This article draws on data from two recent studies of young children in early childhood settings. One study was of children in a Korean private kindergarten, the other of children in a UK reception class. In each study, the data discussed include both evidence from "home" (including parent interviews) and evidence from "school"…

The McGurk effect is usually presented as an example of fast, automatic, multisensory integration. We report a series of experiments designed to directly assess these claims. We used a syllabic version of the "speeded classification" paradigm, whereby response latencies to the first (target) syllable of spoken word-like stimuli are slowed down…

Communication activities about food evaluation were incorporated into food preparation courses. Oral reports replaced quizzes and an oral presentation replaced the final exam. A rubric was developed to help students evaluate ingredient functions, procedures, techniques, temperatures, and sensory evaluation. Oral report scores, self-evaluations,…

The types of gesture+speech combinations children produce during the early stages of language development change over time. This change, in turn, predicts the onset of two-word speech and thus might reflect a cognitive transition that the child is undergoing. An alternative, however, is that the change merely reflects changes in the types of…

This paper addresses teachers and researchers of English as a second or foreign language who are interested in speech intelligibility training and/or vocabulary acquisition. The study reports a stress-pattern analysis of the Academic Word List (AWL) as made available by Coxhead [TESOL Quarterly 34 (2000) 213]. To examine the AWL in a new way, we…

The assumption that native speaker usage is the sole reference point in determining the content of teaching materials has long held sway in language teaching. Recently this philosophy has come to be questioned with the emergence of the notion of English as an International Language and the idea that non-native users of English are also a…

Beneath discussions about race and ethnic relations is an unease, "a whispering in our hearts" these debates that need to be understood "otherwise". In more recent times, they seem increasingly complex and dangerous as the essential differences that underpin modern notions of identity appear negotiated, contingent, and…

Background: Several studies have shown that family members of children with autism have elevated rates of spoken and written speech and language problems. Aims: This study asked whether there was also a greater rate of siblings with autism among probands with specific language impairment. Methods & Procedures: The probands in this study were 158…

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to determine if amplifying beyond 2 kHz affected the objective and subjective performance of hearing instrument users with varying degrees of mild-to-severe high-frequency sensorineural hearing loss. Method: Twenty participants were fitted binaurally with digital completely-in-the-canal devices with…

Comic Strip Conversations is a positive behavioral support strategy that has been used effectively to improve the social skills of students with autism. Research on the effectiveness of this strategy was extended to four students with other mild/moderate learning, cognitive and behavioral disabilities. Two elementary teachers used Comic Strip…

Williams syndrome, a genetic disorder caused by a microdeletion of approximately 25 genes on chromosome 7q11.23, is associated with mild to moderate intellectual disability or learning difficulties. Most individuals with Williams syndrome evidence a cognitive profile including relative strengths in verbal short-term memory and language, and…

This paper outlines the ongoing construction of a speech corpus for use by applied linguists and advanced EFL/ESL students. In the first part, sections 1-4, the need for improvements in the teaching of listening skills and pronunciation practice for EFL/ESL students is noted. It is argued that the use of authentic native-to-native speech is…

This case study investigated spontaneous interpersonal communication in a high school Spanish classroom, using instructional conversation as a framework for analysis. Instructional conversations are collaborative, extended verbal exchanges in which students develop a coherent topic, supported by the teacher's contingent questions and feedback. The…

Purpose: This study examined 2nd-grade teachers' perceptions of the academic, social, and behavioral competence of students with speech sound disorders (SSDs). Method: Forty-eight 2nd-grade teachers listened to 2 groups of sentences differing by intelligibility and pitch but spoken by a single 2nd grader. For each sentence group, teachers rated…

This article examines the poetry, prose, and rap lyrics written by nine low-income, African American and Latino urban youths. The study is based on a 3-year research project using ethnographic methods including field observations, informal interviews, and collection of written artifacts. Part of a larger study of these youths' writing practices,…