Describes the whole language concept and its manifestations in teaching. Argues that whole language teaching can be seen as a political activity since it returns power to the children and the teacher. (EL)

Reports research which investigated the effects of microcomputer technology on the acquisition of writing and reading skills in 32 deaf children. The learning mechanism underlying the instructional system used is responsive, interactional and exploratory, reflective of the way most children acquire a first language. (SED)

Describes a study of preschool children's utterances and their context, intended to provide evidence of children's argumentative capacities. Shows how children, though perhaps not consciously, use language to intervene upon reality in order to modify a state of things by sensibly arguing their case. (SED)

Investigates the development of communicative competence during preschool age by analyzing certain types of communicative acts and sequences of communicative acts in adult-child and child-child communication. Assumes there are certain phases in which a child is especially prepared for the acquisition of certain types of communicative acts. (SED)

Reports on a study of the language acquisition of a group of Portuguese children who belonged to two socioeconomic backgrounds: upper middle class and lower class. Aims to show that verbal formulation, referential non-linguistic material pragmatic cues, and cognitive factors play decisive roles in language development. (SED)

Discusses the problems encountered by children in developing countries in their attempts to learn to read in relation to their "need" to develop a comprehension for and use of print resources. This problem may be solved by the production of a variety of print resources, particularly a culture's folk literature. (BB)

Reviews articles published on the topic of language across the curriculum (LAC) from 1979-1984. Reveals problems with LAC center on four issues: definition of LAC itself; influence of linguistic bias and an English-subject-centered leadership; difficulties in implementing LAC; and views of the relative success and failure of LAC initiatives. (NEC)

Reviews the results of research in language acquisition, interactional analysis, pragmatics, repair, error, and social and affective factors. Extracts four language teaching principles relating to acquisition activities in the classroom, the importance of affective factors, the communicative capacity of learners, and the nature and treatment of…

Computer programs designed for testing and teaching language comprehension and for evaluating language production skills through the analysis of free speech samples in mentally retarded students are described. (JMK)

Emphasizes the importance of psycholinguistic research in enabling us to discover phenomena which will later be seen to have representations in the brain. In addition, the different ways a second language is learned and used, as well as the differences in the actual language structures themselves, will participate in determining brain organization…

Argues that when a parent or teacher reads the same story to children several times, they begin to attend to different aspects of the story than they did on the first reading. Discusses four changes in children's responses that occur with repeated readings. (FL)

Suggests adapted teaching strategies that can help meet the deaf students' special needs in reading. (FL)

Describes a pilot program offering conversational Spanish to elementary school students. The "Total Physical Response" technique was used initially, followed by an emphasis on comprehension and the creation of a natural language environment, all as means of facilitating second language acquisition at the children's level. (SL)

Focuses on the narrative function to show how children can build on another speaker's turns in conversation and can build on their own utterances as they speak. Analyzes children's dialogs and narratives to highlight the primacy of the oral language arts as they are enacted in daily conversation and play. (HTH)

Research findings dealing with second language acquisition by linguistic minority students are reviewed. Effect of cultural differences, consequences of dual language learning, and instruction in native language are concepts to be considered if these students are to achieve academic success. (DF)