Looks at the structures of childrens' oral language or "mother tongue" and the structures of adult literate prose and emphasizes the alternate conceptions of reality that those languages sustain. (MH)

Examines the language and authority of textbooks as they relate to oral discourse, ritualized speech, and literacy as an archival function. Points out that texts serve an important archival function in preserving knowledge from which rules of thought and action may be derived. (JMF)

Explores how graphic symbols came to represent underlying linguistic constituents. It is suggested that the relationship between speech and writing may be just the opposite of what is traditionally assumed. Writing systems may provide the concepts and categories for thinking about the structure of speech rather than the reverse. (47 references)…

Examines four different levels of development constituting writing as a technology for thinking. Discusses evolution (what speech affords thinkers), history (how text changed the collective construction of knowledge), ontogeny (how literacy affects the development of mind), and microgenesis (how writing facilitates thinking from moment to moment).…

Appraises the academic reception of McLuhan's ideas. Suggests how his insights can be applied within a systematic research tradition. (The author uses his own research on the bias of speech and writing as an example.) (PD)

The impact of language (especially written language) on the acquisition of knowledge and skills in children is discussed. (MJB)

The properties of written, textual language with which children deal in school can be distinguished from those of oral language by examining the manner in which interpersonal and logical functions are stressed and by assessing the degree to which interpretation is confined by meaning explicitly stated in textual matter. The developmental process…