In order to examine the extent to which adult judgments of first words depend on visual and auditory cues, spontaneous utterances were collected for boys and girls ages one year, five months to one year, ten months. Adults named the same toys. The older the speaker, the less perception was affected by visual context. (Author/SW)

This experiment examined the spoken serial recall by adults and second grade children of aurally presented lists of digits, synthetic stop consonants, and synthetic vowels. (SB)

Outlines the goals and content of the syllabus aimed at developing reading and listening comprehension in a beginners' course in German. Types of written and spoken texts; language register used; language structure patterns desired; lexis and vocabulary; and language function are discussed as they are included in the syllabus. (CHK)

In Beginning English classes for adults, to develop auditory and reading understanding, frequently occurring grammatical problems should be emphasized, such as simple present and simple past tenses of verbs (5 teaching units are presented). At first, less frequent grammatical problems should only be identified by name. (IFS/WGA)

A discussion of the difficulties one experiences in understanding a foreign language in song. The difficulty comes from the rhyme and rhythm, and from the medium, the form of linguistic expression, itself. (AMH)

Advocates the use of dictation in teaching English as a second language. The steps in preparation, administering and correcting classroom dictation are outlined, and a method of organizing material on a language laboratory tape is suggested. In this procedure, students administer the dictation and correct it themselves. (CHK)

Two speech perception experiments were conducted with 12 normally hearing adults using a modified speech tracking procedure to determine the effects of controlling connected discourse materials and the effects of specific prompting techniques on tracking rate and subjects' responses. Results showed higher tracking rates for controlled materials.…

Presents a study that investigated the significance of the octave-equivalence assumption, an essential assumption to the notion of "pitch class" and the analysis and pedagogy of all music in the Western tradition. Discusses development and organization of experimental items and describes the method of presentation. (GEA)

Conductive hearing losses were simulated in 12 subjects aged 19-35 and performance was compared with normal hearing performance. Digit dichotic performance was affected when test intensities were within 8 dB of the "knees" (95 percent correct point) of monotic performance intensity functions, but not when test intensities were 12 dB…

Suggests that retelling a story or expository text can help less proficient readers improve their reading comprehension. Provides guidelines for the use of retelling in the classroom. (ARH)

Twenty language-impaired and 20 unimpaired children, aged 9-11, generated and retold stories and answered comprehension questions. The stories produced by language-disordered children contained fewer complete story episodes, fewer main and subordinate clauses per complete episode, and a lower frequency of use of story grammar components than those…

Examines alert newborn and five-month-old infants' responsivity to variations in spectral composition of a rattle sound. Head orientation and cardiac responses to sound were recorded. Heart rate change did not vary as a function of frequency at either age, suggesting that all stimuli were equally effective in eliciting the infant's attention.…

Because young children have poorer auditory temporal resolution than older children, a study measured the auditory filters of two 6-year-olds, two 10-year-olds, and two adults by having them detect a 400-ms sinusoid centered in a spectral notch in a band of noise. (HOD)

Describes the use of oral reading, journal writing, and sharing of ideas in a seventh grade class to promote an active interest in literature and thereby increase the literacy level of the students. (SRT)

Describes a study that explores whether less fluent non-native listeners attend more to syntactic than to semantic cues by testing three groups: native English-speakers and advanced and intermediate non-natives. Results show that semantically acceptable responses increased progressively for intermediate, advanced, and native groups, while…