Examines the effect of adult recasting in sign language on the acquisition of specific syntactic-semantic structures by deaf children aged 9 to 76 months. Results indicated that recasting triggered the acquisition of new syntactic-semantic structures in American Sign Language and English, evident in the spontaneous production of previously…

Describes how three schools applied "Writing to Read," a computerized writing and reading program, in kindergarten and first grade. (HOD)

Concludes that there may be differential effectiveness of method of reading instruction according to sex, with females finding letter training simpler than word training and males finding the reverse. (FL)

Emergent reading attempts of 24 children at the beginning of their kindergarten year are content analyzed in light of theoretical considerations about general and language development. In addition, the reading attempts of two-, three-, and four-year olds are examined. Comparison of data reveal a developmental progress across age-levels. (HOD)

Describes a program adopted by five native Indian bands in British Columbia in which parents promote their children's early language and reading skills in the home. (FL)

Discusses the value of tool-use activities to help toddlers develop emerging skills, experience creative expression, and understand means-end relationships. Provides examples of opportunities for using objects as tools, including language acquisition, self-help activities, dramatic play, sensory experiences, and object manipulation. (DST)

Describes inadequate home literacy experiences of three children, noting that the home expects the school to educate the child and the school expects certain prerequisites of the home, but neither is aware of the other's expectations. Exhorts schools and teachers to communicate better the parents' role in early literacy education. (HTH)

Explains some of the objectives for a pre-first-grade reading program, describes what children know about oral and written language before they come to school, expresses some professional concerns about pre-first-grade reading programs, and offers recommendations for improvement. (HOD)

Presents a psycholinguistic analysis of young children's performance in Japanese before, during, and after a two-month stay in Japan from the perspective of Vygotsky and the Soviet school of psycholinguistics. Looks at the social function of their utterances, the types of regulation involved, and strategic functions that may be intended. (SED)

Cites authorities in the fields of early childhood education and literacy acquisition to show the need to change the way in which children learn to read and write. (FL)

The causal relationship between metaphonological skills (sound blending and segmentation) and reading/spelling was investigated in two studies of first graders. One tested causal models using data from a longitudinal study of 46 dyslexics and 44 control children. The other studied the effects of metaphonological training versus general language…

Provides sources of aid and encouragement for parents of children of all ages who want to help their children develop positive attitudes toward reading and sharpen their reading skills. (FL)

This essay addresses the effect of introducing a foreign language into the formal education of oral-traditional societies. Highlights include the nature of such societies, language in formal education, reading and language acquisition, developing a theory of high retention and recall, and overall implications for national development and…

Describes three experiments measuring changes in children's social speech which used the presence or absence of partitions allowing partial visual contact to alter verbal communication contingencies between players. Altered levels of speech and specificity confirm importance of physical environmental factors in regulation of children's play. (MBR)

Small group interaction facilitates language development because students tend to be motivated by their peers. Language acquisition, classroom management, and teaching methodology are integrated within a social studies unit to illustrate how children learn. (DF)