Explores three explanations for the lack of a relationship between oral language development and reading ability. Presents data which provides evidence for each of the following sources of explanation: (1) inappropriateness of measures used in previous studies, (2) differences between written and spoken languages, and (3) the distinction between…

Reviews research on first- (L1) and second-language (L2) acquisition of English articles, and adds to this literature a study f a(n), the, and the null article in the speech of (n=30) second-language learners. Both differences and similarities emerge between the L1 and L2 patterns of acquisition. (31 references) (Author/VWL)

Examines storytelling styles and themes characteristic of South Carolina children of African and European heritage. Demonstrates the continuity between African American themes and motifs throughout the North American continent, the Caribbean, and West Africa, and illustrates contrasts between oral and written texts generated by Black and White…

A description of five features of speaking activities for language teaching (roles, outcomes, procedure, split information, and challenges) precedes the claim that teachers who understand these features can improve the speaking activities they employ and create their own activities according to individual features or combinations of features.…

Examination of the accommodation process in interlanguage discourse in a foreign language focused on the effects of various accommodation and negotiation strategies. Dyads of English as a second language students with different proficiency levels accommodated each other in ways similar to interaction between native and non-native speakers.…

Study of echoic memory interference among students in college introductory Spanish and German courses revealed that students with weaker listening comprehension skills depended more upon vulnerable sensory codes in echoic memory, while students with stronger comprehension relied on stable higher-order codes. (Author/CB)

Presents daily activities that facilitate complete sentence response, promote oral production, and aid the learning of vocabulary in foreign-language classes. Because speech is the primary form of communication in the foreign-language classroom, it is important to stimulate students to converse as soon as possible. (Author/CK)

Investigates preschoolers' acquisition of oral narrative skills in Venezuela. Finds that, very early on, children from diverse social backgrounds produce narratives that differ in structure and evaluation; that these differences become more marked at the age of five than at the age of four; and that these skills do not follow a single…

This paper explores ways in which the wholesale transfer of assumptions from first-language (L1) literacy can sometimes complicate the process of acquiring second-language (L2) literacy. Using methods of narrative inquiry, the article describes attempts to reach a better understanding of L2 literacy through an autobiographical study of Chinese…

Discusses the various functions of grammar in second-language (SL) education, and examines the relationship between discourse and grammar in SL education. Two problems are then examined concerning the relationship between discourse and grammar within grammatical exercises, and with the help of concrete examples, suggestions are offered to better…

Twenty different monologues were analyzed; and the interrelating roles that clause relations, lexico-grammatical cohesion, and intonation choices play in creating cohesive monologue were examined. It is argued that these linguistic resources can be exploited by speakers to signal underlying concepts and help listeners interpret the text. (Contains…

Examines the production of schwa-like elements, monosyllabic place holders (MPHs), before lexical items in early utterances of Italian children. The results of a longitudinal study of normal language acquisition in six Italian preschool children show that MPHs do not stem from imitation but actually retain important grammatical properties of…

Examines a computer-based corpus that provides the data for a comprehensive investigation of clitic climbing in written and spoken modern Spanish. The results are based on nearly 15,000 tokens with 32 different main verbs from a computer corpus of 3.5 million words from ten countries. Clitic climbing is more common in spoken than in written…

Bilingual case study of infant acquiring Spanish and English from birth to 1;10 is used to address whether young bilinguals differentiate between their languages based on language choice. Daily diary records and weekly video recordings in the two language contexts were used to construct the child's lexicon and establish that translation…

Notes that jump rope rhymes and street chants are part of an oral tradition that links communication and play. Although rarely incorporated into the elementary curriculum, they expose children to rhyme, rhythm, humor, and poetry. Discusses opportunities for student involvement and integration of rhymes and chants across the curriculum, and…