The instructional effectiveness and efficiency of organizational chunking and batched postquestions within the framework of an information processing approach to learning and memory were investigated. Results indicated that the chunked treatment was a more efficient learning strategy. The intervening postquestion strategy helped reduce completion…

Considers the acquisition of language by deaf children of deaf parents and by deaf children of hearing parents in the light of such linguistic theories as Andersen's "nativization-denativization" and Bickerton's "bioprograms." Findings both support the theories and bring to light complexities that the theories do not exactly explain. (SED)

Investigates the notion of communicative strategies as it has been treated in the literature and then attempts a more precise and explanatory redefinition. Provides an overview of the Vygotskyan psycholinguistic research model which this study uses as a theoretical framework. Also presents a new typology of interlanguage. (SED)

Two experiments were conducted on the influence of language mode (print or sign) and syntax (English or American Sign Language) on recall, preference, and comprehension. Prelingual deaf individuals' visual orientation produced a sign-based encoding system that responded to American Sign Language as a familiar language. (Author/BS)

The paper examines factors in the differential diagnosis of language-based learning disabilities, reviews models of language processing, and lists frequently used measures of language form (syntax and morphology), content (semantics), usage (pragmatics), and processing. Case studies of three children with various degrees and types of language…

Hesitation serves many purposes, allowing us to choose and combine words better, make discourse more cohesive and regulate its flow, and think. Frequency and length varies with the cognitive activity, but is not always easy to interpret. Foreign language instruction can help students interpret hesitations and use them to advantage. (MSE)

Describes two experiments in which Ss were given 48 trials, using word lists as stimuli, followed by an unexpected final free recall test. (Author/RM)

Verbs of motion and location in Irish Sign Language have a characteristic lexicalization pattern, which influences the lexical choices signers make in denoting the motion and location of entities. Perceived characteristics of referents govern the type of verb root selected. Animate and inanimate referents are signified by different types of verb…

Speech recognition is one of five main areas in the field of speech processing. Difficulties in speech recognition include variability in sound within and across speakers, in channel, in background noise, and of speech production. Speech recognition can be used in a variety of situations: to perform query operations and phone call transfers; for…

There has been a longstanding interest among second and foreign language educators in research on language and the brain. By understanding how the brain learns naturally, language teachers may be better able to enhance their effectiveness in the classroom. This digest examines current brain research and discusses its implications for second…

This paper advocates a pragmatist approach to teaching the composition of academic discourse. It discusses teaching directly the conflicting positions of academic discourse as elitist jargon or as key to advanced conceptualization. The suggested pedagogical method involves the examination of academic discourse in general, and the procedure of…

A review of research on the development of linguistic competence in second language learners looks at the role played by input to children in their development of linguistic competence, the nature of children's metalinguistic development, and the same processes in the naturalistic second language learning of adults, and then examines the role of a…

Programing for learning disabled students with comprehension problems is discussed with an emphasis on the interaction of physical, psychological, and social elements in the children's lives. Attention is also directed to instructional materials, the child's home life, and the needs of parents. (SEW)

A study shows that advanced ESL students explore and clarify ideas and attend to language-related concerns primarily after their ideas have been delineated. These results call into question the prescriptive approach to writing instruction that is overly concerned with correctness. (MSE)

When asked to judge as correct or incorrect three categories of sentences (those with errors similar to their own patterns, those with common "baby errors," and correct sentences), four-year-olds made significantly fewer corrections of errors similar to their own, suggesting that children learn their own errors. (MSE)