Compared four categories of maternal utterances to predict children's rates of syntax development to a category of maternal utterances that was unrelated to syntax development. Results suggested that maternal speech supports the child's development of syntax by engaging the child in linguistic interaction and by providing illustrations of the…

The main difference between the information-processing and Bialystok's Analysis/Control framework for first and second language learning is in their focus. The latter is equipped mainly to account for performance differences on metalinguistic tasks, while the former accounts for construction and reconstruction of implicit and explicit mental…

By presenting two theories of first and second language learning dichotomously, their fundamental similarity as information-processing theories is obscured and details of both positions are misrepresented. (Author/MSE)

Investigates language acquisition and development in 86 infants of 1-24 months who are native speakers of Arabic. Findings are discussed in terms of the stages of language acquisition and development and differences between males and females in the process. (RJC)

Investigates the language interactions of four children aged 20-23 months and their caregivers at a day care center. Results suggest that if extra toys are available, and the caregiver is trained to engage children in responsive conversations, then conversations will increase in frequency and quality. (RJC)

A case study follows the development of phonologic abilities in a child with Prader-Willi syndrome, during her enrollment in language and phonologic remediation from age 2:7 to 6:1. Changes in her phonetic inventory, in the set of phonemes used correctly, and in phonologic processes are described. (Author/JDD)

A series on language teaching and learning for teachers includes books on the following topics: (1) psycholinguistics (Titone); (2) the role of the brain in language acquisition (Danesi); (3) the creative language of children (Crema & De Robertis); and (4) suggestopedia (Lozanov & Gateva). (CFM)

This study, involving two three-year-olds with mild mental retardation, found that milieu language intervention can directly enhance the acquisition and generative use of lexical and semantic forms used for varied pragmatic functions and that adult systematic commenting and child spontaneous imitation may interact to facilitate the teaching…

The study investigated the ability of 60 children, age 6-8, to monitor grammaticality in the past progressive, perfect progressive, and perfect verb forms. Children achieved a significantly higher rate of accurate judgments monitoring grammatical forms than ungrammatical forms. Context surrounding ungrammatical verb forms and child's age…

Primary school children, after viewing a silent film, were asked to narrate a segment of the film and recount its events both as a news story and as an embellished story. The results indicate that primary school children have only nascent ability to apply genre knowledge to school language tasks. (55 references) (Author/JL)

A study was undertaken to test the theory that canonical sentence schemas can sometimes assign argument structure to verbs. The theory has the advantage of explaining errors without postulating the acquisition of erroneous lexical entries that have to be learned, and it can be extended to other kinds of errors in the choice and placement of…

The purpose of this study was to determine if the DISTAR Reading I Program was more effective than a basal reading program in increasing school-based language ability for 80 first-grade Black students. (Author/IAH)

Major approaches of describing or examining linguistic data from a potential target language (input) are analyzed for adequacy in addressing the concerns of second language learning theory. Suggestions are made for making the best of these varied concepts of input and for reformulation of a unified concept. (MSE)

Psycholinguistic and neurological examination of the use of duality of patterning as a primary criterion for determining if a system is a (signed or spoken) language revealed the existence of duality in processes that facilitate language acquisition. (27 references) (Author/CB)

The case study involves a developmentally apraxic eight-year-old girl using a multimodal communication system. The Partners in Augmentative Communication Training program was implemented. Results after two months suggested some improvement in communication interaction skills. Issues regarding developmental apraxia and the use of augmentative and…