For centuries, adults may have relied on pedagogies that promote rote memory for the learning of foreign languages through word associations and grammar rules. This contrasts sharply with child language learning which unfolds in socially interactive contexts. In this paper, we advocate an approach to study the social brain of language by grounding…

This dissertation draws on both qualitative and quantitative approaches to investigate the linguistic practices of teachers and children who are learning Mandarin Chinese as a Heritage Language (CHL) in two dual immersion preschools in California. CHL children have been interpreted as novice members in local speech communities who actively explore…

Idiom comprehension and production reflect a child's language competence. Research suggests that there is a positive relationship between children's reading comprehension skills and their idiom understanding. This study examines whether adult verbal scaffolding, in conjunction with the deliberate use of iconic gestures, can facilitate young…

Research Findings: To extend findings that are mainly based on North American studies with English speakers, we studied 989 Chilean mothers from households of low socioeconomic status and their prekindergarten children, posing 2 questions: (a) Do mothers' self-reported practices about literacy development predict early literacy outcomes over and…

As infant/toddler programs encounter growing diversity, they need to reenvision the impact they have on children and families in all areas of practice, from recruiting new enrollees to stocking classrooms to changing the ways adults interact with children and families with different languages and from different cultures. What happens on the first…

This study introduces a typological model of the "conceptual language-specific approach" to the L2 research on the acquisition of tense-aspect. The model is based on the typological notion of prominence, classifying languages into tense-prominent and aspect-prominent (Bhat 1999) and the L1 research proposal that language-specific…

An attempt at summarizing current trends and ideas in first and second language teaching methodology. (Text is in French.) (AM)

The documents listed in this selected bibliography on language teaching and learning appeared in the January through November 1974 issues of Research in Education (RIE). The entries are divided into three categories: (1) documents concerning language acquisition and development, (2) documents dealing primarily with the theoretical aspects of…

This book is a summary of the reports received from the various countries which participated in a conference on native language learning and teaching. The reports are based on questionnaires sent out by the Unesco Institute for Education prior to the meeting. Chapters include a general review of the pre-conference reports, extracts from one of the…

Examines the assumptions behind three attempts to introduce formulaic language into second language teaching. Contextualizes the discussion by briefly outlining the nature of formulaic language as a phenomenon. (Author/VWL)

The author discusses the benefits of applying cognitive linguistics, L1 acquisition, and neo-Vygotskian (Vygotsky) approaches to the teaching of a second language to young learners, using the example of teaching the preposition "on." The author briefly reviews how prepositions are taught to adult learners and the challenges of teaching…

This article discusses the psychology of second language learning, and specifically comments on Gantier's book on the teaching of foreign languages. (Text is in French.) (CLK)

One of the essential differences between teaching a first and a second language is that the former is merely learned whereas the latter must usually be taught. This difference, while not absolute, still has enormous consequences. Although the "natural method" of second-language teaching is often championed, there is no way whereby the…