To make teachers more aware of certain linguistic skills possessed by black children, why they are important, and how they might be capitalized upon in the classroom, this report examines the manipulation of figurative devices within the black community. The discussion focuses on seven forms of communicative devices prevalent in black language:…

A study investigated the mode of communication and the type of information that best serves an organization's purposes during the orientation interviews of new employees. Preliminary interviews with ten new employees and ten experienced employees indicated task-related performances for oral or written organizational communications--structured…

Four activities are suggested to develop student appreciation for the relationships between listening and the other language arts. The activities are designed to improve on present classroom instruction, which usually provides little time for formal oral language instruction. Each activity begins with some aspect of oral language training and…

Ninety kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade students participated in this study of ability to segment oral language into words and word units. Each child completed two individually administered oral segmentation tests and the Metropolitan Achievement Test. Results indicated that the ability to segment orally presented sentences developed…

Examination of object word learning and use in beginning (vocabulary of less than 50 words) and advanced (vocabulary of more than 50 words) infant speakers indicated that both groups formed concepts, learned, and generalized words for the to-be-learned objects. Advanced speakers learned more words and concepts and engaged in broader generalization…

Assessment of the oral and speech motor abilities of normally developing two- through six-year-olds (N=90) revealed no developmental change of the structural integrity of the vocal tract although evaluations of oral and speech motor functioning changed significantly with age. (Author/CB)

Comparison of attitudes and practices among fathers of young gifted children (N=9) and fathers of young nongifted children (N=10) revealed differences in six thematic areas: general involvement; reading emphasis; oral language emphasis; psychomotor emphasis; concern for the child's self-esteem; and push for independence. (Author/CB)

Analysis of psychiatric patients' utterances during an interview indicated that the percentage of unclear cohesive ties was significantly higher among schizophrenics than in a group of patients with mixed diagnoses (mostly affective disorders). Cohesive weakness was a more frequent characteristic of the language of schizophrenic speakers.…

A study of a brain-damaged subject's impaired performance on tasks involving production of verbal numbers found that lexical errors occurred in spoken production but not in written production, while syntactic error occurred in both modes. (Author/CB)

Microanalyses of unstructured videotaped interactions of three mother-infant dyads revealed dramatic shifts in dyadic vocalization patterns from primarily overlapping to primarily alternating. These results suggest that the emergent patterns reflect increased potential for coordination within the dyad, which may be capitalized on by mother and…

Reviews literature relating to conversational analysis, identifying two major approaches which exhibit chronological and methodological differentiations and focusing from a perspective of sequencing. (CB)

Observation of eight-month-olds (N=7) during isolated free play session with three toys revealed that significantly more vocalizations were present during transition periods where changes from locus of attention and changes in facial expression occurred. (Author/CB)

Suggests that the school classroom is an optimal place for mediating school and student intentions which may be facilitated by ensuring that the languages students use to discover and understand the world are directed toward accomplishing the tasks required by the educational setting. (DF)

Presents annotations of materials representing the range of current cross-disciplinary theories and research connecting speaking and writing. Topics range from cognitive psychology, linguistics, and rhetoric to learning theory. (HTH)

Reports preliminary findings from a study of kindergartners using LOGO in a computer laboratory. The study highlights the oral language that occurs while children produce computer graphics. (HTH)