This reflective piece tells the story of how I started out doing Conversation Analysis (CA) and have been transitioning into doing mixed methods for some years now. My basic argument is that language learning talk is too complex a phenomenon to analyse using a single methodology. Specifically, it is extremely difficult to isolate from the…

Reviews research on appropriate methodologies to use in studying native or second language acquisition and points out that both quantitative and qualitative research methods are used in different ways of study in the field. (CB)

An approach based on Skinner's (1957) theory of verbal behavior has been developed to understand and teach elementary communication skills to children with autism and developmental disabilities (Sundberg & Partington, 1998). However, few studies have directly examined the characteristics of emerging language in children with developmental…

Clarifies and defines quantitative research as it is applied to the study of language acquisition. Trends in the use of quantitative and nonquantitative methods in applied linguistics are reported, and suggestions are made concerning useful paradigms and procedures for further research in language acquisition. (Author/CB)

This report summarizes information regarding populations, methods, evaluation and instructional materials, analyses, and results from three doctoral dissertations that used the Word Attack component of the Wisconsin Design for Reading Skill Development as an instructional and assessment instrument. The first study investigated the assumption that…

Infants under six months are able to discriminate native and non-native consonant contrasts equally well, but as they learn the phonological systems of their native language, this ability declines. Current explanations of this phenomenon agree that the decline in discrimination ability is linked to the formation of native-language phonemic…