Variation set structure--partial overlap of successive utterances in child-directed speech--has been shown to correlate with progress in children's acquisition of syntax. We demonstrate the benefits of variation set structure directly: in miniature artificial languages, arranging a certain proportion of utterances in a training corpus in variation…

The "weaker links" hypothesis proposes that bilinguals are disadvantaged relative to monolinguals on speaking tasks because they divide frequency-of-use between two languages. To test this proposal, we contrasted the effects of increased word use associated with monolingualism, language dominance, and increased age on picture naming times. In two…

Repetition is a central phenomenon of behavior, and researchers have made extensive use of it to illuminate psychological functioning. In the language sciences, a ubiquitous form of such repetition is "structural priming," a tendency to repeat or better process a current sentence because of its structural similarity to a previously experienced…

LChildren pass through a stage in development when they produce utterances that contain auxiliary BE ("he's playing") and utterances where auxiliary BE is omitted ("he playing"). One explanation that has been put forward to explain this phenomenon is the presence of questions in the input that model S-V word order (Theakston, Lieven & Tomasello,…

The present study investigated the roles of pattern detection capacities and understanding of intentions in children's learning of linguistic rules. We taught two-year-olds a Hebrew morphological distinction between noun and verb forms using two different training protocols. The protocols were identical in all parameters except that only in an…

Strategies that produce generalized responding are valuable, especially with regard to language acquisition, because relatively little training may result in large behavior changes. Conditions that result in generalized manding were analyzed in the current study. We demonstrated in reversal designs that undesirable or single-word responses were…

The aim of the study was to examine whether auditory binaural interaction, defined as any difference between binaurally evoked responses and the sum of monaurally evoked responses, which is thought to index functions involved in the localization and detection of signals in background noise, is atypical in a group of children with specific language…

Although the effect of acoustic cues on speech segmentation has been extensively investigated, the role of higher order information (e.g., syntax) has received less attention. Here, the authors examined whether syntactic expectations based on subject-verb agreement have an effect on segmentation and whether they do so despite conflicting acoustic…

As a means of communication, listening plays an important role in people's life. In a foreign language classroom, listening comprehension has never drawn the same attention of educators as it now does. So it is a vital importance to teach aural English more effectively. In view of present situation of aural English teaching and wrong ideas about…

This qualitative case study investigated the process by which eight hearing parents went about making decisions to promote language acquisition and literacy learning in their deaf children, who or what influenced that process, and how they coped emotionally with the impact of deafness on literacy and language acquisition. Data from interview…

This review of teaching standards in six states (California, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Ohio, and Texas) focuses on the structure, target audience, and selected content of the standards to inform California's revision of its teaching standards. The report was developed at the request of key education agencies in California. The review…

Background: Language development is generally viewed as a multifactorial process. There are increasing indications that this similarly holds for the problematic language development process. Aims: A population of 97 young Dutch children with specific language impairment (SLI) was followed over a 2-year period to provide additional evidence for the…

Functional imaging studies of single word production have consistently reported activation of the lateral prefrontal and cingulate cortex. Its contribution has been shown to be sensitive to task demands, which can be manipulated by the degree of response specification. Compared with classical verbal fluency, free word association relies less on…

As the number of international adoptions has increased over the past 2 decades, so has awareness and understanding of the risks associated with the conditions to which these children have been exposed. Prenatal alcohol and/or drug exposure, infectious diseases, malnutrition, and psychosocial deprivation all contribute to the profound growth and…

This article describes a multilingual glossary project in the economics department at the University of Cape Town which gave multilingual students learning economics through the medium of English, opportunities to discuss new economic concepts in their home languages in order to broaden and enrich understanding of these new concepts. The findings…