The present volume reflects the proceedings of the fourth annual symposium at the Carnegie-Mellon University, which dealt with developmental linguistics in general and with child language acquisition in particular. Contents include an Introduction by John R. Hayes; "Derivational Complexity and Order of Acquisition in Child Speech," by R. Brown and…

Applications of research in psycholinguistics, particularly Noam Chomsky's research, have suggested some drastic innovations in the practices of both the classroom teacher and the child development researcher. For example, more emphasis is needed upon asking what a speaker knows about the grammar of the language with less concern about how…

An in-depth evaluation of standard English instruction in fourteen primary grade classrooms in the Michigan migrant education summer program was undertaken in 1971 in an effort to describe the actual normal teaching patterns existing in the classrooms. The children in those classrooms averaged 8 years of age, and 90% of all pupils had Spanish…

Investigated was the relationship between linguistic coding and cognitive style in 96 adolescents. (Author/BD)

Compares data gathered for 5-year-olds in Montreal and Paris, and shows that the differences between the two communities are marginal in terms of the complexity of the acquisition process. Notable differences are observed in performance. (Text is in French.) (CDSH/CLK)

Two studies were conducted to discover possible patterns in question acquisition. For the production study, questions were collected from 22 children aged two to eleven. In the comprehension study, 100 children, aged three to five, were tested. The test controlled syntax and vocabulary and varied specific "wh-" question-words. (Author/RM)

By analyzing children's verbal responses to various types of questions, understanding was increased about the impact of classroom questions upon young children's oral language development. (MM)

Adapted from "Work in Progress" n5, 1972, Department of Linguistics, University of Edinburgh. (DD)

Discusses the teaching of language for use in practical situations, i.e., using language in various communication contexts. (DD)

Paper presented at the 2nd Annual Seminar on English Language Teaching, Vientiane, Laos, February 7-9, 1973. (RL)

The transactional, expressive and poetic functions of language are discussed; examples from elementary school student conversation and writing are included. (Author/SP)

Computational linguistics, as linguistics in general, is the study of human behavior. (MF)