Social, aptitudinal, and attitudinal factors that influence acquisition of a second language can also have an effect on the subsequent retention of that language. "Retention" is the maintenance or improvement of proficiency in a language following its acquisition. A study by G. Edwards shows that long-term retention of linguistic and…

This paper discusses the performance of 20 disabled secondary readers, on Carol Chomsky's tests of five stages of language development. These results, which indicated a low level of lingusitic competence for 18 of the 20 subjects, are reviewed against related studies. Analyses of the reading of these subjects indicated that they made most of their…

Speech samples of 14 normal 2-year-old children and 14 Down's Syndrome 5- to 12-year-old children were analyzed to investigate the structural complexity. Results from the Developmental Sentence Scoring procedure indicated that even when matched with normal children for mean length of utterance, Down's Syndrome Ss produced less syntactically…

This paper examines aspects of role playing in young children focusing specifically on the importance of role playing, the components of role playing and how to use role playing. The importance of role playing is discussed and several reasons for believing that role playing is related to intellectual and social development and to learning language…

This paper describes the development of the senses of speech and thought and identifies the physical organs associated with those senses. The child's word sense is born only after the development of the ability to walk. From direct experience, communicated to them by the speech sense, children know that words are different from any other sounds…

This paper reports on the enigma of Casper Hauser (1812-1833), a child isolated from human contact for the first sixteen years of life. Upon his release (from incarceration in a cell), on the streets of Nurnberg, Germany in 1828, at the age of sixteen, he could barely walk, and could not talk. Although he appeared completely retarded, his senses…

A naturalistic-observational study of three inner-city, working-class mother-infant pairs was conducted to study early language development and maternal teaching styles. The subjects were three white 2-year-olds and their mothers. Observations were made under everyday conditions as the infants interacted with their mothers and other family members…

The papers written by 57 high school students during the 1977 New York Regents Comprehensive Examination in English were analyzed to determine patterns of student writing maturity in comparison with research by Kellogg W. Hunt. Data were collected for t-unit length, clause length, clauses per t-unit, and t-units per sentence. A case study to…

The report summarizes a 1976 conference designed to analyze the findings and recommendations of three studies of language development in young handicapped children. It is explained that project directors and language researchers attended the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped - sponsored conference. A summary of conference discussion is…

THE REPORT OF A MODERN LANGUAGE ASSOCIATION-SPONSORED CONFERENCE ON CHILDHOOD AND SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING (MAY 5-6, 1956) SUMMARIZES THE DISCUSSIONS. THE TOPICS INCLUDE (1) HOW CHILDREN NORMALLY LEARN THEIR MOTHER TONGUE, (2) IMITATION AND ANALYSIS IN THE LANGUAGE LEARNING PROCESS, (3) RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE LEARNING OF A FIRST AND A SECOND…

THIS PAPER, WHICH ANNOUNCES THE THEME OF A SEMINAR ON THEORIES OF LANGUAGE AND LEARNING, QUESTIONS THE VIEW THAT A CHILD'S POOR SCHOOL PERFORMANCE DERIVES FROM AN IMPOVERISHED SENSORY EXPERIENCE. A DEPRIVED TROPICAL ENVIRONMENT IS DEPICTED TO CAST DOUBTS ON THIS THEORY. A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE EFFECTS OF SENSORY DEPRIVATION IS INCLUDED. THIS…

This study was designed to factor analyze the correlation matrices of a number of studies utilizing the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities (ITPA). All of the correlation matrices were analyzed on the same program using the same criteria. By this approach, it was possible to examine trends between studies. More factors tended to appear as…

Teaching should reflect the facts of current language usage. This descriptive approach, when applied to reading, means that the child's reading education should focus on the realities of daily life. Syntactic analysis in reading has been handicapped by an overemphasis on lexical content at the expense of other syntactic structures. Thus, the…

This paper deals with two experiments whose purposes are to investigate the linguistic competence of young children and their receptivity to adult speech. In the free response experiment, imperative sentences were presented to 1 1/2- to 2 1/2-year-olds. The sentences were minimal (a single noun), telegraphic, or full adult sentences. The youngest…

This paper presents an overview of research on bilingual children's language and reading development, identifying the problems and biases of past research and indicating future research needs. The paper notes that past research tended to reflect prevailing societal attitudes and an essentially linguistic bias. In recommending future research…