This paper draws on recent research findings in contending that starting with a student's "known" is a particularly sophisticated concept that, when understood both theoretically and practically, will permit teachers to help students read their texts with greater ease. It argues that students may have more prior knowledge about a topic…

The purpose of this analytical essay is to lay out some conceptual boundaries and distinctions about how children develop and use metacommunication (messages whose primary function is to make reference to or transform themselves or other messages). Two types of metacommunication are discussed: metalinguistic messages, in which there is a temporary…

This review of research into the acquisition of grammatical coordination (i.e., the use of conjunctions) pulls together both English language and cross-linguistic data. Although the importance of pragmatic factors in language acquisition is not denied, the data make it clear that grammatical factors seem to play a significant role in the…

A major concern in recent research is whether perceptual or functional information is of primary importance in children's early word meanings. In the study described here, artificial objects were used so that form and function could be independently manipulated. There were 57 subjects, ranging in age from 2.5 years to adulthood. The subjects were…

This paper discusses the nature of the relationship between grammar and pragmatics--specifically, between the rules of a language and the principles for using language. It argues that knowledge of language itself plays a small, primarily enabling part in people's ability to communicate effectively and that a large share of communicative competence…

Forty Swedish university students produced sentences from homographs that could be interpreted either as verbs or nouns. The words also varied in degree of polysemy (multiple meaning). The results indicated that the subjects prefered verb productions when the words were grouped according to objective frequency. This was more evident when the…

The human sentence parsing device assigns phrase structure to sentences in two steps. The first stage parser assigns lexical and phrasal nodes to substrings of words. The second stage parser then adds higher nodes to link these phrasal packages together into a complete phrase marker. This model is compared with others. (Author/RD)

The results of two experiments indicate that the two phonological properties of a word, its initial phoneme and length, strongly influence the latency to detect a target phoneme which begins the following word. Studies showing increased detection latencies following ambiguity are analyzed. (SW)

This study examines two views of lexical storage and word production, a derivational hypothesis and an independent unit hypothesis. Reaction times and errors were related to derivational complexity. A model of lexical retrieval process incorporating derivational processes is proposed. (Author/SW)

To show the organization of recall, items that are remembered together can be written on the same line of a two-dimensional (2D) grid. Such 2D recall does not induce the clustering it reveals. Various aspects of 2D recall and the clustering it reveals are discussed. (Author/RM)

A technique that can be used to study the effects of low-level, rote, repetitive (Type I) rehearsal is introduced and validated. The technique is then used to investigate the relationship between the amount of Type I rehearsal and recognition memory performance. (Author/RM)

A study of strategies used by translators examines the effects of age, context, and methods of learning the first and second languages on the type of strategy chosen. (MSE)

The effects of number signals on text recall were investigated using college-age subjects who read and recalled two texts containing 10 target sentences each. Results demonstrated that number signals directed attention to the sentences they marked, led to better encoding of target information, and influenced the process recall. (Author/LMO)

Describes a study which sought to determine whether memory for input language is affected by proficiency in the nondominant language. The subjects were native Hebrew speakers with varying degrees of proficiency in English. Basic and advanced subjects did not score higher with input in their dominant language. (SED)

Presents three studies which examined adults' and preschoolers' sensitivity to implicit causality in interpersonal verbs. Findings suggest that the scenes concerning the causes and consequences of interpersonal events can readily be activated in the process of understanding these verbs. This finding holds true for both preschoolers and adults.…