Word and nonword vocalizations produced by two groups of children aged 8-28 months were studied. The first group included six children whose speech was recorded monthly for 12 months. The second group contained 21 children. In both, only spontaneous vocalizations were recorded. Each sample was examined for frequency of word and nonword forms. A…

The relationship between the realization of the argument-structure of a verb and its acquisition as a lexical item was investigated in a case study. The subject was a girl aged 2.3 years whose father was a native English-speaker and whose mother was a native Japanese speaker who also spoke English. The child had been born in the United States but…

Evidence from children's performance in a variety of tasks suggests a change in the kinds of similarities children notice and use. Children tend to focus on literal similarity and then shift to the use of common objects, followed by common relations between objects, and finally relations between relations. Research from a variety of different…

Papers are presented from a conference that dealt with the similarities and differences between first and second language learning, ways of assessing the relationships, methodological procedures, and implications for development of procedures for teaching language handicapped children. The papers are presented under the following headings: (1)…

Intended for parents, this booklet presents learning activities for very young children with special needs. Activities were developed as part of project DEBT (Developmental Education Birth through Two). Activities are grouped according to the following developmental levels: newborn, 1-3 months, 4-5 months, 6-8 months, 9-11 months, 12-14 months,…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the speech of mothers and fathers as they interacted with their children in a similar setting. Specifically, the study compared mothers' and fathers' speech patterns in interactions with their preschool children, focusing on utterance length, sentence types, and word frequencies. Speech samples were…

Reports research in Sierra Leone investigating whether the study of English Literature influences secondary school pupils' competence in English language. Grades of 663 pupils who took both courses were compared with those of 490 who took only language. Results indicate that literature did not aid in language study. (JT)

This article considers the acquisition and command of written language and how it is affected by brain damage. The aim is to show the close connections between psychology, linguistics and medical brain research. (Text is in German.) (TL)

Describes a reading program which builds on the child's verbal skills. (RB)

Brief reports are presented on several doctoral research projects on language acquisition. These projects concern such topics as: the linguistic expression of causal relations; language development of hearing children of deaf parents; bidialectal skills of black children; and language acquisition among Kaluli Children in New Guinea. (SW)

This article is a very general discussion of foreign language instruction and the nature of foreign language learning. (KM)

The points of similarity between the language and music of a given language are discussed as a theoretical justification for the use of songs in language teaching. (Author/RM)