Examined were the effects of high expectancy and non-expectancy conditions on the verbal behavior of 12 moderately and mildly retarded children (3-16 years old). Six experimental Ss were exposed to a condition in which experimenters expressed expectation of achievement on the Children's Apperception Test. Comparisons of verbalization revealed…

An attempt was made to develop an appropriate teaching model to aid perspective science teachers acquire teaching skills and behavioral patterns appropriate for inquiry-oriented laboratory activities and experiments. Data were collected from two groups of secondary science methods students on their verbal behavior while in the role of laboratory…

This document presents six observation schedules designed to assist the teacher in discovering patterns in observed behaviors. Schedules provide a carefully defined focus through which patterned relationships are seen between behaviors performed by certain actors in various settings and contexts. Completion of these observation schedules should…

The major objective of this study was to identify verbally reticent (V.R.) students in the community college population, beginning with first-term speech students. A total of 527 students enrolled in first-term daytime speech classes completed the V.R. Scale (Verbal Reticence Test Developed by Myron W. Lustig) during the first week of classes.…

In an effort to test the effectiveness of verbal instruction in diminishing aggressive behavior, eight aggressive preschool children were individually instructed by their teacher on the harm that results from aggression, its lack of effects as an interpersonal strategy, and the benefits that result from prosocial alternatives. The eight subjects…

This analysis seeks to link discourse structure and semantic or lexical systems. The example is given of a Cuna curing chant named "the way of the pepper," in which 53 names for pepper ("kapur") are used in a projection of a paradigmatic axis (the lexical taxonomy) onto a syntagmatic axis. A corollary of the principle of…

This book attempts to introduce the reader to techniques of communication control, in listening and speaking as well as reading and writing. To this end, the use of a simplified vocabulary called Every Man's English is advocated. Section 2 presents some principles of Every Man's English. The contribution of Ogden's Basic English, a core vocabulary…

This paper presents a framework useful for preschool and elementary teachers in developing a basic understanding of competency and play and their interrelationship. Specific guidelines are given for observing and planning toward increasing opportunities for competency and play. Competency is viewed as consisting of growth, risk-taking, and a…

This paper studies aspects of the conceptual basis for language acquisition, with a focus on the perceptual-cognitive skills used to assign meanings to words. A first assumption is that the correspondence between adult and child perceptual features allows for early communication. Apparently, in the first year, naming is characterized by…

The first of this series of studies on the ability of young children to follow directions was designed to find out which is easier for a preschool child: to follow directions given only by demonstration or given only verbally. Subjects were 108 white, middle class, 4-year-olds enrolled in a nursery school. Each teacher tested the children in her…

A review of the literature indicated that conventional tests are inadequate for accurate assessment of phonological discrimination ability in children. Higher error rates on discrimination tests than those which would be predicted from articulation measures seemed to implicate task variables. To reduce task difficulty, repeated contrast test…

A detailed, spectrographic analysis of two lectures, given by Diego Rivera and Margaret Mead, which were chosen for their realistic naturalness, permits a graphic presentation and description of the patterns of three types of intonation within the declarative sentence in Spanish and American English. They include a minor continuation (A), major…

The relationship between various aspects of mother-child interaction and the language performance of young disadvantaged Negro children is assessed in this study. An exploratory survey was conducted to determine if mothers in socially disadvantaged families were willing to enter a parent participation preschool program. Subjects for this study,…

Concerned with educational problems associated with low socioeconomic status, this pilot study in linguistic ecology was designed to substitute hard data for speculation about the nature and frequency of verbal behavior in the world of the poor child. To avoid self-consciousness and any restrictions on movement of the subjects, a small…

The basic requirements of all good prose are clarity, accuracy, brevity, and simplicity. Especially in public prose--in which the meaning is the crux of the article or speech--concise, vigorous English demands a minimum of adjectives, a maximum use of the active voice, nouns carefully chosen, a logical argument with no labored or obscure points,…