This paper examines certain of the cues to surface constituency that are salient to children in the comprehension of syntactic structure. Accessibility is studied through a set of experiments requiring seven-year-old children to repeat certain syntactic constituents. These children can correctly identify subjects and also predicate phrases with…

In order to examine the emergence of semantic notions and their interaction with the linguistic codes of bilingual children, this paper focuses on acquisition of a semantic field related to Piagetian tasks of conservation. The hypothesis examined in this study states that the manifestation of a concept will occur first in the bilingual's dominant…

The interest of the psychologist in bilingualism from its origins in the early 1900's to the present is traced. Bilingualism and intelligence are discussed as well as some recent studies on bilingualism and cognitive development. Several areas where psychologists may provide valuable insights into the process of becoming bilingual are discussed…

Major factors influencing goals and outcomes of foreign language education are reviewed in order to identify a common core of goals. Alternative approaches to specifying outcomes are discussed and sample lists of outcomes for three levels of study are presented. The review of the main influences on the educational scene during the past decade…

Sixty-five grade 5-6 children were tested on a verbal recall task involving material of varying semantic and syntactic content. There was no difference between best and poorest readers in their performance on random lists of words, but there were clear differences on meaningful sentences and on syntactically well-formed but semantically anomalous…

A discussion of the translation process focuses on inferencing strategy, using attributes and contexts that are familiar in recognizing or making sense of what is unfamiliar in a text. Examples drawn from Belgian translation student work are used to illustrate this principle in operation, at several levels of difficulty. The examples come from…

A study investigated the degree to which the pronunciation of English words in the child's home environment affected the acquisition or discrimination of phonological and orthographic correspondences of standard written English. Subjects were low-socioeconomic-status, inner-city African American kindergarten, first-, and second-grade students, who…

The authors examined (a) the extent to which kindergarten estimates of core language functions predicted teacher ratings of behavior problems in each of the child's first 4 years of elementary school and (b) the ability of core language measures to predict concurrent behavior problems at each of the early elementary school grades studied.…

The study described here attempted to shed light on decision-making during first language (English) and second language (French) writing processes of French immersion program graduates. It also replicated part of a previous study on the role of first language (L1) writing skills and second language (L2) competence when writing in L2. A think-aloud…

This brief report describes the Rosetta Stone Language Library, a set of multimedia second language instructional materials. These materials emphasize comprehension of spoken language as the first step to acquiring fluency, sometimes referred to as the "comprehension approach" or "natural approach." The materials are designed…

The use of freewriting in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction as a means of promoting communicative competence is examined, particularly as it may improve high-school-level ESL instruction in Japan. First, the educational environment of Japanese high schools is described, and some problems with the teaching of ESL writing are outlined.…

Two key parallels exist between reading and writing, each with profound implications for the teaching of these skills, and which can be adapted for the situation in Japanese high schools, where reading and writing classes are separate. First, on a theoretical level, writing and reading are cognitively similar in that they are both active and…

A review of research bearing on second language teaching methodology looks at what it tells about language processing and production, classroom interaction and second language learning, and learning strategy preferences. The perspective taken is that methodology consists of classroom tasks and activities. Implications of the research for the…

Concerned with what can be done to help produce more thoughtful, critical readers, this report first presents an historical overview of theories on the origin of language, referring to B. F. Skinner, Noam Chomsky, and Jean Piaget, among others. It then discusses biological reasons for the evolution of language and the impact of verbal language on…

Reflecting the increasing complexity and sophistication in reading research, the papers in this collection represent a wide spectrum of approaches, philosophies, viewpoints, and techniques of scholarly endeavor in their treatment of reading research and instruction. Following an address, by the president of the organization, on reading…