This paper presents background information about the development and functions of hypertext and predicts future changes in converting text into hypertext. The paper describes hypertext as a computer system that allows the interconnection of information in a way that is "transparent" (does not intrude on or interfere with the reader's…

Vertical and lateral integration are two important nervous system integrations that affect the development of oral behaviors. There are three progressions in the vertical integration process for speech nervous system development: R-complex speech (ritualistic, memorized expressions), limbic speech (emotional expressions), and cortical speech…

Presentations from a colloquium on applications of research on natural languages to computer science address the following topics: (1) analysis of complex adverbs; (2) parser use in computerized text analysis; (3) French language utilities; (4) lexicographic mapping of official language notices; (5) phonographic codification of Spanish; (6)…

The potential application of artificial intelligence (AI) to computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is explored. Two areas of AI that hold particular interest to those who deal with language meaning--knowledge representation and expert systems, and natural-language processing--are described and examples of each are presented. AI contribution…

In a step toward creating a robust natural language understanding system which detects and avoids miscommunication, this artificial intelligence research report provides a taxonomy of miscommunication problems that arise in expert-apprentice dialogues (including misunderstandings, wrong communication, and bad analogies), and proposes a flexible…

A study of the relationship of bilingualism to personality traits focused on two questions: (1) are any language-associated differences between memory systems in bilinguals reflected in similar differences in personality structures?; and (2) if such differences exist, can they be tapped by comparing responses to personality-evoking stimulus in the…

The teaching of reading in English as a second language is discussed, and an instructional model is proposed. The functions that reading can serve, the processes involved in reading, and the kinds of materials available for instruction in reading in a second language are examined in these contexts: style and content, problems of interpretation,…

Focusing on writing as a language process, this booklet describes a framework for writing instruction that has as a major consideration the totality of language. The first section discusses writing as a language process, emphasizing that as children learn to write, they can also learn to listen, speak, and read. The second section focuses on the…

A study investigated how two text-based factors, word relationships and surface syntactic structure, interact with readers' ability to analyze the semantic relationships and make inferences based on those analyses. In each passage, the influence of word relationships was assessed by manipulating the degree of semantic entailment between two words…

A study examined the effects of formal and informal learning environments on the storage and recall of lexical items in the first and second languages, paying specific attention to laterality and accuracy rates for tasks of varying difficulty. The study used the dichotic listening task and subjects whose first language was English and whose second…

A study assessed the effect of the use of reasoning message strategies on (1) a generally accepted goal of instruction (critical thinking) and (2) the affective behavior of students (attitudes toward the instruction). Subjects, 68 college students enrolled in journalism/mass communication classes, participated in one of three treatment groups that…

To explore how readers create textual meanings or interpretations from written materials, a study that investigated reading from a semiotic perspective was conducted. The study's design was based on the principle of prior ethnography and employed data collection techniques common to field studies: participant/intervention and interviewing.…

As part of a course in French for foreign post-graduate engineering students, recordings of a series of lectures in information science were used to highlight some of the problems involved in the comprehension of spoken scientific discourse. In order to observe whether repetitions within oral discourse were perceived as such by non-French speaking…

Two studies examined how the factors of content-relevant knowledge and text organization influence students' abilities to study and to remember text information. The first experiment examined the effect of prior content knowledge on students' ability to identify important information in the text. Forty 7th- and forty 11th-grade students, experts…

Building on previous ethnographic research on middle school students' reading and writing activities, a study examined the continuity and change in students' use of, control of, and access to reading and writing resources from kindergarten through grade 8 in an elementary school, a middle school, and the community. Reading and writing resources…