The idea of semantic features has taken some force within psychology and a number of research workers have suggested that semantic acquisition is, in some manner, determined by semantic components. This notion has come to be called the "semantic feature hypothesis". An examination of the semantic feature hypothesis was made by testing 80…

Described is the Modified Language Acquisition Program (MLAP) which used trainable mentally retarded trainers to teach basic language skills to severely and profoundly retarded students in a state hospital. Provided are a flow chart and procedural description to guide the use of the MLAP with attendant-supervised retarded trainers and a second…

One of the most important capacities which children employ when learning language is the capacity to generalize. A child who hears an utterance of a verbal expression while perceiving a particular object (or action, aspect, etc.) becomes normally able to apply the expression not only to this object but also to all those objects which, for him, are…

Gestural behavior between mothers and young children was hypothesized to be important in the acquisition of communicative competence. It was presumed that a typology of gestural function could assess non-verbal behavior. Data consisted of sound film samples of feeding and bathing events of three subject pairs. Initially the children ranged in age…

It has been shown that students in North America can learn both a foreign language and subject matter taught in that language at the same time successfully. The immersion model is first examined for the majority group child, then considered for several target groups. (SCC)

Discusses nominal-pronominal reduplication (NPR) in the language of children ages seven and nine in four situations. Younger children produced more NPR; all children produced little NPR talking to their peers and increasing amounts talking to adults. Examples are given and analyzed. (EJS)

This article concludes that language mixes do not constitute a major interference in the acquisition of bilingualism since children appear to be able to differentiate their two linguistic systems from an early age. (Author/NCR)

The article gives an example of how, even though an individual's capacity to use or to learn a spoken language may be significantly impaired by brain damage, the ability to acquire a non-oral language system may remain intact. (Author/NCR)

Stampe's (1969, 1973) hypotheses regarding innate mental phonological processes are tested against some of the extant data on speech perception. (AM)

Type/Token Ratios (TTRs) frequently fail to discriminate between children at widely different stages of language development, and may fall as children get older. Such effects are caused by a negative, though non-linear, relationship between sample size and TTR. Standardization of the number of tokens before computing TTRs is recommended.…

Argues that common processes underlie reading and writing and offers a case study of two students' experiences with reading and writing processes. Contains lessons built upon these commonalities. (FL)

Shows that mentally handicapped preschool children can learn to read words when word cards become tools for communicating their wishes. Indicates also that language skills improve and that these transfer to other situations. (FL)

Analysis of the free speech of one- to three-year-olds (N=21) found that measures of mean length of utterance (MLU) are positively related to age, are reliable, and can predict grammatical development, although there are identifiable points in the developmental evolution of MLU and MLU-like indices beyond which their reliability and validity have…

Patterns of French acquisition, use, and proficiency among Ontario anglophones are examined, and their implications for changes in both French native language instruction and French second language instruction to support the maintenance and use of French are examined. (MSE)

The paper offers a broad-based behavioral approach to language generalization which is affected by basic cognitive processes, behavioral learning strategies, environmental variables, and the child's present knowledge base. Implications of this approach for application of a systems approach to intervention are discussed. (Author/DB)