Studies employing or investigating the metalinguistic judgments of native and nonnative speakers are reviewed. Their results and methodologies are compared to stimulate reliable and informative applications of such judgments in future research. Metalinguistic judgments are found useful in language acquisition studies, given appropriate controls…

The relationship between knowledge and reasoning was explored through 12 males' and 12 females' (aged 12, 15, and adult) solutions to written syllogisms containing four conjunctions, and evaluations of single sentences for their pragmatic content. The relationship between comprehension of pragmatic uncertainty and detection of uncertain…

Describes an experiment to see whether the words "front" and "back" introduce the concept of "front-back" or whether the concept preceded the words. Results show that (1) a complex disjunctive concept of "front-back" orientation precedes any knowledge of the words; (2) linguistically, "back" is comprehended before "front"; and (3) children at an…

Describes a study in which children are asked to choose the most probable or permissible of two modal propositions, a technique which assesses the children's appreciation of relative force. Results indicate that the general acquisition rule was: the greater the difference in the strength of the two modal propositions, the earlier the difference…

In two experiments, preschool children had better recall when the subjects and objects of sentences read aloud were also depicted pictorially. Learning was not enhanced by illustrating only the sentence subject or object. Sixteen references are listed. (Author/JJD)

Tested for the effects of differential word familiarity and one versus two semantic tasks on recall in young and older adults following semantic processing. The results demonstrated that word familiarity and number of processing tasks both had a strong effect on recall. (Author)

Examines recall of passages in order to determine relative importance of lines according to their function in argument. Results indicate that hypothetical assumptions and their logical consequences are less well remembered than facts and that facts introduced are better recalled than facts conducted in the course of an argument. (EKN)

The validity of an arm extension test as an index of language dominance of the brain was investigated. High and low achievers were given several measures of laterality. Agreement with other measures ranged from 35 to 75 percent, with a phi coefficient of .10. The validity of the test is questionable. (RD)

Describing what children at the preoperational stage know about writing, spelling, and words, the authors make specific recommendations for ways language arts teachers can build instruction that is based on this knowledge. (SK)

Argues for the studying of the language learning process itself, rather than doing contrastive or error analyses for determining the source of error in second language acquisiton. Longitudinal and cross-sectional studies can help determine the language learning stages. A multidimensional model of language learning is proposed. (PJM)

Suggests that structural universals between different-based pidgins result from universal linguo-cognitive processing strategies which are employed in learning languages. Some of the strategies occur in all types of acquisition, and others are more applicable to L2 type acquisition. Past research is discussed, and some exemplary data are given.…

Discusses three experiments investigating the development of word-by-word comprehension in 5-, 7-, and 10-year olds. Subjects monitored for target words in a sentence. Variable included types of monitoring tasks and distribution and context of target words. Results are discussed in terms of the types of comprehension processes various tasks…

The cognitive restrictions on the beginning second language learner's capacity to deal with structural diversity and the concomitant developmental regularities of his sentence structure are examined. Learners utilize the formal features of a language, the syntactic categories, as building blocks in organizing the structure of the language. (PMJ)

Discusses the ellipsis of major sentential elements as a pervasive grammatical phenomenon in Japanese conversation and demonstrates its relevance for current theories of discourse or text analysis. (FL)

American and EFL students' comprehension difficulties in reading scientific discourse containing implicit and explicit definitions were tested. Though both found implicit information more difficult to comprehend, the differences in scores on the implicit and explicit definitions remained the same even where English proficiency increased. (PMJ)