Analysis of the conversations of 6 children (mean age 11 years) with semantic-pragmatic disorder found they were more likely to produce initiating utterances (rather than acknowledging or responding utterances) with both familiar and unfamiliar partners than other children of similar age or ability. Subjects did not produce more utterances or…

Using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science (TIMSS) video study, the authors compare science teaching practices in the United States and in four other countries that outperformed the United States: Australia, the Czech Republic, Japan, and the Netherlands. Their observations of videotapes from 100 8th-grade science lessons in each…

Our knowledge "system" is built up from disciplines and specialties as its components, which are "wired" by patterns of collaboration that constitute its organization. The intellectual autonomy of these components prevents this knowledge system from adequately accounting for what we have gradually discovered during the past 50 years: In human…

An examination of various linguists' definitions of parataxis, asyndeton, and juxtaposition shows that the concepts are often varying and lack precision. The author offers new definitions which distinguish three specific cases. (Text is in French.) (AM)

The use of prose models in the English as a second language writing class has been criticized for promoting product-based rather than process-based learning. However, the process-centered approach has a number of drawbacks, and prose models can solve some of these inherent problems. Properly designed models can be an essential part of a writing…

Adults' and children's descriptions of rooms were compared in terms of the cognitive and communicative aspects of segmentation and linearization. Children's increasing ability to gain structural discourse transparency by using specific linguistic devices was examined. A total of 50 Dutch-speaking children of ages 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 described a…

The effects of organizational variables on recall of prose were examined in 48 college-educated adults in three age groups (20 to 33 years, 41 to 55 years, and 58 to 79 years). It was hypothesized that if older adults suffered deficits in organizational processes, they would show lower quantities of prose recall, difficulties in following the…

IN A PREVIOUS PAPER (PRESENTED AT THE TWELFTH ANNUAL NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LINGUISTICS) THE AUTHOR POINTED OUT (1) THE RATIO OF SENTENCES WITH SUBJECTS TO SUBJECTLESS SENTENCES IN ENGLISH IS TWO TO ONE, WHEREAS IN JAPANESE IT IS ONE TO FOUR. (2) IF THE ENGLISH MAJOR SENTENCE TYPE CAN BE SAID TO CONSIST OF SUBJECT AND PREDICATE, THE JAPANESE MAJOR…

The Institute of Modern Languages'"Prevocational English" series (Levels I and II) is designed to teach basic conversational English while providing an introduction to technical skills. Each student's text has 20 lesson units of four parts each: Part I covers language used in everyday social situations; Part II introduces new structures and…

Twenty-five Philippine languages and dialects were studied to determine the manner in which words, clauses, sounds, and sentences group together to make up units larger than the sentence. Data obtained were analyzed according to tagmemic theory. The introduction to this volume (see also AL 002 032 and AL 002 033) gives a brief orientation to the…

In order to assess the effects of ambient contextual stimuli on retention, retro and proactive interference (RI and PI) seventeen experiments were conducted. In the retention experiments, the recall session was located in a context unlike the room used during original learning for one half of the subjects. In the inhibition experiments contextual…

A reconstructive approach to memory for connected discourse is contrasted with orientations that emphasize passive reproduction. Conditions under which reconstructive errors in recall should occur are specified. Most conventional experiments do not satisfy the conditions. In an experiment involving 360 college students, subjects were induced not…

Recognition memory for statements made during a luncheon discussion group was tested in an incidental learning paradigm after thirty hours. Statements high in interactional content yielded excellent memory for surface form and meaning; statements low in interactional content showed no memory for surface form and less memory for content. (CHK)

Explores some of the story concepts evident in children's story retellings and story writings. (FL)