). The listener (student)…