Semantic memory is relatively stable across the lifespan (LaBarge, Edwards, & Knesevich, 1986). However, most research has been conducted at the single concept level (LaBarge et al., 1986, Spaniol et al., 2006). Few researchers have examined how semantic knowledge is used in discourse. The purpose of the study, then, was to determine the…

We examined students' understanding of the causes of a scientific phenomenon from a multiple-document-inquiry unit. Students read several documents that each described causal factors that could be integrated to address the given writing task of explaining the causes of change in average global temperature. We manipulated whether the document set…

Comparisons of literary experts and novices indicate that experts engage in interpretive processes to "get the point" during their reading of literary texts but novices do not. In two studies the reading and interpretive processes of literary novices (undergraduates with no formal training in literature study) were elicited through…

Recently, from the Vygotskyan socio-cultural perspective, second language (L2) researchers have paid growing attention to scaffolding and have argued that L2 learning is enhanced through experts' scaffolding. However, not much is known about how teacher gesture scaffolds L2 learners' writing and how teachers manipulate writing-oriented gestures…

This study investigated whether European American and Japanese mothers' speech to preschoolers contained exchange- and alignment-oriented structures that reflect and possibly support culture-specific models of self-other relatedness. In each country 12 mothers were observed in free play with their 3-year-olds. Maternal speech was coded for…

Family dinnertime conversations are key settings where children learn behavior regulation, narrative skills, and knowledge about the world. In this context, parents may also model and socialize gender differences in language. The present study quantitatively examines gendered language use across a family dinnertime recorded with 37 broadly…